MONTREAL - Arts groups need to diversify their sources of funding to ensure they remain financially viable, Heritage Minister James Moore said Friday.
He delivered that message at a conference on arts funding in a province where his Conservatives took a political beating and perhaps lost a chance at a majority government when the issue erupted in the last election.
Moore told participants at a Montreal university gathering that the culture industry needs to look to a variety of places -- not just government, or any one particular source -- for its cash.
"It can't be just private sector, it can't be just government," Moore said after addressing the audience at Hautes Etudes Commerciales, which hosted a conference on the effects of the economic recession on the culture industry.
"We have to have a multi-pillared approach that we have more economic shock absorbers to help organizations as they plan for the future."
Participants at the conference discussed how arts groups weathered the recession and prepared to meet future challenges, such as lower ticket sales, through such things as getting a better idea of what audiences want to see.
Moore emphasized the government's commitment to the arts, pointing out that financing for arts organizations and funding agencies such as the Canada Council for the Arts had been approved for five years, an unprecedented move.
Moore also pointed to investments in training and infrastructure for the industry, which employs 650,000 Canadians. It has also set up a program where it will match funds given to an arts organization by philanthropists.
He also said he saw no reason why arts organizations shouldn't benefit from tax breaks like those given to political parties when they get contributions from average Canadians.
Moore acknowledged last year's election controversy.
An ongoing furor over cuts to arts programs was fuelled further when Prime Minister Stephen Harper, during the election campaign, suggested that ordinary people didn't care about the complaints of artists at rich galas.
"I know that arts and culture was a huge and divisive debate in the last campaign in the province of Quebec and after I was appointed minister of Heritage, we went around the country and we listened," Moore said in an interview.
But Pablo Rodriguez, the federal Liberal cultural critic who attended Moore's presentation, was less than impressed, saying Moore "put up a good show."
"Officially he gives a nice speech giving the impression that he wants to be a partner but in reality if you look at the numbers, they cut it last year and they cut it this year," Rodriguez said.
Participants at the conference said the continued support of the government is vital. But they acknowledged that the cultural sector knows it has to diversify its funding pool.
Claire Hopkinson, the executive director of the Toronto Arts Council, said in her presentation there is a "fundamental strength of the sector through ingenuity and resilience."
"More self-reliance, not less, we feel is leading to (a) healthier sector, leading to the creating of more friends and more of a sense of responsibility of the whole community in helping the sector," she said.
However, she said there are some concerns in the arts community that the Pan-Am Games coming to Toronto in 2015 could result in drastic cuts to arts funding by the province similar to those that have slammed British Columbia arts organizations.
A report presented at the conference argued that private industry already is heavily involved in the arts.
The report by the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal noted that culture generates 100,000 jobs in Montreal and economic spinoffs totalling $12 billion.
"The private sector is an important player when it comes to culture," said Michel Leblanc, the board's president, pointing out that private funding made up 21 per cent of the budgets of 294 artistic organizations examined for the report.
He said the study raised the question of how the private sector can help more.
"This study both provides evidence of the economic vitality of our cultural sector and represents a call for business people to help this sector flourish. It is now up to us to continue developing reinforcement strategies so that our cultural expansion can develop even more and fully contribute to wealth creation."
