Which Party Has Your Arts Vote?
You may be one of the millions of Canadians still trying to decide which name you’ll be marking on your ballot tomorrow. If you’re trying to factor the arts in your decision, last Monday’s arts debate at the Stanley Theatre provided an incredible opportunity to capture a snapshot of each party’s views on the arts.
For those of you who didn’t get the memo, the Conservative government has cut millions in funding to the arts in Canada since it’s been in office, the most recent being the cuts to the PromArt and Trade Routes programs that enable Canadian artists to travel abroad and promote Canadian culture.
The news quickly rippled through the national arts community but took some time to make its way into mainstream media. To be honest, I’m quite pleasantly surprised it made it there at all. The information came in waves – Vancouverites got emails forwarded from the Greater Vancouver Theatre Alliance and the Alliance for Arts and Culture; we read Wajdi Mouawad’s open letter to the Prime Minister posted on our friends’ Facebook pages and around the web; then came Margaret Atwood’s commentary in the Globe and Mail: To be Creative is, in Fact, Canadian, criticizing Harper’s claim that the arts are not supported by the majority of so-called “ordinary” Canadians, never mind his comment about arts funding going to hoards of rich artists who attend ritzy galas, as though putting the words “rich” and “artist” in the same sentence isn’t an oxymoron. More recently various reports have come in blaming the Conservatives’ plummet in the polls – at least in part – to the uproar caused by his cuts to culture.
I’m still flabbergasted that the arts have made it this far in the election coverage. Not long before the PromArt and Trade Routes cuts made their way to the mainstream media, I recall waiting with my partner for a radio call-in show to end. The show was about the election and featured Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. There we were, plastered in sweat in our sweltering hot co-op car with faint hopes that someone, anyone, would bring up the cuts. We gave up and went for a late summer dip in the lake instead.
It was with this in mind that I attended last Monday’s all party arts debate at the Stanley Theatre, hosted by the Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture and moderated by Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival Executive Director Hal Wake. The debate took place prior to the Vancouver Wrecking Ball event. Debating the arts issues of the day were candidates (mostly) from the Vancouver Centre riding, answering questions emailed in advance to the Alliance and ensuring a healthy stream of well-crafted inquiries.
By now, you may have already heard about Lorne Mayencourt’s gaffe of the evening. As the story goes, Mayencourt, the Conservative candidate for Vancouver Centre, claimed he was unable to attend the debate only to be found banging in vain at the doors of the over-capacity Stanley Theatre an hour after the start. Unfortunately I did not witness this event myself, but Peter Birnie wrote an account of it in the Vancouver Sun.
The poor Conservative dupe to be wrangled into the debate was John Cummins from Delta-Richmond East, thrown to a crowd of artists and arts supporters hungry for Conservative blood. Barely had Hal Wake introduced him and the hecklers started in, proverbial rotten tomatoes in hand. Luckily for the crowd (and for the debaters), Wake gracefully handled the hecklers.
Given the general anti-conservative bias of the crowd, the real debate was amongst the other three candidates: Incumbent Hedy Fry, Liberal Party; Adrienne Carr, Green Party; and New Democrat Michael Byers. Hedy “there are crosses burning in Prince George” Fry is well known in the arts community – she frequents the scene, shows up for events and is vocal about many issues, including her support for the arts. The Liberal Party has extensive plans for the arts as part of its platform. These plans include reinstating the recently cut funding to PromArt and Trade Routes, increasing funding to the Canada Council, and increasing the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit.
Ms. Fry’s continuous banter with NDP candidate Michael Byers provided most of the entertainment for the evening. Byers, an author and political science professor at the University of British Columbia rested his claim to authenticity in the arts on being awarded a Canada Council grant for his latest book Intent for a Nation: What is Canada For? As a CBC commentator, writer for the Globe and Mail and Walrus Magazine, and Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at UBC, Byers is probably the candidate that looks best on paper to left-leaning arts supporters. If he hadn’t come across as a pretentious fop, looking utterly bored and unimpressed throughout the debate, I may have commended him on being the first to attack Fry on the fact that she was the candidate there who has actually had the power to enact her arts promises. The Liberal Party, as Byers clearly pointed out, had ample opportunity to increase support for the arts during 12 years in power. Throughout the evening he accused the Liberals of cutting $2 billion in funding to the CBC and $30 million to the Canada Council. The current plethora of Liberal election promises certainly leaves ample room for questions about their ability to follow through on the depth of their new-found commitment to the arts.
For her part, the Greens’ Adrienne Carr was the welcome straight man in the ongoing battle between Byers and Fry. Carr spoke eloquently and presented herself as well-versed in all the recent issues regarding the arts cuts and other matters important to the arts community. The Green’s platform speaks to “Beauty and Integrity” in regards to the arts, and approaches the topic holistically in terms of creating a healthy society overall. Unfortunately, the Green Party is also in the best position to make Pollyannaish promises regarding… anything. As the party with the least actual experience in Parliament, it’s impossible to tell how they would act in the real world of Parliament.
After the debate, I had the opportunity to ask each of the candidates what was the last arts and culture event they attended that they enjoyed and why they enjoyed it. Ms. Carr, after 90 minutes of vowing her allegiance to “Beauty and Integrity” fumbled her way through an answer. The best she was able to come up with was being invited to speak at some theatre on Granville Island during some sort of theatre festival that takes place there in September. Uhm, would that be the Fringe Festival Ms. Carr?
Hedy Fry was more confident in her answer: she attended Twelfth Night at Bard on the Beach, and was able to craft an intelligent answer about the piece. Even John Cummins was confident in his latest artistic foray: attending a performance of Canadian folk singer Valdi at the Genesis Theatre in Ladner. Michael Byers particularly enjoyed XXY, a film presented at this year’s Queer Film Festival.
Rest assured arts fans: the last set of polls I read stated that a Tory majority looks to be an unlikely outcome. Given last Monday’s debate, the arts community, much like everybody else in Canada, has to make its way through all the promises and decipher an ounce of potential truth. We know how the Conservatives feel about the arts. The question now lies in which of the parties, if any, will actually follow up on any of their promises.