Query

As I understand it, gaming profits were not supposed to go into general revenue, and I cannot recall that tourism promotion would be financed out of it, either.

So I wonder how much money is in that pot, and where it is going?

Good Luck with That

The Libs are out of money a year too soon. They are going to cut everything from healthcare to the Fringe Festival. People will be pissed at healthcare, no one goes to the Fringe Festival.

Well, not actually no one. Rather, no one who matters. And, Charles get over that.

The Arts are a luxury. And the arts should be and and can be supported privately. But not at the scale which we have become used to. So what?

People who have stories to tell, movements to do, music to listen to will join the rest of us competing for the dollar. It is a tough dollar to grab. You have to be really, really good. Mediocre is fine for government work but it sucks when people actually pay the freight.

Who wins? People who combine intelligence with appeal. One more grunting contemporary dancer echoing the shade of Merce Cunningham is a dead person. Good bye. The "Arts Community" will shrink exfoliating the poseurs, the wannabes and the, frankly, untalented. We will survive and talent willshine through.

Post Downturn, Jay's Logic is Flawed

Jay, that argument used to shut many of us defenders of the arts up. But what do we see as this BC government's stimulus designed to help our crumbling economy? An HST which has been levied specifically to bankroll environmentally regressive and unsustainable industries like mining and forestry. Luxurious or otherwise, let me tell you, career artists work damn hard. More importantly, what's clear after this crisis is that nearly every industry depends on a government break in one form or another, so the real question is, why are the Liberals bailing out the primary industry dinosaurs of yesterday when they could help direct the BC economy towards the more responsible and more locally beneficial industries that are culture and the arts.

Art Wars?

This is a war to decide who will win the funding for the various segments of the entrepeneurial class. Basically, all are entertainers in one form or another. Take, filmakers, musicians, columnnists, talk show hosts and yes, politicians. All are out to spread their messages and make a lot of money (for themselves and their backers).
Can one deny that Gordon Campbells BC's number one
entrepeneur, with the most clought? He has the power to spread a lot largess to himself and his backers. He also has the power to deny his competetors the financial wherewithall to put their messages forward.
And this largess, folks, is your money and mine.

fight back

You are a large group of angry motivated folks.

Buy BCLiberal memberships en masse, show up at meetings, elect your homeys to constituency management and convention delegate positions. Within a year you'd be in a position to give the fascista the boot. There are still a large minority of frustrated and shamed progressives in the Liberal party that need your help.

Been done before many times in Canada and BC. That's how Gordon Campbell took over a Liberal party that was actually liberal and made it into the ultra conservative entity it is today.

Art vs. Arts Administration

There is arts and there is arts administration.A friend of mine a longtime artist and musician used to joke when he wants to make arts he just sits down and begins when his boyfriend wants to make art he writes a grant- if he gets the grant he makes the art if he doesn't -oh well...
Naturally it is terrible and typical (unfortunately) that the Liberals have taken money that should be allotted to the arts and put it aside for the Olympics.It is also unfortunate that a lot of fine arts organizations are not receiving the money they have been promised -all totally wrong.
But I also believe that the arts should not have to be justified economically and that includes any expectation of making money from the arts -the arts in my opinion once represented something that subverted society -something where one didn't have to go through an arts system a degree, a second degree, a circle jerk of galleries a complete professionilization of their character and as a result sterilization of their purpose.
A someone who has been involved in any number of art making projects and had the occasional show in galleries (only to learn what a limiting experience they are -a circle jerk where a reviewer comes in reads the catalogue notes regurgiatates and repeats)my experience is I make it because I am compelled to, there is rarely any product or financial reward and in that way I am free-free to create and question as I like and avoid the whole limiting nonsense of the arts administration system.
That said,I am glad that such a system exists -it serves as a symbol of our societies priorities and also offers the opportunity for a few valuable projects to be funded. Curiously Charles's fine piece on the digital archive has received one comment-this from a latte lefty audience like The Tyee... so who is really interested in art and who is more simply interested in the politics thereof?
Grant Shilling

Grant Shilling

Insurrection by artwork has begun

What 40% cuts to the arts looks like: http://tinyurl.com/onoymt

More to follow, without a doubt. Excellent piece, Charles - thanks.

LOL: when you say that "The arts community supported the Olympic Games" and "The art community voted for Gordo", perhaps you could substantiate this or withdraw your generalization.

Certainly lots of artists and organizations have lined up at the Olympic trough, but I don't know any who voted for the Liberals. I'm involved at the Board level of a provincial arts organization and we were very active in disseminating policy critiques during the election.

But regardless of whose fault it was that the Liberals got reelected (finger pointing about this seems to be an obsession for a number of Tyee posters), the fact remains that support for culture in BC is atrocious, as Charles Campbell has pointed out. He is right to encourage an artistic insurrection and I hope that we will have plenty of allies for it.

Who hasn't been hurt??

Only big business won't be hurt. The rest of us will suffer. The cut backs in civil servants will hurt all of us, the job losses that are / will happen due the lack of fore thought of gordo / hansen. I don't believe these idiots didn't have prior knowledge of the problems they have created. Especially hurt will be those who need EI or welfare to help them survive now. I never was an olympics supporter- its the cause of most of the wasted $$.

Since when?

Since when did artists and arts organizations support the Liberals? First I heard of it.
As for the arts being a luxury, that old saw is so retrograde, it's hardly worth a response.
We want bread AND roses!
There are artists who are thinking of wearing black armbands during the Olympics to protest the cuts to arts funding. I'm all for it, myself -- bring on the black yardage and we'll show the buggers who rule us!
It's at least a start.

...Is Rich Coleman so stupid

...Is Rich Coleman so stupid that he believes in this false dichotomy, or does he simply think the public is so stupid that they'll buy it? ...

Yes to both!

...Even the provincial government says the province reaps $1.38 in tax revenue for every buck it spends on the arts. You'd think a government would want to optimize such a benefit rather than eliminate it...

But it does not directly go to their friends pockets. And the multiplier effect is far higher then that. In some communities in Canada and the States it even reaches $1=$10

...As the BC Liberals play to the philistines in our peculiar coliseum, one problem for arts groups is that many British Columbians believe funding culture is a frivolous waste of public money,…. yet somehow finds $39 million in its budget update to increase tourism marketing related to the Olympics....

As opposed to the $ Billions for a 2 week party for jocks and liberal connected developers.

...In 2005, it was the NDP's election platform that was so chicken-hearted...

That is an insult to chickens. They can be rather feisty when pushed around. Unlike the NDP.

...The feds don't appear to understand what the arts community knows well. Tourists don't travel to specific cultural events, they travel to culturally vibrant cities. ...

But somehow sports funding for teams, arenas etc. does very well. Could it be that those in that group tend to be very rich and politically well connected? Arts, conservation centres, environmental tourism bring in tons more money then sports ever did or will do. But as the old Romans knew, ‘bread and circuses’ help distract the oppressed sheep. Only war works better.

...First, arts groups should consider the idea that they have been targeted for cuts because the government sees them as politically ineffectual. ...

Actually the Govt. is correct in its estimations.

...people laugh at a government that makes claims of greatness for British Columbia and yet treats the arts as though this is an Arkansas backwater...

Again bad choice, Arkansas used to fund the Arts very well. Today ??? But an important point that you start is that politicians and governments survive being called corrupt, mean spirited, even incompetent. None manage to survive being laughed at. You want to get rid of a politician, make them a laughing stock, the object of contempt and derision. Very comedian knows this.

...Perhaps this time the government's ineptitude and disrespect will provoke our arts community to truly stand up for itself...

Don’t hold your breath!

And please also note that artists and art communities give far more to charities, then the government and corporations (together?). As per usual, those with the least shall willingly give the most.

Absolutely furious!

People in BC still don't seem to get it, for the most part. Arts and Culture drive tourism. Without arts and culture (and boy, do we need to grow this sector, since it's one of the only healthy ones we have) the vacation planning conversation goes something like this: "Oh,Vancouver... you mean that place with the nice mountains - and oh, yes, really big social problems - way out there at the edge of the known world? No, not really. They have nothing going on of interest. I really think we can spend our vacation dollars more wisely. Montreal, New York, and France offer so much more value per dollar/Euro/Pound..."
The arts and culture sector is worth 5 BILLION (yes, that's right) to this province's economy each year. People seem to have this idea that arts spending isn't an investment. Well wake up, it is - from the most bare bones economics to the incalculable value of living in a civilized society and educating our children beyond being video-game playing boors. Economically, spending on arts and culture generates a return - A RETURN - of $1.38 for each dollar spent. Artists are not looking for handouts. They are some of the hardest working and most underpaid workers we have. They give far more to communities than many of the things that people like to think deserve support. The bloody auto-workers, corporations and now the forestry sector, all think a hand-out from the government - OUR money - is a good thing. With maybe no return. Why not invest in a sector that still works, even in a bloody recession, one that gives a return?
The arts aren't a luxury - they are a necessity, as any short survey of civilizations and even tribal communities will reveal. WAKE UP people!

During Vancouver's Olympic referendum campaign...

During Vancouver's Olympic referendum campaign, there was a two week cultural festival promoting the Olympic bid. I thought there was a conflict of interest as one of the sponsors was the City of Vancouver, the same entity holding the referendum. However, Vancouver's pathetic rules around conflict of interest and campaign funding disclosure are not the issue here.

The question is why one day they want the arts and the next day not? They (the BC Liberals) don't see the arts as important and they probably have a pile of polling results that suggested they could get away with it.

Gordon Campbell recently commented that being a leader is not a popularity contest, implying he's there to show leadership and make the tough decisions. He's got an amazing communications apparatus to back him up. Of course, the Teflon coating helps, as does the pathetic MSM.

However, for all of our cosmopolitan-ness, I as a WASP, who goes to the Symphony, Opera, Theatre,etc., still cannot figure out what is the main cultural activity/outlet for the various other ethnic groups. They only attend Symphony, Opera, Theatre in very small numbers, but I don't get a sense of what else they do. Asking people only seems to bring non-answers, leading me to believe that work and getting ahead is their main culture. I find that hard to believe, but there's a big vacuum out there that I can't get a handle on.

Any thoughts?

another reason to make noise

...is that, as some posters have noted, the NDP's support for the arts has never been very robust in BC. I remember in the last year's of the Clark govt, Minister Waddell commissioned a study on Status of the Artist.

This is legislation that's a kind of Labour Code for the arts, and since most of what artists do falls under provincial jurisdiction, it's very important. Quebec has such legislation, and it augments the strong funding support for Quebec artists.

I attended one meeting about Status with Minister Waddell. Sadly, the NDP backed off, fearing a voter backlash. Maybe the party just doesn't think we're real workers.

We need to make enough noise now so that not only the Liberals back down from this ridiculous budget, but a possible succeeding NDP govt finally understands the power of culture.

Democrats vs. technocrats

Do we elect governments to govern society (i.e.: articulate common purpose and mediate, according to democratic principles, the inevitable disputes that arise within a pluralistic society)?

Or do we elect governments to manage the economy?

If the former, we live in a democracy. If merely to manage the economy, we live in a technocratic state economy, a monolithic one at that.

There is an essential place for the arts in a democratic society - to examine the usefulness of the democratic principles by which we manage our differences, and more deeply to illuminate our points of connection. By what light do we even call ourselves a society ("an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization")?

A whole society cannot function without the arts to reflect on its various meanings and their dynamic overlap.

A technocratic state not only has no need of the arts - they are an impediment to its functioning. The narrative is set, we are simply in the implementation stage now and for forever.

To justify the arts in economic terms (e.g.: $1 = $1.38," "it brings the tourists," etc.) is to admit defeat.

That said, I hope BC artists and their lobbying organizations give the BC Liberals hell, and that enough ordinary citizens get the point. Will this happen? I doubt it.

It may be inspirational but not helpful to look to the example of Quebec, which is a coherent society with a self-identity. In contrast, historically BC is the end of the line for people who run away from society, and as anyone who observes our childishly polarized politics knows, BC is broken.

The proof is that, although the Liberals may take heat for the HST (which is not a left-right issue but merely a technocratic adjustment of the mechanics of collecting taxes), they will not suffer for long for attacking the arts. It is not that, in aggregate, we don't care. It is that enough care passionately and they are siding with the technocratic economy against the human society.

Good article and comments...

Why can't gaming/gambling funds be directed to specific purposes? As in, you scratch a certain lotto ticket you know partial proceeds are going to be directed to specific fund. Every game played should be done so with the knowledge that even if you lose...you know a certain program is going to be funded because you played said game. Arts, sports, health, education, affordable housing...every ticket for every game should be tied to specific purposes.

Arts and creative ideas should be backed. In a few years most jobs will be "robotomated" and accomplished via software and mechanization. White-collar, professional desk jobs (brokers, lawyers, bankers) and blue-collar, "grunt" hard-labour jobs (factories, construction, warehouses) will all need less human input quite soon. It would be good to see to it that many people are re-employed creating artistic creations that can be consumed by the masses who will have extra access to leisure/spare-time. Creating a movie or music or painting or sculpture or book/poem or fashion will be one of few things that computers won't be able to do in coming years. Here's a bold prediction...50% of jobs/labour today will not be needed in 10 years. Companies will soon come out with more amd more robotic models capable of working farms, factories, fast food, warehouses, hotels, and other retail, service sector professions. There's probably already software available today that could cause the need for less teachers (record, archive, translate all lectures), real estate brokers, stock brokers, insurance brokers, accountants, lawyers, civil servants, journalists and politicians. If your job involves working at a desk and pushing papers around...chances are there's already a software program to do what you do (or there will be soon). And don't worry...if your job/work/labour should somehow escape robotics/automation/mechanization...perhaps it will be shipped overseas and outsourced/offshored. But don't worry...it's at least decades from now when software/robots will be good enough to compete with a human creative arts making. :)

Are Arts a Luxury?

...Hmm. "...the arts should be and can be supported privately". Jay makes an excellent point. If, as an artist, this comment makes you wince then you possibly have become reliant upon some form of funding. Fantastic! You deserve funding. The Arts are fundamental to our general health and well being and as such deserve similar attention as infrastructure and health care.

Yet the terms 'Arts Group' and 'surplus revenue' need not be mutually exclusive. Not for profit Arts groups must conduct themselves in the same manner as any business. Organize. Rethink, redefine and better organize.

There are several people out there who believe, like Jay, that the arts are indeed a luxury. Whether or not you agree with this assessment, and I am not one of them, you should understand that this is the mind set of the majority of your potential supporters (consumers) and the only way to begin to win these good folk over is to start believing in yourself and your product. Improve. Practice, rehearse, whatever it takes but also hone your business skills. At the end of the day you are selling a product.

Call it art all you want but if you accept money, be it funding or a loonie in your guitar case, you are peddling a product. Hopefully a product worthy of my hard earned disposable income. As an artist take ownership. Clearly define who you are and where you want to be in say five years. Fiscally responsibility. Consumers love, and granting agencies prefer, to support a winner.

Respectfully.

I call Bullshit.

Where do we find that art piece that looks at the social costs of gambling?
I mean, if the art community is making money off of the misery induced by an addiction - well, lets see some art on that.
Then again, that would take some backbone and a willingness to engage in "the political" and as we all know, the "arts community" doesn't do politics.

more anti-artist generalizations

As a visual artist and activist who has been exhibiting political work since the early 1990s, I would appreciate it if Glen Murtz would stop lumping us into this amorphous, apolitical "arts community" he keep railing about. Otherwise withdraw your insults and generalizations.

I don't live in the Lower Mainland, but I believe Kokoro Dance is one of a number of organizations there that do not take gaming money.

The Walls of Change murals project in the Downtown East Side is one of many examples of political art I've seen when at the coast.

I could give more examples, but I'm very busy trying to earn a living in a pine beetle ravaged economy in the boonies.

For sure there are plenty of contradictions in non-profits depending on gaming money, but please tell me who is 100% pure in this WalMart culture we live in (on native land) and which sucks the living juice out of the third world? Selectively targeting an imagined "arts community" is a distortion of actual conditions within a colonized and colonizing culture.

Of course there's elitism, artspeak and classism in the arts. Just try filling in a Canada Council application and you will immediately hit an Orwellian wall of weird language. But the reality is that most Canadian cultural workers eke out a meagre living near or below the poverty line.

How about some solidarity and insight instead of name calling and finger pointing?

Is Campbell trying to make Foreign Investors Happy?

I don't know but his actions are bizarre as his cuts deeply hurt citizens across the province as jobs are lost and hopes are dashed.
Whats with that? It is the last thing British Colombians need. Then why is the premier going at essential programs and jobs like there is no tomorrow?
Maybe because there is no tomorrow for their services as whey would Campbell put so many in jeopardy if he wasn't' tying to eliminate these programs to make Foreign Investors Happy.

You don't think those investors now find Canada a happy haven since America Government is pro environment and regulation while these guys are anything but?

Art is Everything

When everything else fails. Did you know it took a picture of a women with a child on her lap with a look of complete disaillusoment that caused government to react and get the necessary help out to these struggling families during the depression. Pleading, new stories, etc didn't do the job, it took a picture, so art is the word or at least away to bridge the gaps of understanding.

Jay Currie: you're missing the point. Part 1

The Arts are more than a luxury. Art, in its many and varied forms is critical to the creation and development of any meaningful culture and society. Society without art devolves into insect mentality, sheeples, and corporate overlordship (so to speak). And the problem with private support is that it limits the support to only what the beneficent few will tolerate. A sort of passive retroactive censorship really. And, although that may sound anti-art, it is not. Art carries different meanings, and different degrees of importance for us all. Just because I (or you) do not like something does not make that something illegitimate.

"People who have stories to tell... have to be really, really good. Mediocre is fine for government work but it sucks when people actually pay the freight."

That is not reality. For the most part, the arts consumer, like all consumers, buys into whatever they are promoted into. Generally speaking, the public at large is the poorest of the poor when it comes to discriminating critical judgement and will flock to the most accessible, easiest to understand, and the most promoted form of art, whatever its genre.

Jay Currie: you're missing the point. Part 2

Jay said:

"Who wins? People who combine intelligence with appeal.... We will survive and talent willshine through."

In a real-world analysis, real talent only rarely "shines through". Superficiality almost always wins out over meaningful content because it is easier to sell, cheaper to promote, and can be made palatable for a majority of consumers.

Yes modern dance is a pretty darn stupid and elitist form of jiggery-pokery, and like opera appeals to a very specific and limited audience who are generally fanatical about creating their own meaning for it. However, who are we to say that it does not serve an important function for those individuals, not all of whom can afford to financially support it? And just because a large number of people do not like it does not mean it has no meaning for those who do like it, and is therefore a perfect candidate for funding.

Lastly, yet perhaps most importantly is the assumption held by Jay and many other disinterested, uninvolved parties that:

1. Arts funding pays every artist well.
2. Any artist who wants funding gets it.
3. Artists as a rule make good money.
4. Artists as a rule don't work hard for the living.

All of those are wholly false assumptions. The truth is:

1. Arts funding does not represent much money at all when it comes to the individual artist in need.
2. A majority of working artists receive no funding of any kind other than money earned from the sale of their work.
3. Most working artists, in any genre, do not make enough money from their art to sustain themselves, and must additionally work at a regular day job to pay rent, food, art supplies, etc.
4. Working in the arts is, for a very large majority of artists, very hard and often rather heart breaking work.

Divide and rule

I wouldn't be surprised if the BC Liberal govt, like Harper's Conservatives, figures it can pose as "friend of the working class" by attacking the supposedly elitist arts.

Remember Harper's comments in the last federal election? With Campbell's ministers are attempting to pit hungry children against the arts, it's starting to sound familiar.

Wouldn't it be nice to hear Jim Sinclair speaking out against arts cuts!

Art Speaks

"Where do we find that art piece that looks at the social costs of gambling?"

A google search for "stage plays about gambling" returns the following link as its first result.

http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=226029&sc=149

separation between lefties and the arts

Interesting how many Tyee regulars are absent from the comments sections for articles on this topic and other arts-related themes.

Does their silence parallel the lack of appreciation of the role of culture in social change (and society) in the NDP? The disengagement of many artists from party politics? Or both?

Jay Currie: you're missing the point. Part 3 (different poster)

The other assumption that Jay Currie makes in his post is that artists can make it to the marketplace without arts institutions to nurture and market their work. "Being really really good" won't make the difference for anyone if we reduce government spending 88% for the arts...

Flexing Wednesday at HIgh Noon ...

A little bird whispered something in my ear a moment ago ...

At 12 noon, on the lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery (Georgia St. side), we will form a grey square in protest of Gordon Campbell's Liberal Government cuts to Direct Access Gaming Funds and the BC Arts Council.

Assembly point 1: Meet at the Dance Centre, 677 Davie St. (Davie and Granville) on Wednesday 09/09/09 at 11:30 am DRESSED ENTIRELY IN GREY. We will then walk to the lawn on the Georgia Street side of the Vancouver Art Gallery and stand in a silent grey square for 30 minutes.

Assembly point 2: You can meet us at the Vancouver Art Gallery at noon. Even if you can't dress in grey to form part of the square, please come out to show your support. Even if you can't arrive right at noon, or can only spare a few minutes, please come by to show your support for the action.