FROM THE DESK of Alain Pineau: CCA, CAC and the confusion of acronyms and roles

CCA Bul­letin 19/06

April 7, 2006

The CCA (Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts) has received many ques­tions over the past few weeks about the respec­tive roles of the CAC (Cana­dian Arts Coali­tion), which is not be con­fused with another CAC (Con­seil des Arts du Canada) or one of the many other CCA (Cen­tre for Cana­dian Archi­tec­ture, Cana­dian Cattlemen’s Asso­ci­a­tion…). The pro­fu­sion of CCA acronyms can be bewil­der­ing, as are the dif­fer­ences between the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts and the Cana­dian Arts Coalition.

For some months now the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts (CCA) has been actively involved as a mem­ber of the Cana­dian Arts Coali­tion (CAC), which was formed to advo­cate for an increase in fed­eral gov­ern­ment spend­ing on the arts by $ 5.00 per capita, through the Canada Coun­cil for the Arts (CCA). As the National Direc­tor of the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts, I sit as a mem­ber of the Steer­ing Com­mit­tee for the Cana­dian Arts Coalition.

The Coali­tion has waged an active cam­paign on the issue of increased sta­ble fund­ing for the arts. The CCA Board recently affirmed this issue as a one of its top pri­or­i­ties at its March 5–6 meet­ings in Ottawa. The Coali­tion is now work­ing to con­vince the new gov­ern­ment of Canada regard­ing the impor­tance of dou­bling the bud­get of the Canada Coun­cil for the Arts over the next three fis­cal years, an issue which it thought had been set­tled with the last gov­ern­ment. The CCA is doing the same, both in its own advo­cacy inter­ven­tions with Cab­i­net Min­is­ters and Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment, as well as through its ongo­ing active par­tic­i­pa­tion in the Coalition’s Steer­ing Com­mit­tee and campaigning.

How­ever, in addi­tion to the pri­or­ity issue of sta­ble and increased fund­ing for the Canada Coun­cil for the Arts (CCA), the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts (CCA!) is engaged in many other issues, including;

• Equi­table tax treat­ment for artists and the arts,
• Sup­port for a new muse­ums pol­icy and increase of fund­ing for muse­ums and galleries,
• Sup­port for increased resources for the cul­tural pro­grams of the Depart­ment of For­eign Affairs and the Depart­ment of Cana­dian Her­itage, among other fed­eral departments,
• Analy­sis of the 2006 Speech from the Throne,
• Analy­sis of the 2006 Fed­eral Bud­get and Main Estimates,
• Prepa­ra­tions for the likely next round of Copy­right reform discussions,
• The like­li­hood of new leg­is­la­tion being intro­duced to fur­ther com­pro­mise Cana­di­ans’ Char­ter Right to Free­dom of Expression
• Rec­om­men­da­tions in the Final Report of the Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions Pol­icy Review Panel and their poten­tial impact on Canada’s for­eign own­er­ship restric­tions in broad­cast­ing and media,
• A fed­eral elec­tion readi­ness strategy,
• The forth­com­ing CBC license renewal hear­ings this fall at the CRTC and a pos­si­ble review of Canada’s broad­cast­ing policy,
• The devel­op­ment of a Char­ter of Cul­tural Rights for Cana­di­ans through a work­ing group of the CCA Board,
• The devel­op­ment of a youth and diver­sity engage­ment strat­egy as an exten­sion of CCA’s recent Cre­ative Man­age­ment project,
• Redefin­ing the rela­tion­ship of the CCA to the Inter­na­tional Net­work on Cul­tural Diver­sity (INCD) and the Coali­tion for Cul­tural Diver­sity (CCD),
• Redefin­ing the rela­tion­ship of the CCA to the ArtsS­marts program,
• Build­ing alliances with non-sectoral groups such as the Cre­ative City Net­work and the Vol­un­tary Sec­tor Ini­tia­tive, etc.

The Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts has been engaged in broad pan-sectoral issues for over sixty years. It is the mis­sion of the CCA to mon­i­tor devel­op­ments within gov­ern­ment, Par­lia­ment, and the arts and cul­ture sec­tor and inter­vene to ensure that the inter­ests of artists, cre­ators, arts pro­fes­sion­als and Cana­di­ans are reflected within these dis­cus­sions and processes. It is a mis­sion that we care pas­sion­ately about and that does not detract from the strong com­mit­ment and active sup­port that the Board of the CCA has expressed for the work of the Cana­dian Arts Coalition.

P.S. To date the Board has not addressed rela­tions with the Cana­dian Cattlemen’s Association!