Why do artists get funding when many respectable charities have to rely totally on private funding? So I googled arts funding government of Canada, this is what I got:
Yup, the government of Canada definitely funds the arts. How about, let's say guide dog organizations, which are closest to my heart? So I googled guide dog funding government of Canada, and this is what I got:
Do you see the difference? I see the difference.
Nope, no funding for guide dogs who help the blind, autistic children, hearing impaired, epileptic, and handicapped. Think about how these dogs help improve the physical and mental health of those people they help. This is only one example of charities that go begging while artists have the Canada Council of the Arts who hand out grants for even foreign artists to be brought to Canada. Yes you heard that right, Canadian taxpayers pay for foreign artists to visit Canada.
All invited artists must be recognized as professionals in their discipline. The Canada Council defines a professional artist as someone who has specialized training in the field (not necessarily in an academic institution), who is recognized as such by her or his peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition), and who has a history of public presentation or publication.
Grant Amount
Grants are available in fixed amounts of $500, $750, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000, $2,500 or $3,000.
Application Form
Visiting Foreign Artists (Pilot Program) (PDF Acrobat format).
This form can only be printed and cannot be filled out on-line.
How about for each guide dog who graduates, the organization gets a $5,000 grant? If all guide dog organizations in Canada graduate 200 dogs a year, that's only $1,000,000? Artists are complaining about 48 million in cuts to a 3+ BILLION budget, kind of puts things into perspective doesn't it?
The problem is that the arts have a huge vocal lobby group, the disabled are voiceless. I want a Canada Council for the Disabled, that can give out grants to charitable organizations who at the grassroots are actually improving people's lives. I want to see a parade of guide dogs on Parliament Hill, I want to see MP's from all parties explain why they do not deserve funding. Unfortunately, the disabled do not have the money to fly to Ottawa to make their case.
11 comments:
I couldn't agree more. A Canada Council for the Disabled. Many have been calling for a national strategy for autism. This has possibilities.
The problem is that most funding relating to disability treatment and/or programs (when there is any), comes from the provinces.
Mind you, there is arts money at all levels of government -- even municipal.
We need only look to Toronto -- huge grants for start up theatres, etc., and some of the worst art around.
I taught art way back when and was a semi-professional artist myself before I went back to school to study curriculum and ed psych.
But, you see, there is a trick to getting funding from the Council of the Arts -- in some circles it's called kissing a__.
So, since I have never been very good at that, I never ever got any when I did try once.
I was rejected because the money goes to the same people all the time -- all part of a clique.
Some grants are sustaining -- $25,000 or more, year after year after year.
You'd think if they couldn't support themselves after a year, they should teach or do something else.
Foreign artists? That's a new one on me. What ever for? I can see the value of funding a Canadian artist to study abroad for a year, particularly visual artists or those involved in dance, but paying artists to come here when most Canadian artists can't support themselves.
Canada Council of the Disabled? Anyone in the government reading this can count me in.
We have a choice 1)government funding for a Canada Council or 2)cutting off the many thousands of public funding benefactors.
The USA (dam Yankees) Olympic team got NO government funding for the past summer Olympics. They managed on corporate welfare (the David Lewis Welfare BUMS) and did reasonably well.
Lately some of my comments have bordered on a radical right neo-con point of view. I'm becoming tired of the "Government Must Support Me" philosophy. I would prefer that you left money in my pocket and I will support those causes, groups, united ways and such to the best of my ability.
The arts funding controversy really set me off I guess. I'm sure that I will get back to my soc-con ways and ask the rest of the tax paying public to support a cause or two of mine - like let's get the new democratic tenters-in-the-parks some new Coleman stoves and a tin of beans to fry.
With all the new talent of conservative MPs, plus the older ones, and a cabinet to be selected-why not a junior ministry (or whatever they are called) working with the Health Minister, with the priority of the Disabled.
Doint this thru the govt will keep it under govt control re members etc. Councils of whatever seem to be stacked with board members who are selected or elected from the public at large. See and ad in the paper for such and such a board member, fill in application and bingo, you there. Serve your term, leave for a term and they get you back on again
The disabled are my number 1 priority.
I have a kid who is a talented artist. She attends an 'arts' school where she is surrounded by similarly gifted students.
Reportedly a number of her more vocal teachers are opposed to the mean-spirited, anti-arts Harper agenda, yet all auditions/evaluations/selections at this school are based on giving kids the 'real world' experience of 'if you can't cut it in the process, you're out as that's what the biz is about' - something, I as a parent, fully support.
Kids who are interested in pursuing a career in the arts (or indeed, any highly competitive career choice) need to know how difficult, and sometimes unfair, it will be before they decide they have the right stuff to commit themselves to the ordeal.
Yet in the real world of these instructors they demand that the government to come to the rescue of those artists (friends?) who can't cut it enough to earn a living off of their talent. So they write letters about this unfairness and encourage the kids to do the same. It is to laugh since while many of her teachers are extremely talented artists in their own right, they have conservatively realized that they still must earn a living and do so through teaching.
I would no more expect the government to fund my post-school kid's career aspirations than I would for them to fund mine. But hey if Maggie Atwood feels we should be so inclined . . . . I gotta a couple of invoices that need to be paid.
My daughter is a teacher at an arts academy and is "slowly" realizing that the talent is in the student and is not "government mandated". She hustles her buns to make a living doing her "art" and is now teaching her young students what it takes to be successful (however that is defined). I admire individualism and will help fund it wherever I can but it has to be on my terms and not the "governments and its largess".
A little off-topic, but West Coast made me think of it - this reliance on the government. One of the most ridiculous sentiments is that the government must tackle obesity among Canadians. Hunh? Um, obesity generally comes from lack of physical activity and too much food. Yes, there are some cases where obesity is genetic, hormonal or otherwise out of the control of the individual but when I see so many young kids who are overweight and so many adults who are bursting at the seams, I figure that it is the individual's own doing. Even myself - when I approached 50, I started to look "prosperous" and realized that my metabolism had changed with age. So, I worked at changing my eating habits, became more physically active, and rearranged my portions to emphasize vegetables instead of carbs.
We look to the government for everything but, as for me, I want to make my own decisions and not have them made for me. I take responsibility for my actions.
As for arts funding - you folks are right on: like anything else, if you can't make it, move on to something else and don't expect the average taxpayer to fund your goals. Sheesh, it would have been great to have somebody fund my university but, instead, I worked two part-time jobs and financed my entire education as well as other living expenses. My parents provided food and shelter and that's it - they were paying off their mortgage and could not afford to put me through university. No government funding, let me tell you.
Wow, it's really nice to see everyone dump on the arts community. Maybe if the Canadian military gave up one of its money-sucking submarines, we could train service dogs for everyone that needs them.....just a thought....
Your google comparison is myopic (no pun intended). If you were to have googled Health Canada, you'd be leading a different sort of forum.Not exactly climbing into the light but a different forum to be sure.
Well, SQ, you are entitled to your thoughts but I think you're comparing apples with oranges. The military exists for many reasons, chief among them the defence our country should we be attacked. The arts are a "nice to have". Considering that the left-wingers talk incessangly about programs for the people and purport to stand up for the disadvantaged, I hardly think that the arts benefit somebody who has insufficient food, no home, no eyesight, no hearing...etc.
Seniors languishing in nursing homes do not benefit from the arts but the could benefit from some meaningful funding. My sister is an artist but...she had absolutely no desire to starve or live in squalor, depending on handouts. She put herself through nursing school and obtained her Bachelor of Nursing. While working, she obtained her Fine Arts degree at night and on weekends. She married, raised three children (now adults) and pursued her art. In addition to her art, she continued her music education and passed this on to her children.
She has earned a fair income from her art and learned right at the outset that following her own idea of art was a luxury but to earn a living at it, she also had to produce what people wished to buy. She never took a dime from the taxpayer.
Another friend's mother was an artist (she has long since passed away) and she owned a gallery. She also was against government funding because it allowed pseudo artists to earn a living while producing unsaleable stuff.
So, SQ, we can dump on the arts if we wish. Considering that we are forced to fund it, we should have some say in what is funded and what is not funded. Unfortunately, that decision is not ours to make. And we call this a democracy?
I am into photography in a big way and I'd love to have some funding so that I could buy a really great camera, a better photo printer, special lenses, filters, etc. However, I have to fund my own passion because I would never be considered to be an "artist". Why should I fund somebody else?
This Saturday morning, I got out of bed at seven, went downstairs and turned on the heat. Filled the kettle and put it on the stove to boil. Got a coffee mug out of the dishwasher and measured out the coffee into a filter. Looked at the mess in the kitchen and planned how to clean it up. Poured the boiling water into the filter and waited for it to seep through. Twice. Big cup...
Carried the coffee upstairs to my wife. (Me, I can't stand coffee. Even the smell nauseates me...) After settling her down in her chair with her coffee, I showed her my latest creation, something I did while she was sleeping yesterday evening. Helped her put it on, discussed how much I could ask for it at the next crafts fair. Got told I couldn't sell it because it would be a perfect present for a relative... and I had to make earings to go with the necklace. Yup, I make necklaces and other jewelry. Am I an artist? I suppose so, although I prefer to just think of it as a profitable hobby. Do I want "funding" for artists? Well... NO!
Forget funding artists. Take all that "art funding" and give it to the disabled. Like my wife... sure could use a lift to get up and down stairs. Then she could make her own coffee...
Don, that is heartbreaking. Thank you for your comment. Your wife and spouses like yourself are the exact reason that we should be using our tax dollars for something useful and productive instead of funding "art and culture". My father was very ill before he passed away and for 5 years, my mother struggled to be his full-time caregiver. The province gave her about 3 hours per week of home care and she hired a nurse through an agency for another 3 hours per week. Finally, I convinced her to put him in a nursing home. She spent all day, every day, at the nursing home. She took food, diversions, etc. but, mainly, it was her and the Pastor who kept him company. His mind had gone and he recognized only my mother and the Pastor. A lot of good "art and culture" did for them.
I lift my hat to you and other devoted spouses who take their marriage vows seriously and stick with their spouses through sickness and bad times. You are the foundation upon which decent society is built. You are the culture of Canada, not some artsy fartsy useless twit who has his or her hand out.
I will wax crude for a second and, please, everybody forgive me for this but...f**k the arts. Let's take care of people like Don and his wife, Hunter and her guide dogs for the blind, for seniors languishing in nursing homes. F**k the so-called whining artists - let them get real jobs and practice their "art" on the side until they can support themselves and pay taxes like the rest of us.
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