FROM THE DESK of Alain Pineau: Open Letter to Canadian Political Leaders and Cultural Organization Leaders

CCA Bul­letin 40/08

Octo­ber 2, 2008

For many years Cana­dian cre­ators, artists and arts pro­fes­sion­als have longed to have a national dis­cus­sion on the role and value of the arts and cul­ture sec­tor in our national life. The cur­rent fed­eral elec­tion cam­paign has quite unex­pect­edly pro­vided this opportunity.

Unfor­tu­nately, the cur­rent debate has focused on two polar­i­ties, those who see the arts and cul­ture sec­tor as a frill for the elite, and those for whom the pro­grams and poli­cies of the fed­eral gov­ern­ment are immutable and eter­nally inadequate.

Such a polar­iza­tion does a grave dis­ser­vice to the kind of strate­gic dis­cus­sion that is nec­es­sary in order to assess and val­i­date the con­tri­bu­tion of this sec­tor on the qual­ity of Cana­dian life in terms of the econ­omy, social and national iden­tity, as well as our sta­tus in the world community.

By focus­ing on these two soli­tudes, the dis­cus­sion is miss­ing an oppor­tu­nity which many gov­ern­ments around the world have already seized upon – the emer­gence of a cre­ative econ­omy to eclipse the tra­di­tional agrarian/industrial econ­omy on which Canada and other devel­oped nations cut their teeth. These gov­ern­ments have acknowl­edged the cur­rent con­tri­bu­tion that the cre­ative sec­tor brings to their national life, as well as the tremen­dous future poten­tial that remains to be devel­oped and exploited for the com­mon good of all Canadians.

The Con­fer­ence Board of Canada, in coop­er­a­tion with the Depart­ment of Cana­dian Her­itage, spon­sored an Inter­na­tional Forum on the Cre­ative Econ­omy last March to launch a process of reflec­tion. The Forum engaged some the bright­est minds from inter­na­tional and Cana­dian com­mu­ni­ties, and pre­sented impres­sive sta­tis­tics demon­strat­ing the cur­rent sta­tus of the cre­ative sec­tor absent from a national strat­egy on the cre­ative econ­omy. Some of their find­ings include:

• In 2007 the cul­tural sector’s eco­nomic foot­print in Canada amounted to just over $ 84 bil­lion or 7.4% of the Gross Domes­tic Prod­uct (GDP);
• The Con­fer­ence Board esti­mates that for every $1 of real value-added GDP pro­duced by Canada’s cul­ture indus­tries, roughly $1.84 is added to over­all real GDP;
• The cul­tural sec­tor employed 616,000 peo­ple directly in 2003 when this was last mea­sured, and when the sector’s indi­rect and other effects are included over 1.1 mil­lion Cana­di­ans in 2007;
• Inter­ac­tive media involv­ing dig­i­tal tech­nol­ogy gen­er­ated an esti­mated $ 5 bil­lion of rev­enue in 2005 and employed more than 50,000 people;

• Toronto, Mon­tréal and Van­cou­ver account for 64% of arts and cul­ture workers;
• In 2005 Cana­di­ans spent $ 25.2 bil­lion on goods and ser­vices from the cul­tural sec­tor, more than three times the $ 7.7 bil­lion spent by all lev­els of gov­ern­ment in 2003;
• In real terms, gov­ern­ment spend­ing on cul­ture mea­sured as a per­cent­age of GDP is now 0.3% lover than in 1999.

This data is a clear illus­tra­tion of the open­ing bid of the cre­ative econ­omy with­out a national strat­egy. What could be achieved with a coor­di­nated and com­pre­hen­sive national approach to build­ing on these con­sid­er­able strengths? Unfor­tu­nately, this will not be accom­plished by debat­ing long-established polar­i­ties on cul­tural issues.

To achieve the goal of a national strat­egy on the cre­ative econ­omy sev­eral top­ics must be addressed:

1) It is imper­a­tive to launch a strate­gic and trans­par­ent review of all fed­eral poli­cies, pro­grams and ser­vices that con­tribute to the devel­op­ment of a cre­ative econ­omy. This review process is essen­tial to ensure that cur­rent poli­cies, pro­grams and ser­vices enhance rather than inhibit the devel­op­ment of the cre­ative sec­tor in Cana­dian life.

2) The engage­ment of the pri­vate sec­tor is essen­tial for the long-term health of the cre­ative sec­tor. If the cre­ative econ­omy is to aspire to its full poten­tial, it must engage the pri­vate sec­tor not only as phil­an­thropists but also as part­ners in the devel­op­ment of new ven­tures in the cre­ative sector.

3) We must artic­u­late a plan to develop and exploit inter­na­tional mar­kets and oppor­tu­ni­ties for the Cana­dian cre­ative sec­tor. Many of our inter­na­tional part­ners and com­peti­tors have already done so – fail­ure to act now places Canada at a dis­ad­van­tage in the global marketplace.

4) Respect on all sides of such a national dia­logue is essen­tial. Revert­ing to hyper­bole or stereo­types does not cre­ate an atmos­phere for the kind of seri­ous national dia­logue that must take place on this topic. The cur­rent debate must refine both its lex­i­con and civility.

5) Patience and effort will be required of all par­tic­i­pants in this dis­cus­sion. If we can agree that a national strat­egy is required to build on the accom­plish­ments of the cre­ative sec­tor for the ben­e­fit of all Cana­di­ans, we must declare a mora­to­rium on uni­lat­eral actions on both sides. Dur­ing the period of devel­op­ment, cur­rent poli­cies and pro­grams must be allowed to func­tion, and the cre­ative sec­tor should par­tic­i­pate in the strate­gic review process with an open mind.

The cre­ative econ­omy is an increas­ingly impor­tant ele­ment of Canada’s liveli­hood. It would be a ben­e­fit to all Cana­di­ans for our polit­i­cal lead­ers to engage us in a pos­i­tive, forward-looking dis­cus­sion on the role of the arts and cul­tural sec­tor in the devel­op­ment of Canada, our econ­omy and our sense of national iden­tity. As we move towards form­ing Canada’s 40th Par­lia­ment, we must out­line a cul­tur­ally and eco­nom­i­cally advan­ta­geous strat­egy that will be for the ben­e­fit of all Canadians.

This is the most impor­tant objec­tive that the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts will pur­sue to the full extent of its means and energy. We hope that you will join us in this impor­tant endeav­our which is of cru­cial con­se­quences for all Cana­di­ans and their children.