Canadian Arts Coalition Gearing Up for Lobby Day on the Hill

Bul­letin 42/05

Ottawa, Octo­ber 24, 2005 – The Cana­dian Arts Coali­tion is gear­ing up for an active day of lob­by­ing on
Par­lia­ment Hill on Octo­ber 25. The goal is a $5 per capita increase in fed­eral fund­ing for the arts, with
new funds to go to the Canada Coun­cil for the Arts.
Coa­lesc­ing around a core group of national arts and cul­ture orga­ni­za­tions, the Coali­tion has been active
since May of this year. The Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts was a found­ing mem­ber of the Coali­tion,
which now includes 26 national, provin­cial, and local orga­ni­za­tions. A com­plete list of cur­rent mem­bers
can be found below.
The rapidly expand­ing activ­i­ties of the Coali­tion have already borne fruit. The Min­is­ter of Cana­dian
Her­itage, the Hon. Liza Frulla, has stated pub­licly, on sev­eral occa­sions, that she sup­ports an increase for
the Canada Coun­cil, which cel­e­brates its 50th anniver­sary in 2006. Her posi­tion received unan­i­mous
endorse­ment from the provin­cial and ter­ri­to­r­ial min­is­ters of cul­ture who met with her in Banff in
Sep­tem­ber. A num­ber of Cana­dian cities have passed res­o­lu­tions in sup­port of the increase, with more
in the works.
While the signs so far are pos­i­tive, there is still much work to be done to con­vince cab­i­net and MPs that a
$5 per capita increase is both desir­able and afford­able. That’s why, on Octo­ber 25, a group of about 80
Coali­tion activists from across the coun­try will visit with par­lia­men­tar­i­ans and their staff. Rep­re­sent­ing
the widest pos­si­ble range of orga­ni­za­tions, insti­tu­tions, and artis­tic dis­ci­plines, this deeply com­mit­ted
group will make the case for a sub­stan­tial addi­tional invest­ment in the cre­ative life of Canada.
The CCA will be there, rep­re­sented by Pres­i­dent Robert Spick­ler, Board mem­ber Bastien Gilbert, and
Interim National Direc­tor Andrew David Ter­ris. Watch for a CCA Bul­letin later this week on what
hap­pened on the Hill.
Cur­rent Mem­bers of the Cana­dian Arts Coali­tion ~ Asso­ci­a­tion nationale des éditeurs de livres ~
Asso­ci­a­tion of Cana­dian Pub­lish­ers ~ Book and Peri­od­i­cal Coun­cil ~ Cana­dian Art Museum Direc­tors
Orga­ni­za­tion ~ Cana­dian Arts Summit/Sommet Cana­dien des Arts ~ Cana­dian Artists
Representation/Le front des artistes cana­di­ens ~ Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts/Conférence
cana­di­enne des arts ~ Cana­dian Crafts Federation/Federation cana­di­enne des metiers d’art ~ Cana­dian
Dance Assembly/Assemblée cana­di­enne de la danse ~ Cana­dian League of Composers/Ligue
cana­di­enne de com­pos­i­teurs ~ Cana­dian Muse­ums Association/Association des musées cana­di­ens ~
Con­seil québé­cois du théâtre ~ Greater Van­cou­ver Alliance for Arts and Cul­ture ~ Inde­pen­dent Media
Arts Alliance/Alliance des arts médi­a­tiques indépen­dants ~ Mag­a­zines Canada ~ Le Mou­ve­ment pour
les arts et les let­tres ~ Opera.ca ~ Orches­tras Canada/Orchestres Canada ~ Peri­od­i­cal Writ­ers
Asso­ci­a­tion of Canada ~ Play­wrights Guild of Canada ~ Pro­fes­sional Asso­ci­a­tion of Cana­dian The­atres ~
Regroupe­ment québé­cois de la danse ~ Union des écrivaines et écrivains québé­cois ~ The Writ­ers’
Union of Canada ~ Société de développe­ment des péri­odiques cul­turels québé­cois ~ Société des musées
québécois