From the traveling desk of Alain Pineau — A full day in Saskatoon and off to Regina
REGINA — So here I am, finally settled into my hotel room after a three hour bus ride that took me from Saskatoon to Regina with my knees pressed against the seat in front of me. At least I had internet access along the way so I could catch up on the day’s e-mails and read an excellent interview by Greg O’Brien from cartt.ca with Konrad Von Finckenstein, the chairman of the CRTC whose term is finishing up in a few days.
It was a long and busy day! I was up at 6 a.m. for a telephone interview with Radio-Canada in Winnipeg in advance of my visit to Manitoba at the end of the week. At 8 a.m. I had breakfast with Kevin Kitchen, the Community Initiatives Manager with the City of Saskatoon, and Marnie Gladwell, the Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance. Kevin shared the city’s cultural development plan with us and we could clearly see the passion that animated this municipal bureaucrat whose career also included several years of service in the City of Ottawa. It seems that all roads lead to Saskatoon. The city’s development plan stems from its designation as Canada’s cultural capital for 2007 by the Department of Canadian Heritage. There are many reasons to hope that this plan will lead to action. Indeed, it seems that the city council, with the mayor in the lead, is sensitive to the insistence of the mining industry and the University of Saskatchewan that this rapidly growing city offer a quality of life that includes art and culture.
Poached eggs completed, Marnie and I went to Persephone Theatre to meet the general manager and the artistic director, and were joined by representatives of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and the Mendel Art Gallery. What followed was an interesting exchange on the importance of developing coherent strategies to better position the arts in our communities and of convincing decision-makers at all levels of the role of culture and its multiple contributions to our quality of life. Interesting echoes of our earlier conversation! Again, I feel this gives us a good idea of the contribution that an organization such as the CCA could make towards achieving these goals, all tempered by the affirmation that Saskatoon is far from Ottawa!
I have encountered this sense of isolation from the national capital more than once during my visits to the Western provinces, particularly in British Columbia. It resurfaced during this afternoon’s public session at the beautiful site of the theatre La Troupe du Jour, which gathered about twenty people from various sectors of cultural activities, predominantly anglophone, ranging from visual arts to heritage to education. Here again, I received positive reactions to my presentation (probably too long in spite of my efforts, but how do you do an overview in thirty minutes of the state of the arts and culture and the role that the CCA can play when so little is known about this unique organization?) How to adequately respond to criticism to the effect that few so-called national organizations adequately reflect the concerns and interests of artists and cultural organizations west of Ontario? What to respond when, for the third time in twenty-four hours, I am told that the cultural sector in Saskatchewan receives the least funding from Ottawa? But the session ended positively with warm words of encouragement and, dare I hope?, the possibility that this will lead to a number of new members of the CCA!
The day promises to be as rich and full in Regina tomorrow, so it is more than past my bedtime! I will return Thursday, after my visit to Saskatchewan is completed. You can also follow the progress of my tour via Twitter.
Alain