The Sprint Continues

May 24, 2012

It’s the last mag­a­zine before our June 18th annual gen­eral meet­ing in Ottawa and like in a sus­pense film, I’m about to pre­pare my annual report with­out know­ing quite how it will end! In a few weeks, another cru­cial step towards the future of the CCA will be real­ized. I have high hopes that with the sup­port received so far and that expected to come, we will win the bold gam­ble to ensure the sus­tain­abil­ity of this unique instru­ment for the cul­tural sec­tor. All the same it’s with but­ter­flies in my stom­ach that I approach the final stretch of a year that has passed so fast!

A year ago already we started fac­ing the real­ity that this would be a piv­otal moment in the his­tory of the CCA when we were made unof­fi­cially aware that the CCA’s fund­ing was in jeop­ardy. Then, on April 11, almost a year later, we received the offi­cial announce­ment of the government’s deci­sion to put an end to 46 years of finan­cial sup­port. To say the last twelve months made for an event­ful year would be an understatement.

The day after our last gen­eral assem­bly, in June 2011, we began work on devel­op­ing a new busi­ness plan to build a sta­ble and autonomous finan­cial base for the CCA. Brain­storm­ing ses­sions, board meet­ings, con­sul­ta­tions and meet­ings across the coun­try, all helped to shape a detailed, ambi­tious yet achiev­able plan. All through­out this process I became increas­ingly con­vinced that if the CCA had 67 years of his­tory, it could have just as many to come. I was made aware of the need for a strong and inde­pen­dent CCA for the arts, cul­tural and her­itage sec­tor across the coun­try; a CCA that brings together a list of com­mon inter­ests; a CCA devoted to the ser­vice of its mem­bers and address­ing in a unique way issues of vital impor­tance not only for the cul­tural sec­tor but for all citizens.

Along the way I have seen grow­ing inter­est in sol­i­dar­ity and work­ing together. I saw the scep­ti­cism in some eyes about our chances of suc­cess, but at the same time the avail­abil­ity and the desire to par­tic­i­pate in this unprece­dented adven­ture. I must admit that over this past year, my faith has been shaken a few times in the face of the mag­ni­tude of this task. Dur­ing the last weeks how­ever, I have seen many of you pass from scep­ti­cism to con­vic­tion that it is pos­si­ble after all. Not easy, but pos­si­ble. More and more of you have been cast­ing your votes of con­fi­dence by renew­ing your mem­ber­ships. We have been gain­ing new mem­bers that have never pre­vi­ously sup­ported the CCA. Some have been increas­ing their dues, some that we had lost over the years are com­ing back, con­vinced that we are stronger together. For me, this sup­port con­firms that we are on the right track and the staff and board mem­bers aren’t the only ones who believe it.

Over the next two weeks I will be going to Toronto and Mon­treal to meet the National Advi­sory Com­mit­tee on pri­or­i­ties. We will take stock of the CCA, of projects in progress and of the col­lec­tive com­mit­ment to achieve them.

And in less than a month, I will be report­ing to you on the con­clu­sion of this chap­ter that we are in the process of writing.

–Alain