Finance Minister Jim Flaherty weighed in today with some followup comments to the breaking story across the nation about Toronto's Summerworks losing their funding.
His response? "Don't count on it."
Mr Flaherty is saying perhaps, that every arts organization institution across the country is being run...well wrong. Perhaps, Mr Flaherty would care to enlighten us, with his wise finance minister ways as to how we should conduct our business. Perhaps, Mr Flaherty would like to state what we are supposed to think when we apply for ongoing institutional funding, for government grants which clearly state that they are for operational grants, service organization grants, development grants.
Grants which many of our institutions rely on year after year because up until this current 'regime' we've never had to question why funding is inexplicably cut. Sure there were lean years, lowered funding, ten thousand dollars became six, became four, but we persevered. Sometimes you don't get the grant...we understand that, we accept that. I have had many an individual artist or project grant rejected on a variety of basis which were transparently explained to me by a jury of my peers.
But to my recollection I don't know that there are many instances of well-established theatres who suddenly find their grants reduced to well...0. Apparently they can't count on it.
What else should we not count on, Mr Flaherty? Should we no longer also count on educational grants and bursaries for our children and students? Should we no longer count on medical grants for research, into troubling developing illness and established organization care such as the AIDS imitative or the new Scarlet Fever outreach WHO branch? Should we no longer count on our own healthcare, our education, our defense, our culture, our language, our economy?
What Else, Mr Flaherty should we not count on? Should we not count on our public service to keep the streets of Vancouver safe from...oh, too soon? Too soon.
Should we not count on our government operating in a fair and transparent manner, instead of quietly killing off organizations and institutions which represent our cultural identity?
The real issue with his shortsighted comments is that it transforms the opinion of the public against arts organizations. It makes us seems as though we're waiting for handouts. The truth is that because of the ideological way Canadian arts and culture has been pressured, these grants, and the entire system of granting in Canada has pushed a cyclical system of funding on the vary basis of art creation. Projects are entirely beholden to finding out, often after they are completed if they will be able to pay their employees, artists, staff and freelancers. The industry is literally pauperizing many great creators because they have to personally finance their work, at complete 100% risk until they find out after the fact if they were awarded a grant.
Organizations have to rely on the fact they are going to see SOME funding, otherwise they would never be able to justify the astronomical accounting risk that they take. No bank would ever conceive of possibly lending at such a possibility of risk. The government, is supposed to, and has, reasonably succesfully safeguarded against that. Up until now. Apparently we can't count on it.
The CBC Article Here
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/06/28/pol-flaherty-cultural-funding-arts.html?ref=rss
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