BUDGET DEPUTATIONS ON BEHALF OF TORONTO ARTS COUNCIL

Curtis Barlow, CEO of The Institute for Canadian Citizenship

“We are all familiar with statistics on the economic impact of the arts on a local community and the economic contribution that arts activity makes to local economy. These facts are important. But in tangible spiritual, creative, quality of life terms, arts activity is, in my view, one of the single most important contributors to that which makes a city great. This is particularly true of Toronto, which boasts a vibrant, active, energetic community of exceptional artists and cultural workers.

But may I mention that notwithstanding subsidies from all three levels of government, the greatest subsidies to the arts are made by the artists themselves, through low salaries. And one can argue that grants to arts organisations are actually a subsidy to members of the public, which enable them to become arts consumers by keeping ticket prices low.

We at the Institute are working with the major arts organisations in this city to give free family passes to new Canadian citizens for a year after they are sworn in. Because we recognise that there is no more effective way of instilling in our new citizens a sense of belonging and connection to their community than being welcomed into the cultural organisations of their city.

We also recognize that the arts play a strong unifying role in bringing the diverse communities of this city together. The arts have made Toronto the great city that it is today. I would urge you to recognise this by respecting the budget of the toronto arts council and ensuring that the provisions of the city’s culture plan are fulfilled.

With a relatively modest investment, you can help make this city soar.”

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Dae-Tong Huh, President of the Korean-Canadian Literary Forum-21 Press

“[L]ocal artists are essential for maintaining and improving the health and spirit of communities, especially in Toronto. Montreal, Vancouver, Chicago, New York and San Francisco all fund their artists at a rate between 1.5 and 6 times Toronto’s funding levels. This is unacceptable if Toronto wishes to be acknowledged as a globally artistic and multicultural city…

Five years ago, City council promised an increase of $2 million, over five years, to the Toronto Arts Council (TAC). This is the 5th year and $597,000 has not been received by the TAC.

As a Non-Profit publisher, I am extremely hopeful that City Council will live up to its Culture Plan commitment to the TAC – for a total of at least $597,000 to Toronto Arts Council’s grants program this year.”

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Kristen Fahrig, visual artist

“I wish to live in a beautiful city that does not leave anyone out. But transforming communities does not happen on its own and does not happen over night. The MacGregor Park Art Club may not exist past June, and our efforts on Dundas Street may not get beyond the experimental stage without investment from the City of Toronto for which we are working.

The work of the community artist is not vague. It has clear codifiable tasks and measurable outcomes. It can be tied into an accountability framework. The Toronto Arts Council is your assurance that initiatives such as these are successfully carried through.

It is easy say we love the arts and that culture is important to us. I am asking that you put these thoughts into action and vote for the budget request from the Toronto Arts Council.”

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Richard Marsella, Ontario Regional Director for the Canadian Music Centre

“I’m sure you’ve all heard slogans like: they’re more cultured in Europe, or in Quebec. It’s no mistake why. European governments, and the province of Quebec, fund the arts more vigorously.

Now how much of this is rumour, and how much of it is fact? The Quebec Region of the Canadian Music Centre receives more funding upwards of a 7 to 1 ratio compared to its provincial partners. Quebec has always had a seemingly “more European” attitude towards the arts. This is evident, not only in their cultural funding statistics, but also in the overall social acceptance of their own artists. I really think much of this success can be attributed to long term education practices both inside and outside the classroom. In these regions, culture is organically grown, not imposed.

When neighboring cities like Brampton and Mississauga recently began competing with Toronto’s per capita funding of arts and culture, I think the writing is on the wall. Toronto needs to be in the league of Montreal, Chicago and New York with respect of its arts funding if it wants to remain the cultural barometer of Canada.

With the recent Agenda for Prosperity, and its evident support of creativity and new ideas, Toronto is on its way to blooming into a city of distinction.

If we rely on popular music to educate our children, they will grow up without the true cultural riches this country has to offer. I am here today to stress the importance of Canadian composers and their role in a creative city like Toronto. It isn’t good enough to merely celebrate the birth of new arts buildings in this city. We must also focus our energies on fostering the new works that go in them. Otherwise, we’re focusing on the frame and not the painting. I urge you to continue valuing Canadian composers when making budgetary decisions.”

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John Van Burek, Artistic Director of the Pleiades Theatre

“What I want to suggest, as the Committee grapples with the question of how best to allocate budgets, is to perhaps look at the issue of arts funding from a different perspective; not as yet another drain on limited resources but rather a way of replenishing them, or at least reducing the strain upon them. The truth is that collectively, the cultural sector delivers more to the City of Toronto than the City gives to it. This may sound familiar. What we have experienced, especially in the past fifteen years, is the tail end of the "download syndrome." Just as the Federal Government downloaded to the Provinces, then Ontario dumped un-paid for duties onto its cities, so too has Toronto, in many ways, asked the cultural sector to foot the bill for much of what gives our community its pulse.

All cities have roads, provide jobs, schools and places for people to live. But not all cities have a vibrant, intellectual, entertaining and cultural environment that will stimulate its citizens to bigger and better things, things that will in turn nourish that very city. Toronto's cultural activity, in broad terms, has been asked to become one of the prime calling cards for the city. It provides much of our marketing sizzle, glamour and drawing power. People don't move to or visit a city because it has nice insurance buildings, or because they love traffic. They come for that intangible envelope of challenge and escape that surrounds a daily routine of work; that envelope is the cultural life of the city.
And the bill for this is very low. In fact, as has been mentioned by others, when it comes to investing in this sector our World Class Toronto is the most parsimonious of all the great cities in North America. Yet, miraculously, the results are somehow there, so obviously, someone must be absorbing the cost. … However, as Toronto asks the Province, and the Province asks the Feds, how long can this go on?”

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Jacoba Knaapen, Executive Director of The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA)

“The TAPA Stats Report was released last week, and what you have before you today councillors is a landmark report that provides us with solid, up-to-date information about our industry in Toronto.

Important key findings in the TAPA Stats Report include:

• Over 1 million individuals attended a professional theatre dance or opera event in the 2005-06 season
• Over $169 million dollars was spent on tickets
• Over 2.5 million single and subscription tickets were sold by TAPA members
• 22% of audience members come from outside the City of Toronto
• 50% of TAPA companies surveyed report that their total audience has increased from the 2004-05 season to the 2005-06 season.

Theatre, dance and opera provide the City of Toronto with a fertile, relatively untapped opportunity for economic growth. The TAPA Stats Report supports this and encourages us to invest in the cultural infrastructure in Toronto. The TAPA Stats Report is not only a valuable tool for TAPA members helping them to stimulate collaborative partnerships, increasing both corporate and private support of the arts, but as well it is a valuable tool for this committee with which to measure cultural impact…

The Culture Plan for the City of Toronto recognizes that “great cities of the world are all Creative Cities whose citizens work with ideas, are intensely mobile and insist on a high quality of life wherever they choose to live”. Today I am asking the City to fulfill its commitment to the Culture Plan. The extraordinary quality and diversity of the work that is regularly presented on Toronto’s stages is recognized not only locally here in Toronto, but is also critically acclaimed both on the national and international stage.”

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