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Arts ire for canadian taxpayers federation

Members of B.C.'s arts community are reacting with incredulity to a public commentary released by the B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF). Titled "Art is a business and should not be subsidized," the November 5 missive, penned by Maureen Bader, states that government subsidies to the arts should be abolished. "Yes, art and cultural events make our lives more enjoyable, but who should pay for them? Taxpayers or individuals who freely choose to spend their money on art," it reads in part.

"When a government gets involved in subsidies there are two problems," Bader told the Straight . "One is it can make the art sort of a function of the state, but the other too is that it forces taxpayers to pay for art that they might not otherwise freely purchase."

In a phone interview with the Straight , Vancouver Symphony Orchestra music director Bramwell Tovey stated that Bader's argument is "lacking in perception".

"I think what we're talking about here is not government subsidy. We're talking about investment," he said. "We can see that it makes a lot of sense for the government to invest in the arts, because they more than give back on GST and PST.…Certainly this particular area of Vancouver, right in the inner city where we operate, would be destitute for about 100 nights a year without the economic activity that's generated by the performances here [at the Orpheum Theatre] by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra."

Gina Sufrin, executive director of the Assembly of BC Arts Councils, was also dismissive of Bader's commentary. "Reducing arts to a commodity is a notion that I think is really, really past its best-before date," she told the Straight. "Defining the arts solely as business activity is just so short sighted, in my opinion. It is often presented in marketplace terms, but I would think it would be more appropriate to compare government investment in the arts with government investment in things like parks and recreation. If we had to pay what it really costs, for example, to go swim at the aquatic centre, nobody would go. And yet nobody is saying the government shouldn't be subsidizing that activity."

Sufrin added that the government does not select artists to receive support; arm's-length organizations such as the Canada Council for the Arts and the BC Arts Council are responsible for decisions regarding government arts funding. "The process of funding is adjudicated by peer juries. The very reason for this is because it shouldn't be a political decision," said Sufrin.

The Assembly of BC Arts Councils is working with the Alliance for Arts and Culture and other organizations to campaign for an annual increase in BC Arts Council (BCAC) funding from $14 million to $32 million. According to a report prepared by the Alliance for Arts and Culture in support of the BC Arts Council funding increase, the $14 million currently invested in the BCAC "helps drive $4.2 billion in provincial domestic economic activity". The same report noted that the City of Vancouver has determined that every dollar it invests in the arts leverages $11.50 from other sources.

Bader's piece came just over two weeks after the Fraser Institute hosted a debate on government arts funding between Tovey and right-wing freelance journalist Elizabeth Nickson, whose work appears in the Women's Post and the Globe and Mail. (Nickson's regular National Post column was discontinued in 2004 after an allegation of plagiarism.) Last January, the Straight reported that the right-wing women's group REAL (Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life) Women of Canada was working with other organizations on a constitutional challenge to curtail the powers of the federal government to fund health care, education, and cultural activities. Bader said she is not involved with REAL Women of Canada and she is "not directly" involved with the Fraser Institute. "I go to their events," she said. Bader's biography on the CTF Web site ( www.taxpayer.com/ ) states that she worked at the Fraser Institute in 1991.

Bader claimed to be an artist herself. "I'm a painter. I have to work, just like most other artists," she said. "I have an easel in my office. I haven't been painting lately, anyway. I've been too busy working. It's very difficult to make a living from art."

Nine cities are invited to compete for the prize of securing the portrait gallery. Toronto is on the list, along with Halifax, Quebec City, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. The catch: this will be a private/public partnership.

Translation: someone in the lucky city that wins gets to pay the bills so that Stephen Harper's government won't have to.

The federal government wants nine cities across Canada to compete for the right to host the national portrait gallery originally slated to open in Ottawa.

"Our government has set forth the notion that national cultural institutions do not necessarily have to be located in the national capital," said Heritage Minister Josée Verner at a news conference Friday announcing what she called "a bold and innovative step."

The campaign coincides with the legislative committee on finance and government services completing public hearings across the province held between September 17 and October 12. The committee will file a report by November 15.

"When you consider that the projected surplus for the province is $1.6 billion, $18 million [the amount of the increase being lobbied for] is 1.12 percent of that. That's not very much," Andrew Wilhelm-Boyles , executive director of the alliance, told the Straight .

Last year, a similar campaign was launched prior to the 2007 provincial budget. Despite a unanimous recommendation by the cross-party committee that the government increase arts council funding, the government chose not to do so.

"If there is a will on the part of the minister of the arts, if there is a will on the part of the minister of finance, the recommendations of this committee certainly strengthen their hand," insisted Wilhelm-Boyles, who noted that arts funding in B.C. is among the lowest in the country. Saskatchewan, with a population of less than one million, recently doubled its arts-board funding from $4.5 million to $9 million, which represents more than $9 per capita in arts funding. By contrast, B.C.'s arts-council funding amounts to just over $3 per capita, putting it ahead of only Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland.

The last time funding for the B.C. Arts Council was increased was in the 2005-06 budget, when it was raised by $3 million, to $14 million.