New records detail how climate-change views scuttled artist's grant

A British Columbia artist and environmental activist accuses government of misusing its censorship powers to hide a politically driven effort to silence her because of her views on climate change and the oilsands.

Franke James found herself on the federal government’s radar in the spring of 2011 after Canadian diplomats agreed to offer a $5,000 grant in support of a European art tour featuring James’s artwork. The grant was revoked a few days later by a senior director of the Foreign Affairs Department’s climate change division, who felt the funding would “run counter to Canada’s interests.”

Talking Stick Fest: Aboriginal Artists at a Critical Moment

Can world-class arts and culture offer hope to struggling communities, and incubate tomorrow's creators?

This year's Talking Stick Festival hopes to prove it from Feb. 19 to March 3, showcasing some of the country's best aboriginal dramatists, playwrights, musicians and dancers on a common stage.

One of the best-known acts this year is Sagkeeng's Finest, the three-teenager dance troupe from Manitoba who won top prize on Canada's Got Talent last year. Their community's fast-paced, traditional Red River Jig, is now a household name across the country.

Canadian Conference Of The Arts Fails To Survive Government Cuts

OTTAWA - A cultural group founded by artists including Group of Seven member Lawren Harris is suspending operations after 67 years, a victim of federal spending cuts.

The Canadian Conference of the Arts, the largest national alliance of the arts, culture and heritage sector, says it will start winding down its work immediately.

The group was warned 18 months ago that the Harper government intended to end 47 years of funding.

How the arts in Canada lost its mojo

Talk within Canada's arts communities today has become as predictable as office politics, a projection of disengaged management fueled by personal anxieties. Discussions revolve vaguely around the need for "interpretive creativity" and "strategic innovation," and, naively, for more public funding. This is a huge problem for the industry's future.

It happened because arts associations and administrators have become risk-averse and lazy, unable to accept that art-as-a-possible-profession is broken. Their cheerleading is out of touch with how our culture defines value. And if they can't harness 21st Century energies, they'll die.

Bieber, TIFF and a Halifax museum: Why Tories are now friends of the arts

As political announcements go, it wasn’t spectacular: $4,509,763 in funding for 69 Alberta arts, culture and language groups, including 64 who already rely on the same funding program. A poetry festival got $5,000, a theatre got cash for new wiring, and so on.

Altogether, neither a cut nor a major boost. It was just Heritage and Official Languages Minister James Moore doing his thing Wednesday, maintaining the cash flow, joking about his two dogs, saying he “adores” Edmonton and posing for photographs with various stalwarts of its arts community - all of them, of course, eager to take whatever funding they can get.

Severe funding cuts for Nova Scotia College of Art and Design

As students in Quebec continue their 14-week strike, students in Nova Scotia continue to be reminded that post-secondary education is not a priority for the Nova Scotia government. Students and faculty at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in particular are bracing for severe funding cuts as the provincial government continues to target the school, which has faced financial hardship for several years. Students have already been told to expect $900 in total fee hikes, including tuition fee increases and the introduction of new fees. NSCAD will also be offering fewer classes and making further program cuts. The university is recommending laying off 26 faculty and staff members.

Last month, NSCAD administration provided their response to a report, commissioned by the provincial government and written by Howard Windsor, that reviewed NSCAD's finances and made recommendations regarding the institution's future. While the university system as a whole has been underfunded for decades, NSCAD has suffered additional problems as a result of a funding formula that has never fully recognized the true cost of providing a studio-based fine arts education.

Can James Moore be both arts champion and axe man?

When James Moore became Minister of Canadian Heritage, he says he fielded three main requests from the arts community: Don’t cut funding, make it easier to get funding by cutting red tape and be a champion for the arts. The minister who took an axe to the CBC this week, cutting its funding by 10 per cent, unapologetically clung to the idea of being a champion of the arts on Thursday, touting a budget that slashed his own department’s operations while shielding the Canada Council for the Arts, national museums and others from funding cuts.

“No cuts to the Canada Council for the Arts, no cuts to Arts Presentation Canada [now the Canada Arts Presentation Fund], festival funding – all those things that are critical to quality of life in communities across the country,” Moore told The Globe and Mail Thursday afternoon. “All of it has been protected in the budget.”

This was a big moment for Moore. Since becoming Heritage Minister in 2008, he has positioned himself as a defender of the arts – someone who, at the very least, sees their worth in terms of economic stimulus. More than that, he goes out of his way to portray himself as someone who appreciates the arts for their cultural worth – someone who gets a kick out of his portfolio. He’ll be at the Junos this weekend, rooting for fellow British Columbian Dan Mangan. He tweets about Ron Sexsmith and Deadmau5. Give him a chance, and he’ll tell you about his movie nights at the National Arts Centre – where Canadian films are shown to packed houses that may include the Prime Minister and/or his wife. He seems to have come a long way from the guy who in 2009 couldn’t identify the prominent Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan when quizzed by the Radio-Canada program Tout le monde en parle.

New Study on Municipal Funding for the Arts

Toronto falls far behind large Canadian cities inmunicipal arts investment

Hill Strategies Research released a report today, Municipal Cultural Investment in Five Large Canadian Cities, comparing funding in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

Investment by Toronto City Council ranks lowest by a wide margin -
per capita investment in each city is, from highest to lowest:

Montreal: $55
Vancouver: $47
Calgary: $42
Ottawa: $28
Toronto: $19

“Throughout major international cultural centres, municipal arts funding is key to maintaining a thriving creative city, attractive to residents and tourists alike. We are at the tipping point; this study clearly demonstrates that Toronto risks losing its position as Canada’s go-to city for arts and culture.” noted Claire Hopkinson, Executive Director of Toronto Arts Council.

The impact of cultural investment is felt throughout Toronto’s economy, much of which is dependent upon a vibrant arts sector. The arts and culture industry contributes $9 billion to Toronto’s local economy and supports 130,000 jobs.

In May 2011, Toronto City Council affirmed the critical importance of arts and culture funding when it unanimously endorsed the Creative Capital Gains report. The report recommends increasing Toronto’s arts funding to $25 per capita.

In contradiction of this unanimous decision, the 2012 City Operating Budget, approved by Budget Committee yesterday, recommends a reduction in Toronto’s arts and culture grants by $2 million and additional reductions to the city’s department of Economic Development and Culture. Given that every dollar invested by the city in grants to arts organizations in Toronto leverages an additional $17 in funding from other sources this will have the direct effect of reducing investment in Toronto by $25 million.

New study shows Toronto lags far behind in arts funding

A new study ranks Toronto at the bottom in municipal arts investment, one day after the city’s budget committee approved an operating budget that would see 10 per cent in cuts to the arts.

The study, released Tuesday and prepared by Hill Strategies Research Inc. in partnership with five Canadian municipalities, shows Toronto’s 2009 investment level at $19 per capita.

At the top, was Montreal with $55 per capita, followed by Vancouver ($47), Calgary ($42) and Ottawa ($28).

“We knew we were at the bottom for the last few years, but the gap has grown considerably,” said Claire Hopkinson, executive director of the Toronto Arts Council.

The study reports Toronto ranked third in 2006 and 2007.

But Toronto’s per capita investment has increased only $2 since 2006, while the other five cities showed growth between $11 and $27.

There has been a push amongst arts supporters to increase per capita funding to $25, a figure that would have matched Montreal in 2003, Hopkinson said.

But now supporters are looking to just stop reductions.

City council will decide next week if funding that benefits local art groups and major organizations like the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will be slashed.

“We’re fighting to stay in the same place,” Hopkinson said. “We are in danger of losing some of our accessibility and our ability to deliver the kinds of arts programs that have made this city so notable.”

On Tuesday, Canadian author Margaret Atwood tweeted a link to the arts council’s release on the study saying: “Very negative effect of proposed Ford arts cuts on city of Toronto.”

Hopkinson said she is still optimistic the majority of city councillors will defend the importance of funding arts and culture in Toronto.

“There is no way that a regular Torontonian would not feel the impact of this cut,” she said. “It may not be felt in one year’s time . . . but it would definitely show up over time.”

Original Article
Source: Star 

Storied Nova Scotia art college faces hard choices to stay afloat

NSCAD University, one of Canada's oldest and most revered art schools, faces an uncertain future this week as it struggles to stay afloat financially, having already watched Queen's University suspend enrolments to its fine arts program last month over a lack of resources.

The storied but cash-strapped Nova Scotia College of Art and Design awaits the final draft of a report to government on ways to slash its ongoing deficits. For months, the province has publicly entertained thoughts of merging NSCAD with another university as a way of trimming costs – something the college's community has vehemently opposed.

NSCAD officials and faculty are increasingly optimistic the report, authored by former provincial deputy minister Howard Windsor, will leave the university independent, thanks partly to doubts about whether a merger would actually save money. But with no new funding expected, there are hard choices ahead about how to cut spending without harming the quality of the costly studio-based education that has groomed such nationally renowned graduates as conceptual sculptor Micah Lexier and multimedia artist Kelly Mark. Sarah McLachlan attended for a time, and Joseph Beuys, Michael Snow and Joyce Wieland have lectured there.

The NSCAD community has rallied to argue that its freedom is central to nurturing its smart, spirited culture of experimentation – the “mix of head, hands and heart” that has defined it, says Karin Cope, an associate professor who has helped spearhead the response.

Stephen Harper dumps the RAM: A tale of Treachery and Bad Manners

Call it a slap in the face. Call it a kick in the bum with a frozen boot. Call it a royal raspberry.

Call it what it is – a betrayal of Edmonton, of Alberta, and of history.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Alberta’s new infrastructure minister Jeff Johnson got the phone call delivering the ugly news.

The federal government has pulled its long-promised funding for the Royal Alberta Museum – that’s $92 million, yanked out from under our collective Albertan noses.

That money was pledged to the province, by a past Liberal government, almost a decade ago. It was Ottawa’s gift to the people of Alberta, a symbolic gesture to mark our centennial as a member of Confederation.

Sadly, we still seem to be second-rate members.

Without notice, warning, or consultation, the feds have reneged on their deal. Johnson insists the province is still committed to the RAM project, but that he can’t sign the deals he needs to sign by the Nov. 16th deadline. As a result, the project, so often delayed, has been delayed once more.

Toronto arts funding in city's sights

Secret report targets $6 million in arts funding

Toronto's economy would suffer if the city follows through with a plan to cut some $6 million a year in funding to some of the top cultural groups, an Arts Council executive said Friday.

According to a draft proposal obtained by the Toronto Star, millions of dollars in arts funding could be slashed from the next city budget.

The plan, drafted by city manager Joe Pennachetti, would affect high profile arts groups such as the Toronto International Film Festival, the National Ballet and the Toronto Symphony.

"There would be lots of ripple effect," Claire Hopkinson, executive director of the Toronto Arts Council, told the CBC. "TIFF has taken over Toronto. You just walk down the street and there are all these restaurants, all these taxi drivers, all these hotels. This is all the economic spillover from the arts in Toronto."

Executives from the top arts groups planned to huddle behind closed doors Friday to discuss the surprise move. They plan a press conference for late next week, the Star said.

City arts grants at risk

A proposal drafted at Toronto City Hall to slash all funding to major arts organizations is sending shock waves through Toronto’s cultural world, the Star has learned.

The proposal, prepared by city manager Joe Pennachetti in response to a request from Mayor Rob Ford’s office, is intended to be presented at a meeting of the city’s executive committee on Sept. 19.

If passed by city council, the plan would eliminate more than $6 million of annual funding that goes directly to 10 of the city’s top arts organizations, including the Toronto International Film Festival, which opened Thursday.

The leaders of those organizations have scheduled a summit meeting on Friday morning at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, convened by the Toronto Arts Council. (The council hands out $10 million in arts grants from the city, but the $6 million for the major groups comes directly from city hall.)

Every $1 saved in arts funding will cost the city $17

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s cultural adviser Jeff Melanson says eliminating or reducing funding to the arts would be a big mistake, and plans to deliver that message to the city’s executive committee Thursday.

“It would be a misdirection to reduce those (grants),’’ Melanson, executive director of the National Ballet School, said in an interview Wednesday.

The city’s executive committee is set to pore over a lengthy KPMG report that presents “options’’ to the city to trim spending. The city faces a whopping shortfall in its 2012 budget of up to $774 million.

Arts and cultural groups in the city receive about $19 million from the city’s Community Partnership Investment Program (CPIP), according to the KPMG report. The report suggests the city would see a “high level’’ of savings eliminating or reducing CPIP.