Cutting off your nose to spite your face
“The Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Arts Council - Windsor & Region and Artcite are all appearing before City Council for their budget deliberation meeting this Tues eve, Feb 26/08.
As you may be aware, the City of Windsor is planning a 10% cut in ALL Arts Agency grants for 2008, which will be a serious financial blow for each of these already-challenged institutions and organizations.
Over the past several years, grant assessors at the Canada Council have consistently rated Artcite as one of Canada’s top artist-run centres (we are currently ranked 18 of 96 centres receiving funding–no small feat, given the much larger communities and budgets enjoyed by centres in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal).
Grant jurors at the Ontario Arts Council agree with the CC’s outstanding assessments: again, and consistently for the past several years, Artcite is ranked among the highest-rated artist-run centres in Ontario.
Artcite is currently celebrating our 25th year of successful operations, and we have received hundreds of accolades from artists from Windsor-Detroit, Canada and around the world!
Unfortunately, we seem unable to garner this same recognition of our continued, direct contribution to the Windsor community (both culturally and economically) from Windsor City Council, and we are again being threatened with further cuts to our already extremely modest City Agency grant, which, after we pay our City property taxes, will leave us with $116 for our Programming and Operations.
Don’t want to see big tax increases? It may interest you to know that, in the proposed 2008 budget, the direct cost to City of Windsor taxpayers is 1/21 of 1? of each of your tax dollars.
Does this represent how much you want your City to value Windsor’s cultural life? Arts Agency funding also comprises 0.36% of the City’s Operating budget. That’s not a typo! Windsor arts groups support countless Windsor businesses (hotels, bars, hardware stores, print shops, stationary suppliers, grocery stores, etc., and the City of Windsor itself–with rentals, property taxes, Lottery licensing in excess of $25,000).
PLEASE HELP Windsor’s Arts Groups in sending a CLEAR message to the City that its citizens DO support arts and culture in Windsor! A short call or e-mail will make all the difference in our fight!
Many thanks! (Help us to continue to serve YOU!)
Sincerely,
Christine Burchnall, Administrative Coordinator, Artcite Inc.”
The amazing fact is - we seem to be the only community who doesn’t “get it”, and we are the community who is suffering the highest unemployment rates in Canada. Coincidence? I doubt it. Read what our neighbours up the 401 are doing to ensure a vibrant arts community and the long-term economic viability of their community…
City Hall commits to $36-M arts centre
Mayor Jackson supports ‘historic’ decision“…former Burlington mayor Walter Mulkewich urged councillors to support the centre, noting that difficult and controversial council decisions, such as the creation of Spencer Smith Park, have helped shape the city.”
“Our community is what it is because of those decisions,” he said. “Today you are asked to add one piece that is missing, and that is the performing arts centre.”
A number of councillors and supporters also noted that the project has the ability to increase tourism, spur downtown revitalization and contribute to the city’s economic development by improving the quality of life in Burlington
“You’re building a city on one hand, and repairing a city on the other, and achieving the right balance is critical,” he said.
So please, do as Artcite’s Christine Burchnall asks and tell the City: DON’T CUT THE ARTS!
One quick call or e-mail can make a difference! Attend the budget meeting at 6:00 P.M. on Tuesday Feb. 26th at City Hall and let them know your care!
Phone: 311
Outside the city: 519-255-2489
Toll free: 1-877-746-4311
Email: [email protected]
Fax: (519) 256-3311
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Tags: arts, arts funding, arts incubator, culture, local economic development, revitalization
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In the best of times, the arts are the last to get the money, in the worst of times the arts are the first to get cut but it is not true in Windsor. Windsor has a history of never really supporting the arts and culture but a long line of paying lip service to it and only when absolutely necessary using the aritsts for their own enhancement. It seems that in more than any city in Canada, Windsor has the worst level of treatment towards the arts..basically “ignore them, they will go away!” It has a lot to do with the cult of functional illeteracy that has prevailed the education system in this city, why make art/music etc when you can work on the line. I was in art school when Artcite was formed, and I know Christine, I wish her and Artcite well, but the out come is a given…sadly.
Why does “working on the line” always have to be diametrically opposed to a lifestyle with the arts, or to being cultured in any way whatsoever. I keep hearing this same theme from you and others in the arts community over and over and quite honestly this snobby attitude toward the working class or “undereducated slugs” (as you’ve called them in another comment) won’t win any friends for your cause. Think of it this way, the arts community rightly laments how artsy types are labeled as lazy jobless bums. That’s not entirely fair either is it? Well maybe not all those guys who earn a living in a car factory are mouth breathers either. Maybe a great deal of them quietly appreciate the arts too, perhaps sometimes in ways that certain people refuse to validate as “art” to begin with. Think about it.
Partisan politics! BAH! I agree with John — to some extent. Autoworkers, or at least a vocal minority, seem to take some pride in fulfilling the stereo-type perpetuated by the 80’s movie Gung Ho. Foul-mouthed, beer-swilling, grease-monkeys — or at least that is the way Ron Howard would have us believe. In fact there are a number of exceptionally cultured and intelligent individuals who work as “line-monkeys”. They appreciate the ability to have a good (some say excellent) paying job that does not demand full intellectual commitment as it allows them to focus more time, effort and intellect into other pursuits.
The only real problem with our auto-centricity is the fear of speaking out against the “popular” opinion. In Greek and Roman society, fiscal prosperity allowed for the consumption of the arts, even the complete immersion into the artistic life. In Windsor, an autoworkers salary, while decidedly prosperous, has not returned the same dividends to the arts.
I dont’ think anyone wants to insult autoworkers but we have to acknowledge some basics in order to progress. I think Autoworkers are prone to falling into traps due to the job.
How many times have you heard of autoworkers who die within a year or two of retiring because of the old tag line that they lived to work instead of working to live. That the job was also their social life.
Now the Overtime is over but for decades overtime was a normal fact of life. Add to that the shift work, the desire for the suburban house and you get a career that is not very condusive to an lifestyle that included arts.
Josh, that 80s movie Gung Ho is about the extent of most peoples’ understanding of the workings of the typical “auto worker’, as seen here. I worked for ten years in the environment and quiet honestly they come from all walks of life. Some have an awesome Lynyrd Skynrd CD collection. Others can play the hammered dulcimer very nicely. Some die young, MANY more enjoy a long retirement. Some live on the west end, others live in the suburbs. Some dropped out of highschool. Others have university degrees. There are no “basics” as Mark puts it. The only common thread I know of with the Windsor autoworkers is their generosity with local charities, ie. United Way, Habitat for Humanity. If that arts community wants to dig into their pockets too, then I suggest starting to understand that they are normal salt-of-the-earth people would get results, not ridiculous conclusions that things like doing shift work aren’t conducive to a lifestyle of the arts.
The info I received about statistically disproportionate deaths within 18 months of retirement was directly from a CAW rep. Can’t remember his name, but I am not making it up. I also grew up in and ran CAW 195 organized auto factory for quite a while before I sold it to Flex’N'Gate.
Auto workers aren’t only Big 3 workers. They are the Tier 1’s and 2’s who are actually the majority now. I worked directly with hundreds of them who I considered family at the time and infrequently worked with even more than that through my Customers A.G.Simpson, American Bumper (now Meridian), Flex’N'Gate and others.
I agree with all of your comments about the common threads of the autoworkers.
Mark, what a person sees ’statistically’ and what ’seems’ are usually two different things. While a plant might see thousands of employees come and go, all it takes is a few dozen funerals over the period of a few years to make is ’seem’ like an epidemic. The hundreds of others quietly living away their retirement don’t get noticed. Premature deaths exists everywhere, including high stress executives and businessmen. But that’s not really my point… My main point is that the arts community needs to bring the working class under the same umbrella - stop treating it like a pariah of uncultured simps who care only about softball and beer. I’ve brought up the example in the past of the WSO and I believe it was Susan Haig who started bringing in a more familiar repertoire… versus the obscure material known mostly only to die-hard classical music buffs. The arts community needs to appeal to the masses a bit if it wants the patronage of the masses. And..I’m outta space.
I totally agree, I’m curious about what the new strategy will be from an arts council with new leadership. However, its not just the Arts that must change, its Labor that should as well. I think the Arts are reaching out to the broader community with their Children’s programs which is the logical place to start. I have taken my 2 1/2 year old to the Symphony at Windsor Library and hope to involve him in the AGW childrens programs as well.
I’m not sure how I exactly feel “labour Arts fair”, I frankly don’t get how you can compartmentalize arts like that. I would rather see Labor supporting Local Artists like they ask Windsorites to support local labor.
I would also like to see the Arts Council evolve into an Arts and Business Council so that business minds can help them market and target the mainstream like you suggest. I like the symbiotic relationship I have within WIFF where I help market and can make suggestions but know that our Programmers have strict control over content.
Funny how we need to cut funding to the arts, and now the library, no new money for public transportation either, but there is no problem finding $65+ million for an arena.
The ramming through of this project, along with its location should give eveyone plenty of ideas where the priorities of this council and administration lie. Maybe it’s just me being cynical, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be with anything that improves the quaility of life for the residents.
Mark now you are talking real sense. Where is labour when we need them most? I have helped them out so why can’t they return the favour?
Andrew it improves those who want to go to a Spits game and no one else. Well except for the the business owners of the Spitfires. I wonder if council gets free tickets to WFCU like a few other cities have? I wouldn’t put it past them.