Beyond the Curtain identifies a number of challenges facing theatres including changing audiences. With cuts to arts education and the increased expectations of young audiences for more exciting visual effects and behind the scenes access through social media, theatres need to adapt. Theatres also face stiff competition from other forms of entertainment such as movies, TV, gaming and social media which are often less expensive and can be enjoyed from the comfort of home.

When it comes to implementing new technology and media, budgetary constraints as well as gaps in training and skills can impede experimentation.  Managing social media requires acquisition of new technology, training and other resources. The report recommends that more funding be put towards innovation and re-purposing of content for big and small screens as well as a forum and workshops for the exchange of ideas and skills in digital media. The report also provides many examples of projects that undertaken here and abroad using a variety of new technologies in productions, as well as in the promotion and re-purposing of content that could be useful to other performing arts professionals.

One of the major challenges still remaining is the contracts and agreements between all the parties involved in a production. Groups in other countries like the UK have already made progress on this front with agreements specific to the re-purposing of content for digital platforms for example.  The report recommends that Canadian producers and unions speed up negotiations to remove some of these barriers to innovation.

- Gender representation;
- Gender role at work;
- Wage equality;
- Decision-making equality; and,
- Balance between career and home.

Drawn up by representatives of several employer and worker organizations, the plan of action takes the diversity of social partners into account. The good practices it recommends cover all development stages of gender equality policies.

In July 2010 the International Federation of Actors also released their Handbook of Good Practices: to Combat Gender Stereotypes and Promote Equal Opportunities in Film, Television and Theatre in Europe; the recent Sex and Power Report for 2011 showed that only 8.3% of arts organizations in Britain are chaired by women and the Arts Council of England is reviewing its plans for diversity; and Spain, France and Norway have quotas in place for board members of organizations.

Despite all this activity overseas, here in Canada the discussion appears much less lively. The report A Statistical Profile of Artists in Canada from Hill Strategies (Based on the 2006 census) shows that women make less than men in all areas of the arts yet the interest that is reflected by the studies, best practices and legislation popping up in Europe well surpasses the amount of discussion happening here at home. Are Canadians less concerned about this issue or are we just quieter when voicing our concerns?

On January 10^th, Hill Strategies Research released a study called Municipal Cultural Investment in Five Large Canadian Cities. The study compares cities with the largest number of cultural workers and artists in Canada – Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal. This report written in partnership with the cultural staff of the five cities covered, the Creative City Network and the Canadian Urban Libraries Council aims to fill a gap in the level of information provided by Statistics Canada by breaking down the investments by municipality and types of funding for comparison between 5 municipalities.

The study comprises operating expenditures, grants and capital expenditures in each city between 2006 and 2009 and excludes any funds transferred from other levels of government. So as to compare apples to apples, the report presents a separate section on public library funding because of the different ways those funds are administered in each city.

What are the findings?

• In 2009, the average per capita expenditure for all five cities was $35, with Montréal leading the pack at $55 and Toronto occupying last place with $19. Ottawa also falls below the average with $28 per capita expenditures.
• It wasn’t always that way though. While in previous years Montréal and Vancouver were up at the front, the other three cities traded places at the bottom of the rankings. In 2006 Calgary and Ottawa were tied for lowest with only 15$ per capita and Toronto occupied the middle of the pack with $17.
• Toronto has fallen at the bottom due to a meager $2 per capita increase over 4 years compared to the highest increase of $27 in Calgary further to its Municipal Sustainability Initiative. The other 3 cities have seen a steady increase of $13 to $14 each.
• Despite there being a 197% increase in capital expenditures, these still only accounted for 25% of expenditures in 2009. The rest of the expenditures were split nearly equally between grants and operating expenditures. Interestingly most of the increase in capital expenditures occurred in 2009, which coincides with the launch of the federal Economic Action Plan. Meanwhile the grants and operating expenditures saw a more gradual increase of 29 and 26% respectively.
• Operating expenditures for libraries averaged $53 per capita, with Toronto taking top spot with $69 per capita, followed by Vancouver at $61. Montréal, Ottawa and Calgary were all below average, spending between $36 and $43.

The study also provides a further breakdown of the results by city and category of spending as well as looking at the average incomes of cultural workers and artists in each city. Each city also provided information on the number of dollars generated from each $1 of funding, based on information collected from other studies looking at different fiscal years and using different methodology, which makes comparisons riskier.

What explains Montréal’s ability to stay on top?

According to Hill Strategies:

By now many of you have been made aware of the CCA’s changing relationship with its major funder, the Government of Canada. Indeed, many of you may already or will soon be facing the prospect of reduced support federally. The model is shifting and changing for all of us. It is an immense challenge for this organization given its reliance for 45 years on federal support. The board and staff have been working since last summer on a series of financial options and a business plan that will allow us to move forward independent of that support. And the National Director has been on the road for weeks consulting the membership on the services it needs and wants from its national cultural service organization. While none of us knows what the outcome will be when the budget is released in mid-March, we feel confident that the government will understand the necessity of a transitional period of support to ensure the CCA has the time to develop an entirely new funding model. There is no question that the future is not guaranteed, but from the consultation sessions in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa last fall, from Alain’s tour across the country these past few weeks and last, given the passionate and committed response from my board of directors and the dedication of the staff, the possibilities are tremendously exciting!
Now more than ever we need a national voice in Ottawa. This board wants to build with your help an organization that will provide needed services and support for the achievement of this goal. Everywhere we go, we hear the need for solid research and strategic advocacy. We want to work with all the NASOs, unions, coalitions and other organizations engaged in this work to help strengthen that voice.
The CCA has such a rich history, 67 years of working on behalf of artists and cultural organizations in Canada! It is a long and proud legacy of achievement and we will not let that go lightly. While I am active now as President, there were many years I renewed my membership but did little else. During those years, while I might not have directly accessed services on offer, I was always confident that cultural policy and research was being done for the benefit of us all. I felt it was an important and necessary, in fact, crucial, entity that needed to remain active and financially healthy.
I still feel that way. That’s why I decided to get involved four years ago and why, even in this very uncertain time, I am completely convinced that this organization is key to the health of the cultural sector in Canada. We all need a voice in Ottawa. We need solid and effective research. And we certainly need strategic advocacy and communications.
My biggest regret is that I couldn’t be on the road with Alain meeting all of you! Please share your thoughts anytime through this website.
I invite all of you to join us in this change and in building a vibrant future for arts and culture in our country!

Kathleen

February 21, 2012

Just the facts

Some encouraging news concerning the status of culture in the on-going trade negotiations between Canada and the European Union! The CCA learned during the briefing session held by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) that:

• It is more than likely that, with the support of some European countries, Canada will be able to include a direct reference to the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity at the top of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) as well as extended wording to the effect that signatory countries reserve the right to subsidize and protect cultural products whichever way they think appropriate, culture not being like other goods or products covered by the agreement;

• EU countries follow closely Canada’s efforts to modernize its Copyright Act and express serious concerns about Bill C-11 with regards to the numerous exemptions it proposes, particularly concerning education, and the responsibility of internet service providers (ISPs) in fighting piracy; and,

• While Europeans continue to press for Canada to relax its policies concerning foreign investments in telecommunications, which Canada is resisting, their interest in doing the same for book retailing appears to be waning.

Tell me more

CETA negotiations have been going on for three years now and it is hoped that they will be wrapped up by late summer or early fall. It was confirmed during the DFAIT briefing that culture has not been discussed seriously yet and will likely be part of the stickier elements left after the next round of face-to-face meetings in March. Canada has been at the vanguard of the promotion of the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity and was the first country to sign it in November 2005. It is therefore good news to hear that while the EU still questions the extent of the cultural exemption put forward by the Canadian team (particularly as it would apply to intellectual property), the federal government will stick to its guns with the support of Quebec and France. The CCA will keep following this file closely and report to you any new developments.

I have always loved Halifax for its friendly atmosphere, the quality of its cultural life and its restaurants. In fact, I must confess that I have a soft spot for Nova Scotia where, over the years, I have spent four summer holidays. But it is the first time that I set foot in the Neptune Theatre where, after a short interview for Radio-Canada’s television services, I join the thirty people or so who have gathered in one of the rehearsal rooms on the third floor of this vast building in the heart of old Halifax. Erika Beatty, CCA Board member and Executive Director of the Symphony Nova Scotia, introduces me. She underscores the fact that there would likely have been more attendants were it not for the fact that today is the deadline for grant applications in the province! Unfortunate timing on my part: many arts professionals are dotting the ”i”s and crossing the “t”s of their requests for funding.

My presentation is received here with the same interest I have met so far across the country. I am told that pretty much all of the activities proposed by the CCA are important, but people are more preoccupied with how we intend to replace the money that the federal government will stop giving us. I explain that we intend to diversify our sources of revenue and that our new business model will be based on project management: a participant warns me against the dangers of such a model, which often causes an organization to drift away from its core mandate and forces staff to constantly look for new projects, a never-ending pursuit. I assure her that we are very aware of such dangers and that all our projects will have to be firmly aligned on the fours strategic pillars on which our new business plan is being developed. I talk about our desire to broaden our membership base and the difficulties we face in doing so. I relay the conversations I have had with our colleagues in Edmonton, who invite the CCA to become a mass movement and who offer to be the first to help spread the message to their members and supporters: could such an undertaking be replicated across the country? Could it find echo here in Nova Scotia? Evidently too early to say, but some private talks after the meeting make me hope it could!

Once the meeting over, five of us, including Erika Beatty and Andrew Terris,  repair to the Bitter End Martini Bar (I resist from reading too much in that name!). Many appetizer platters and a couple of aperitifs feed our conversation, which predictably bears on the state of the arts in Halifax and on the future of the CCA. We hold an instant brainstorming session on the name of the new CCA and reach a consensus on the Canadian Cultural Alliance/Alliance canadienne pour la culture which, in English at least, has the advantage of preserving the same acronym as now!

Next morning, I have breakfast with Marcel McKeough, Executive Director of the Division for the Development of Culture and Heritage. The conversation is lively and we agree on a lot of issues. We part on the promise that Nova Scotia will become the eighth provincial or territorial government to support the work of the CCA by becoming an Affiliate member.

Immediately after, I have a cup of coffee with Shahin Sayadi, Artistic Director of the only culturally diverse arts organization east of Montreal with support from Canada Council, and of the newly established Prismatic Festival, the only multi-disciplinary arts festival in the country that presents the work of leading artists of Aboriginal and culturally diverse backgrounds. We share views about the state of the arts, the need for greater unity in the sector and the challenges ahead. I confirm to him that a reinvented CCA must absolutely achieve its long-standing objective to open its doors to members of the diverse cultural communities and to aboriginals. We part on the promise that Onelight Theatre will become a member and that we will keep in touch about the future orientations of the organization.

I end the morning with a series of conference calls, including a briefing by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade the Canada/European Union trade negotiations and it is already time to go to the airport to go to St. John’s, last stop of my cross-country tour!

- Alain

Bonhomme Carnaval was back in storage, the sky was pure blue and the air icy cold when I arrived in Québec City on Sunday. I come here invited by the network of Québec independent presenters (RIDEAU) to be a panellist at their annual gathering. I seize the opportunity to meet a number of people in the province’s old capital who have an interest in the future of the CCA. Monday starts early: an all-morning workshop  starting at 8:30 am,  preceded by breakfast with fellow panelists and the moderator. The theme of the debate could not be more appropriate for me: “Associations? What for?” I am in good company, with the former director of Québec’s theatre association, now executive director of the provincial association of city managers; the executive director of Les Arts et la Ville; a consultant in human resources and the communications manager for Amnesty International Canada. It is as a case study of sorts that the CCA has been invited to participate. Being the last presenter, I am able to relate to all the main issues raised by the others: the need for associations to regularly reinvent themselves and reaffirm their pertinence; the crucial importance of engaging members; the key role of communications; the challenges of governance and, of course, the ever present funding preoccupations. Very familiar themes for anyone who has followed my tour of the country over the past month! This is the ideal platform to deliver my message and I am pleasantly surprised to hear the interest people have in our future and in our efforts to reinvent ourselves. People here seem to understand the unique role that the CCA can play in the Canadian cultural sector and at least two volunteer that they will support us financially! Another small step towards our ultimate goal…

This is followed by lunch in a restaurant of the lower town, in an area which over the past several years has gone from almost derelict to fashionable. It’s a working lunch with leaders of the regional cultural council for Québec/Chaudière-Appalaches. It is clear right from the beginning that I am with friends: “We are natural allies”, declares Marc Gourdeau, president of the council and artistic director of a local theatre company. People agree that the CCA should maintain its policy development activities while also becoming a national grassroots organization fostering public engagement in culture. When we part, it appears likely that the council will join the CCA and, it would be the fourth regional cultural council in the province to do so.

Next appointment for the day is with the new director of the Québec National Museum of Fine-Arts, Ms. Line Ouellet. Located at the eastern edge of the famous battle site the Plains of Abraham, the Museum is building a new magnificent wing, slated to open in 2014. This expansion will allow the Museum to present its rich collection of post-1960 Québec art which has been slumbering in vaults for too long. Ms. Ouellet and I get along splendidly as we discuss copyright and the challenges met by museums and galleries seeking to make their collections of contemporary works accessible via Internet.  I agree that this is a very important issue which the CCA will look into as soon as possible. Ms. Ouellet is also interested in the role that the CCA can play in building bridges between Québec and English Canada’s institutions, and it is on the perspective of another possible new member that I take my leave.

Saint Valentine’s Day offers me the opportunity to address the assembly of RIDEAU members: in ten minutes, I deliver the gist of the CCA message I have been presenting across the country. This is well received and echoed by supporting comments of RIDEAU’s President Jean-Pierre Leduc and Executive Director Colette Brouillé. After a quick coffee with my friend Diane Saint-Pierre from  the Institut national de recherche scientifique du Québec (INRS), I meet CCA Board member André Leclerc who accompanies me for my meeting with Québec Minister of Culture and Communications. Mrs. Saint-Pierre welcomes me as her former boss! (it must be said that as luck would have it, I did hire her  for her fist job as journalist several years ago, when I was managing editor of the radio newsroom for Radio-Canada in Montréal!). We discuss the Copyright Bill and the role of the CCA in this file, other topics of shared interest and the future of the CCA which she seems concerned with. I mention our ambitious National Policy Conference project for next year on drafting a new cultural agenda for Canada, a project of that clearly catches her attention. I mention how important it is for us that her Ministry is an affiliate member of the CCA. Before I leave, she suggests that I should meet some of her colleagues at the first opportunity and I leave on a promise of follow-ups soon.

And then, I am on my way to Halifax, last but one leg of my cross-country tour and the object of my next blog!

- Alain

February 15, 2012

Just the facts

Bill C-11, known as the Copyright Modernization Act,  was adopted at second reading yesterday after the government imposed a limit to the debate last week. All opposition parties voted against, but the bill was adopted thanks to the government majority. Barely hours after the vote, the special Legislative Committee met to establish its work plan and once again, the government majority could overcome opposition parties’ objections and set a very tight agenda for the hearing of witnesses and the article by article study of the Bill. The whole process will be over by March 29, whether or not the study is completed. The Bill will then be sent back to the House for third reading and once adopted, sent to the Senate where it is expected it will receive the same expeditious treatment.

Comment

The government justifies the fast-tracking of the process by saying that a reform of the Copyright Act is long overdue, something with which everybody agrees. The government argues further that since C-11 is the exact copy of Bill C-32, which died on the Order Paper in March 2011 due to the fall of the government, it has already been discussed at length. Those who have problems with C-11 as it now stands, and they are numerous, may fear that this fast-tracking of the process will not allow for a thorough revision of the Bill article by article. It does not appear either that the review by the Senate, once called the house of “sober second thought”, will comfort them. One must also note that settling the copyright file, at least for the time being, is an important pawn on the chess board of concluding as soon as possible the current free trade agreement with the European Union.

Tell me more

Political parties have until 5:00 p.m. TODAY to give the Clerk of the Committee the list of witnesses they would like to hear. The Committee will meet tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. to prepare what is supposed to be a preliminary list, but given the short period given for the hearings, the list is likely to fill up rapidly. Witnesses will be grouped in panels of three and each session will last one and a half hours. Opening statements will be given 10 minutes, then Committee members will have 5 minutes each for questions, until the time runs out.

The Committee will not hear anyone who has already appeared during the hearings on C-32.  However, witnesses heard during C-32 can submit an addendum to the brief they presented then. All documents must be sent to the Clerk in both official languages for presentation to members of the committee. All documents presented and testimonies heard during the C-32 hearings will be given to the members of the C-11 committee.

The committee will start the article-by-article study on March 14 at the latest. Each party will have five minutes to address each article and each amendment. All amendments to be examined must have been presented to the Clerk 24 hours before the beginning of the study, in both official languages. A list of twenty proposed amendments, signed by 70 cultural organizations from all over the country, has already been transmitted to the government and to members of the Legislative Committee under the umbrella of the CCA. The whole study process must be over by March 29, 2012 whether or not the article-by-article study is finished. The hearings of witnesses and the deliberations article-by-article will be public and broadcast.

Schedule of meetings (starting February 27)

Monday: 3:30 to 06:30 p.m.

Tuesday: 9:00 a.m. to noon

Wednesday: 3:30 to 06:30 pm

Thursday: 9:00 a.m. to noon

What can I do?

If your organization wishes to appear, contact one of the members of the committee immediately  with a copy to the Clerk of the Committee Christine Holke David.