Making a Single Case for the Arts: An International Perspective

Alexan­dra Slaby

Octo­ber 2008

In Canada, the cul­tural sec­tor is diver­si­fied and rather frag­mented and, for a vari­ety of rea­sons, it has been impos­si­ble so far to artic­u­late a coher­ent cul­tural pol­icy at the national level. There was a time when the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence for the Arts was the sin­gle, over­ar­ch­ing orga­ni­za­tion rep­re­sent­ing the inter­ests of all artis­tic dis­ci­plines in all regions. Nowa­days, pro­fes­sional, discipline-specific orga­ni­za­tions have devel­oped to rep­re­sent their own inter­ests. Nev­er­the­less, it remains the CCA’s man­date to “act as the national forum for the artis­tic and cul­tural com­mu­nity in Canada” and artic­u­late poli­cies ensur­ing the growth of the cul­tural sector.

This dou­ble man­date of “think tank” and advo­cate for the cul­tural sec­tor raises a num­ber of ques­tions, par­tic­u­larly in a polit­i­cal con­text where lob­by­ing is viewed with sus­pi­cion. This research report aims at inves­ti­gat­ing how other coun­tries have addressed this issue and suc­ceeded in devel­op­ing a col­lab­o­ra­tive modus operandi among arts orga­ni­za­tions each artic­u­lat­ing cul­tural poli­cies in order to make a sin­gle case for the arts. The report looks at the con­texts which have pro­duced suc­cess­ful arts advo­cacy efforts and looks at for­eign best prac­tices in that respect.

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