Tories axe arts funding

The Tory government cut two federal programs designed to support Canadian arts at home and abroad. PromArt, which provides cultural travel grants issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and Trade Routes, a grant program through the Department of Heritage which helps Canadian cultural groups sell products abroad. Trade Routes will end on March 31, 2009, the end of the fiscal year.

The programs granted $13.7 million each year collectively, and aided thousands of artists and art programs.

New Federal Budget Silent on the Arts

The Canadian federal budget announced yesterday was silent on the arts except for $9.4 million for 4 Ottawa museums. According to an article in the Globe and Mail,

Over the next two years, the government says it will spend $9.4-million - $2.7-million in this fiscal year, $6.7-million in 2009-2010 - to address what it calls "operating and infrastructure pressures" on the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Nature, the Canada Science and Technology Museum, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization (which includes the Canadian War Museum.)

No mention was made of a restoration of the $4.6-million Museums Assistance Program that the Conservatives killed in 2006, or of a continuation of the $60-million-per-year Tomorrow Starts Today scheme that expires in 2009-2010.

For Alain Pineau, national director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, the country's largest arts lobby, the budget held "no surprises," including the lack of the word "arts" anywhere in the budget text. (The words "culture" and "cultural" each appear twice.)

The CCA incidently came out with their analysis of the budget,

While the arts and culture sector may wonder what became of the federal museums policy, of investments in the expanded cultural facilities in Toronto and Montreal or of other new initiatives, the good news is that at least, federal spending on the arts and culture was not reduced against the contingency of an economic slow-down.

Application Deadline: Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) 2008 - February 29

February 29 is the deadline for employer applications to the Canada Summer Jobs 2008. Non-profit organizations are eligible to apply online at http://servicecanada.gc.ca. The amounts of funding covers minimum wage for 8 to 16 weeks. Here is more info from the Service Canada website.

Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) 2008

Supporting Students: Serving Communities

Canada Summer Jobs is an initiative of the Summer Work Experience program. It provides funding for not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers, and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for students between the ages of 15 and 30.

Canada Summer Jobs is about:

• providing work experience for students;
• supporting organizations, including those that provide important community services; and
• recognizing that local circumstances, community needs, and priorities vary widely.

Canada Summer Jobs is focused on encouraging not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers, and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create jobs that not only meet their needs, but benefit students looking to gain work experience.

The application period for Canada Summer Jobs 2008 started February 1 and ends February 29, 2008.

Canadian Heritage Proposes Merger of CMF and PAP

On Jan. 25, the Department of Canadian Heritage (DCH) announced a consultation process to rehaul the way they fund Canadian magazines, which will result in the merging of the Canada Magazine Fund (CMF) and the Publication Assistance Program (PAP) to form the new Canada Periodical Fund.

Of note to the Arts and Literature community, according to a post on the Canadian Magazines blog, the proposal will eliminate the $1 million Support for Arts and Literary Magazines.

Also of interest are two aspects of the proposal:

Business flexibility for publishers: Canada Post's decision to withdraw from the PAP offers the opportunity to open funding to other methods of distribution, thereby putting more strategic control in the hands of publishers.

Transitions to digital technology: The proposed approach offers opportunities to address changes in the way Canadians are consuming news and entertainment: through joint initiatives on industry-wide projects and by exploring the possibility of opening funding to new forms of publications or to online content produced by print publications.

The first item seems to open the door for predominately controlled circulation arts and literary magazines such as The Music Scene Ontario and La Scena Musicale to regain funding. Recall that in 2003, the CMF cut off funding to controlled circulation magazines when it reduced its budget by half, affecting several arts titles including La Scena Musicale.

To participate in the consultation, DCH has issued 10 questions for discussion.
The deadline for submissions is April 25, 2008.

Discussions on other blogs:
> Canadian Magazines
> The Shoestring
> Masthead Online [subscription required]