Hacks & Wonks

I think arts and culture funding in Canada have actually left the arts community worse off. Artists getting the funding are the ones who are more adept at navigating the byzantine funding structure than they are at making art.

We have also created a circle of cultural imperialists who are the arbiters of what constitutes "Canadian" culture. All while they yearn for digs in LA or London, as Richler so cleverly noted. Culture is supposed to be organic and always evolving. Instead, we have a chosen few acting as guardians of some sort of status quo.

In my mind, artists who feel the government owes them a living are practitioners of the ultimate vanity. In the end, we are all failed artists - if I had one iota of musical talent, I would be touring right now. If anyone would buy my poetry, I would be too busy for blogging. But sadly, I have to stick with my day job. What makes the other artists better than everyone else and therefore entitled to be free from creating art that the public wants and is willing to pay for privately?

That doesn't mean that government should be totally out of the arts game, mind you. In some spaces (parks, libraries, embassies), sculptures make sense. As does having a National Gallery. However, this does not mean that a chosen few should have their exhibitions bankrolled on the public's dime.