Arts and Culture
There seems to be uptake on the question of Toronto’s culture sector. Is it a “frill” as one commenter called it? How should arts and culture be funded, and to what level? Why is this important to Toronto today and in the future?
Setting the Agenda 2010
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November 17, 2009 at 4:53 pm |
We need more support for the arts either from government, the private sector or (tight-fisted money making) individuals. It’s pathetic that our country’s economic centre doesn’t have a contemporary art gallery the size of Montreal’s, yet we have a huge number of artists working in this city. The city needs to step up and convince people to invest in a city that people actually want to visit, where they can enjoy top-notch contemporary art, theatre, dance and music. We need our city to attract the top minds of our generation and keep them here. No arts equals no life.
November 17, 2009 at 5:13 pm |
Respectfully disagree. “No arts equals no life”. No, no food security equals no life, poverty equals no life, homelessness, violence on the streets, etc etc. Real effects on real lives. Art will exist always. I do not want to see us fund arts so far that other, tangible and in your face every day issues suffer. If we want world class attention, that’s where the big money corporations and private philanthropists come in.
November 17, 2009 at 9:08 pm |
I’m not suggesting that the city funds the arts. I agree that corps and philanthropists need to step up, but where are they? We need a mayor and city gov’t that believe in and can find supporters of the arts. Nuit Blanche was born from from city gov’t, and we can argue about how “world class” it is, but I believe it’s pretty successful at attracting visitors and bringing money into the city.
November 24, 2009 at 5:04 pm |
I agree with Ken. People will make art, and always have. In my crappy part of the city near Regent Park, which didn’t become Clean and Beautiful despite the roundtable tasked with that, I want to feel safe and ensure my family and neighbours can eat and be warm this winter. I don’t want the government interfering at that level. Let the arts be – I don’t want to be funding rich people going to the opera. I certainly don’t want this idea what life springs from art, and not the other way around, to take hold. I’m sorry, but your poetry reading or performance piece subsidized by our property taxes makes no difference to my life or anyone else in this neighbourhood. Get real.
November 18, 2009 at 11:40 am |
[...] pleased to report there is now a dedicated Arts and Culture Page! Go check it [...]
November 18, 2009 at 12:13 pm |
In fact the city itself in it’s Agenda for Prosperity and Creative City Planning Framework reports has identified that expanding our investment in culture will indeed result in more economic activity. It’s one of the pillars of the city’s plan for attracting more talent, more big business and thus more dollars. It’s not pure altruism of ‘art for arts sake” it’s driven by economics. However, in order to create this city that people, want to live, work, visit and invest in, we must give the arts and our knowledge based sectors free reign to create without fetters.
November 19, 2009 at 12:03 pm |
We have the Canada Council and the people they deem as the top artists in the country.
Do we need a second tier that is funded and supported by the government? All this creates is another circle of people who are allowed to express themselves with the public’s money.
I think that art should be free of all government participation. The way you help artists is by teaching in-depth cultural appreciation in school.
November 20, 2009 at 1:57 pm |
Michael:
The funding orgs are the government. And the circle of people you refer to are not “allowed” they are chosen by a jury of their peers.
I totally agree one of the ways you help artists is by teaching in depth cultural appreciation in schools. You teach that, you teach a lifelong appreciation. It’s been fully documented.
Except a few years back, the “government” deemed that – art, music, dance, appreciation of cultural expression – to be an unnecessary part of our children’s education system, and cut finding for those programs. And the results are visible. It has had a negative impact on an entire generation of students.
November 20, 2009 at 1:59 pm |
and I sometimes wonder…when people say things like, “the arts are a frill” do they realize that they’ve just dismissed me, my job, my friends, my friends’ jobs, the taxes I pay, the taxes they pay, thousands of reasons that people visit our city, millions of dollars pumped directly and by proxy into our economy and an entire industry – all in five uneducated words?
November 20, 2009 at 9:39 pm |
Calling people who disagree with you ‘uneducated’ is no way to win any support. I believe the arts are a frill in tough times and do not see them as a priority when there are hunger, homelessness, violence issues. Arts will occur whether we fund them or not. I do however agree with a previous comment that it is important for schools to incorporate appreciation of arts and culture. I also would seriously question your comment about the ‘millions’ pumped into the economy for the arts. Aside from low paid hospitality jobs, the (high) arts tend to revolve around a rich clique who give to one another, not the city.
November 20, 2009 at 10:35 pm |
According to a report done by Deloitte for the City of Toronto in 2005, creative industries employ 130,000 people and generate a $9-billion economy (Economic Impact of the Culture Sector, http://www.toronto.ca/culture/cultureplan.htm).
November 21, 2009 at 8:55 pm |
“Calling people who disagree with you ‘uneducated’ is no way to win any support.”
Ken- to clarify – wasn’t calling the person/you uneducated, only the choice of words. Apologies for the misunderstanding. However, it is a dismissive comment if for no other reason that the ones I cited.
“Aside from low paid hospitality jobs, the (high) arts tend to revolve around a rich clique who give to one another, not the city”.
This is one of my points – arts and culture does not stop at the ballet and the opera and Impressionist paintings.
Arts and culture are everywhere from the program you are watching on TV, to the radio broadcast you listen to, books, movies, the design of a park bench, the design of a piece of clothing. I think most people would be in for a rude shock, as they don’t necessarily realize how integrated arts and culture is in our everyday lives.
November 22, 2009 at 12:27 am |
In response to Ken’s:
“I believe the arts are a frill in tough times and do not see them as a priority when there are hunger, homelessness, violence issues”.
Hi Ken, I do agree that hunger, homelessness and violence are issues that municipalities need to address. It is how a city addresses these issues is where I believe the arts play a central and necessary role.
Hunger, homelessness and violence are all issues that ultimately require money in order to be addressed. It is money that provides programs and services. To be able to constantly fund programs and services there needs to be a constant flow of money.
One of the most direct ways for a municipality to secure a constant flow money is to to stimulate its economy by means of attracting business to set up shop here.
The businesses of today are attracted to cities where there is a strong, creative workforce. Toronto, like many other cities worldwide, has identified “cultural planning” and investment in creativity as major ways to develop the strong, creative workforces that in turn attract business investment. When businesses set up shop in Toronto, Toronto’s economy is directly stimulated. This in turn puts money into the city coffers that in turn provides the constant flow of money and finacial stability needed for municipalities to provide programs/services to address hunger, homelessness and violence on a viable long-term (not band-aid) basis.
More business based in Toronto =
- a larger pool of business who are locally based who could be approached to support cash for services/programs to address the issues of hunger, homeless and violence.
-more decent paying jobs and hence more people who might have a few extra bucks to donate to the programs that help address these issues.
- more corporate volunteer programs to dedicate manpower to keeping food banks, soup kitches and shelters runnng smoothly.
- more money in the City coffers to offer programs.
More creativity in our city means
- more business invested in our city
- a better quality of life
- increased tourism (people will want to come to Toronto and spend their money at our hotels, restaurants and theatres that in turn stimulates Toronto’s economy)
- safer streets…creativity allows neighbourhoods to be reclaimed and encourages cvic engagements.
Here are some links to some reading that talks a bit more about cultural planning policy and the building of “creative cities”.
http://www.culture.gov.on.ca/english/about/mcp.htm
http://www.toronto.ca/prosperity/
http://www.toronto.ca/culture/pdf/creative-city-planning-framework-feb08.pdf
It is my belief that the arts are most certainly not a “frill” but a foundation that, when invested in now, will help create the financial stability that will give cities that means to address many other issues.
Thanks to everyone for the great conversation.
November 22, 2009 at 9:15 am |
thanks for the links, Bridget and Camilla – some thought-provoking statistics in them.
And I agree – thanks to everyone for a great conversation.
November 22, 2009 at 11:51 pm |
I spent Thursday evening and Friday at “Designing Transit Cities”, and a thread running through many presentations was the need to think of the surroundings of a transit system, the neighbourhoods, the stations, the pedestrian amenities (or lack of them). Another issue was the way that a public space says something about the city that builds it. As said above, we attract people to the city because of what we are and how we express our dreams.
That dream could be a barren suburban parking lot or a grand galleria filled with shops, cafes, art, performances. Do we let the lowest common commercial denominator dictate what public spaces look like, or do we insist on quality over quantity?
“Art” has a very wide scope and it touches many aspects of what our city becomes. A solitary artist working in an about-to-be-demolished workshop may produce works that challenge the viewer, but some of those viewers will think about what they see a different way. Those experiences will, if we’re lucky, inform other parts of their life, tell people that the city can be more than what is there today.
Much of my activism is in a technical area as was my professional life, but I also have strong interests in many arts, and the whole left brain / right brain thing makes for a better world view, a better sense of how there’s more to transit than digging holes in the ground.