CCA
BULLETIN / BULLETIN DE LA CCA
ARTS AND CULTURE ELECTION ADVOCACY OCCURING ACROSS CANADA
Ottawa, June 23 rd , 2004
- In
Bulletin 31/04, CCA reported on two all candidates'
debates on arts and culture organized by CCA members and allies,
which were held last week in Fredericton and Toronto.
These meetings proved an excellent opportunity to quiz party
candidates and generated a substantial amount of interest
from the media and general public. Other regions of
the country have now held all candidates' meetings on arts
and cultural issues and what follows is a brief synopsis of
three recent events.
CHARLOTTETOWN
The
Prince Edward Island Council of the Arts, in association with
the Atlantic Publishers' Marketing Association, held a debate
at the Arts Guild Hall in Charlottetown attended by one candidate
from each of the Liberals, Conservatives, and Greens, plus
2 from the NDP. Darrin White, Executive Director of
the PEI Council of the Arts noted that some of the 50 members
of the audience found it hard to differentiate between the
"positive, but vague" candidates' positions, and described
their performances as " lacklustre ". Relatedly ,
www.pei.cbc.ca is reporting that Shelley Nordstrom,
the chair of the East Coast Music Association (ECMA), is concerned
about a lack of attention to cultural issues in the election
campaign. Ms. Nordstrom has written a letter asking
ECMA members to consider when they cast their vote how cultural
agencies might change under various governments. "Promoting
Atlantic Canadian music isn't just a cultural issue, she adds.
It's an economic one as well, providing lots of jobs in the
region. 'Music is a calling card for the region. It's
everywhere,' she says. 'It's intertwined throughout other
industries and it's also becoming one of our largest export
products and opportunities.'"
HALIFAX
A
coalition of Halifax-based arts, culture and heritage organizations
invited all candidates in the regional municipality's four
federal ridings to a 22 June meeting at the Dalhousie Arts
Centre. The debate, which attracted more than 400 people,
covered broad issues including support for the CBC, the CRTC,
the Canada Council for the Arts, and funding for museums and
galleries. CBC Radio's Phlis McGregor reported that:
"For the most part, the debate was civil, until the candidates
were asked if they would support legislation requiring a certain
percentage of Canadian content in (movie) theatres.
Conservative Party candidate Kevin Keefe dismayed the audience
with this remark. 'I can't see
how anything like that would possibly work -- first of all,
how you would find enough Canadian content to fit into one
of these Cineplex things and find somebody who would go to
see it? Okay?' "
VANCOUVER
NDP
Vancouver East incumbent Libby Davies, Liberal Vancouver Centre
incumbent Hedy Fry, and the Green Party's Ron Plowright attended
a 22 June debate on arts and culture organized by Ducan Low
of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre (VECC). As was
the case in both Fredericton and Toronto, the Vancouver Centre
Conservative candidate who was invited to attend, Gary Mitchell,
was not present to address the meeting's 100 attendees due
to "a fundraising commitment". The forum was organized
as a response to what the VECC called "An alarming lack of
attention to issues of arts and culture in the (English language)
leadership debate". Ms. Davies noted that,
"Arts are very undervalued. It seems to be something
discretionary and I think there's a great myth in our society
that we subsidize the arts. I think it's really the
other way around - artists subsidize society."
A CBC report on the debate can be found at:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2004/06/23/Arts/vanartsdebate040623.html
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS' ADVOCACY ACTIVITIES AND RESEARCH
The
Canadian Museums Association (CMA), as part of its own election
work, wrote a letter to all the major parties on 7 June, asking
them to outline their positions on funding and policies that
will positively impact the 2500 plus museums and related institutions
in this country. To date, only the Liberals and the
Bloc Quebecois have responded to CMA; their letters can be
read here:
www.museums.ca/Cma1/WhatsNew/News/elections/elections2004liberals.htm
www.museums.ca/Cma1/WhatsNew/News/elections/elections2004bloc.htm
The
Writers' Union of Canada (TWUC) sent a questionnaire to each
of the five leaders asking them to outline their party's stance
on policies and legislation that would "economically enhance
the status of writers and other artists". To date,
TWUC has received replies from the Bloc Québécois,
the Green Party, and the Liberal Party; their responses can
be accessed at:
www.writersunion.ca/liberal.pdf
www.writersunion.ca/green.htm
www.writersunion.ca/bloc.htm
Finally,
to help with "advocacy efforts throughout the Canadian election
campaign and beyond", Volume 3, Number 2 of Hill Strategies
Research Inc.'s "Arts Research Monitor" provides a synopsis
of and links to key advocacy resources, including the CCA's
own toolkit and the Canada Council for the Arts' re-launched
website. Also provided is a very useful compilation
of some key cultural statistics from Hill Strategies Research's
recent publications. The latest "Arts Research Monitor"
can be downloaded (for free) at:
www.hillstrategies.com/resources.html
ERRATUM :
CCA Bulletin 31/04, "Election Word on the Street", quoted
party responses to a June 11 th letter from National Arts
Service Organizations ( NASOs ). In fact, the letter
was signed by cultural industry organizations and
NASOs . CCA apologizes for any confusion.
For more information:
Kevin Desjardins
Communications and Public Relations Manager
(613) 238 3561 ext.11
Fax (613) 238 4849
info@ccarts.ca
www.ccarts.ca
32/04
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