The best and most entertaining piece written so far on the topic of the recent devastating cuts to arts funding in my province of British Columbia is by Vancouver artist and writer Kate Armstrong. It was published a few months ago in Granville Magazine. I’m reprinting it here today as a counterpoint to the fantastically expensive Olympics currently taking place in Vancouver, which may or not be very closely related to our government’s recent demolition of the arts. For my own post on the Olympics and the recent troubles of the arts in BC, click here.

Got culture? Um, actually, no.
By Kate Armstrong

It’s been an interesting time for artists in British Columbia. The Campbell government announced a cut to funding for arts and cultural organizations by 50 percent this fiscal year [2009], and by 92 percent for 2010–2011. The budget will go from $47.8 million (2008) down to $3.75 million (2010–2011).

Some people falsely believe that this funding has been restored. Though a portion of one program’s funding has been restored, the overall budgets are still reduced by almost 100 percent in the next two years.

There are several reasons why it makes no economic sense to cut the budget for arts and culture. Primary among them is that BC’s arts and culture sector employs more than 78,000 people and contributes more than $5 billion each year to the provincial economy.

Sometimes people say to me, “if an artist is good, people will buy their paintings and they won’t need government handouts.” But it’s not about individual artists and their paintings. We can learn from the numbers: In 2008, the provincial government spent $47.8 million and gained $5 billion. That’s not a handout; it’s a gift. A gift from art to our shared economy.

And you’re part of it even if you “don’t go to these things.”

Art and culture are public amenities and need public investment. We aren’t talking about a painting that you might or might not like, and if you like it you buy it. We are talking about an investment in our shared culture, in public spaces, in cultural production of all kinds—some of it immaterial, all of it supporting larger ecosystems that create and inform things like our shared identity, the nature of our dialogues, our approaches to life and experience.

These are larger and more complex fields of activity than a one-to-one relationship between an object and a purchaser.

10 points to address common misconceptions about the cultural industries:

1. Artists are not spending their time at champagne soirées at the taxpayer’s expense. Artists are among the most underpaid professionals in our society.

2. Culture is an industry, not something that just “happens.” You’re thinking of people who make pictures of owls using bottle caps.

3. Art is not about artists—it is about communities and culture. This discussion is not only art, it is music, dance, film, heritage, publishing, video, media, sound, design, theatre, creative youth programs, social outreach, community festivals, animation, fashion.

4. Culture is not a hobby. Running the Children’s Festival or arranging an international visual art exhibition is not something we can do in our spare time.

5. Just because you usually experience the effects of our work in your spare time doesn’t mean we produce it in our spare time.

6. Artists are not “fancy.” Art is a hugely important part of our shared culture. Were the cave paintings fancy? Do you like written language? Have you ever seen a movie or worn a nice shirt or walked through a public space?

7. Even if you don’t like the art, understand what the art is, or know what is involved in making it, that doesn’t mean it has no value, or that it isn’t part of an economy, or that the person who produces the art should do it for free. Most people’s jobs are a mystery to people outside their industry, and no one questions the validity of those jobs or suggests that their children could do them better. Do we raise those questions about people who work in helium detection, vine training, or indoor advertising management?

8. The provincial grants we’re discussing do not entirely pay for the operations of these cultural associations, so extract the word “parasite” from your economic counter-argument. These grants represent a small but crucially important portion of total support and income for a range of organizations. The amount of money being cut from the provincial budget that will be so crippling to the arts community represents only 1/20th of 1 percent of the total provincial budget. To put it in perspective, the contingency fund for the 2010 Olympics is more than twice this amount.

9. People in these industries work hard, hold jobs and have families. Artists support themselves through their art and their work.

10. Was there a reason you chose to live in a city and not in a closet? Do you want to be from somewhere?

Links to further information: www.stopbcartscuts.ca

Graphic design isn’t usually my focus, but when you’re interested in design and are living amidst the deluge of an impending Olympics in your hometown, the tide of graphics is impossible to ignore. Here’s a small sample of political cartoons and posters that incorporate the various Olympic logos – the standard logo with the five rings, as well as the Vancouver 2010 “Inukshuk” logo. (For controversy about the Inukshuk logo see here.) Above is Corey Rollins’ poster about Vancouver’s famous drug and prostitution problem (at left), which is based on the official Vancouver 2010 logo (at right). Rollins also did the healthcare poster below, and the taser shirt too, I think, but I’m having trouble verifying that. I’ll add more graphics to this post as I collect them, just in order to keep them all in once place, so check back if you’re interested. The issues being addressed in these graphics, as you can see, are homelessness and eviction, Vancouver’s infamous drug problem (which is sort of headquartered a few blocks from the stadiums and Olympic village, not to mention my studio), appropriation of First Nations’ imagery and land, environmental destruction, corporate/real estate development, debt, police action, suppression of free speech (Google “Free Speech Zones”), corporate perq’s and all of the other problems that generally accompany an Olympic Games. Being saddled with an Olympics during an economic downturn is no doubt increasing Vancouver’s level of unrest even further. Before you imagine that these are all overreactions, consider this: there is BC legislation waiting to be passed that could mean a 10,000 fine and/or jail time for anyone putting up an anti-Olympics sign in the window of his/her own house, under which law police will have the right to enter your home and remove it. I’ve even had elderly women tell me they’re so incensed that they’re planning to put a sign up too. In a surprising and much-appreciated move, though, the Vancouver police (who are really in need of good PR) held a press conference two days ago announcing that they will not enter any house to remove a sign nor will they lay charges. This will win them a lot of fans. Almost all of these graphics were found here. For a post on the official 2010 graphics on this blog, see here. NOTE: I’m not sure why people conclude that political cartoons equal violent protest. They don’t, and it seems to go without saying that trying to repress them stands a much better chance of causing violence than allowing them.

The flag above was produced by artist Kathryn Walter back when Toronto was bidding (unsuccessfully) for a summer Olympics. The artist recently donated the flag to one of the non-profit art centres in Vancouver that has had its funding abruptly cut by the provincial government, just prior to the Olympics. The government has claimed that the Olympic debt has nothing to do with the recent radical cuts to cultural funding in BC but there are doubts. Projected economic benefits of the Games have this year been downgraded from approx 10 billion to just under 4 billion [update - 1 billion], while the cost of the Olympics leapt from 3 or 4 billion to 7 or more billion. For a small province of only 4 million people, that’s a big debt to be carrying, especially on top of the recession-related deficit of billions we were already burdened with.

Above are the 3 Olympic mascots: Sumi, Quaatchi and Miga. Below is a graphic from the Poverty Olympics, “Give 2010 the finger.”

The four political cartoons immdiately below are from the No2010 site – not sure who the artist is. The 5 interconnected handcuffs motif has actually appeared at prior Olympics as well, including Torino and the Chicago bid.

Above, image by Gord Hill, Kwakwaka’wakw & Riel Manywounds, TsuuT’ina/Nak’azdli, June 2007. Below, Wolves by Ange Sterrit, Gitxsan.

Vancouver writer William Gibson with BC artist Ron Terada’s “Big Star.” Photo: Candace Meyer, all rights reserved.

A number of Vancouver’s most high-profile cultural figures have spoken out recently about the British Columbia government’s recent assault on arts and culture. To read their statements, click here or on the image above. I temporarily thought of apologizing for using this blog for political commentary, but then I remembered that design and art are not divorced from each other nor the world in which they occur; that our cultural environment is deeply formative of all our thinking and our relationships and needs to be protected – especially on this anti-culture continent; and anyway, this is my blog. A couple of friends and I, like many thousands of others, were so fed up with the arts in our province being administered (slashed to nothing) by an arts-hating, anti-intellectual, ex-insurance adjustor Arts Minister who’s more or less a marionette operated by an increasingly corporate, right-wing unaccountable bunch of cowboys misnamed the BC Liberals, that for our part in this struggle we decided to gather written statements against the assault on arts from eminent members of the BC arts community. (And that we would start writing incredibly long sentences.) I’m not sure if these short statements are interesting to anyone outside British Columbia, but I think it’s always compelling when any prominent arts figures step into politics, because it’s not as if art and politics are ever divorced, and at times like these it’s helpful to be reminded of that fact. The only person on this list who’s not a British Columbian is Margaret Atwood, who’s from Toronto, but as far as we are concerned she is an honorary Vancouverite. (To read more about her interest in social and economic issues see her Massey Lectures on debt here). Please visit our site for more information and spread the word, if you can. We’re on twitter too. Thanks again to everyone who has spoken out on Stop BC Arts Cuts. It’s interesting how active all the writers have been, in particular. Not only do they say yes, but they deliver their statements within 12 hours. But you know who spoke out first? Kim Cattrall, who grew up on Vancouver Island. I don’t even have TV and I never did watch Sex and the City, but I love her for using the podium at the Canadian Walk of Fame to do that. If anyone knows others whose name should be on our list, tell them to contact us! Email is on the website.

Thank you, Kim! In case you’re wondering what Kim is talking about here, the BC government is trying to cut arts funding in BC by a massive 90% over the next couple of years. This arts funding was only a tiny proportion of the budget -1/20 of 1% before the cuts. When there’s a $1.36 direct return on investment for every dollar the government spends on the arts, this sort of cutting is just stupid. What other sector gives that kind of return? And that’s not to mention the indispensable, non-economic benefits that the arts provide. If you want a list of what those are, read this smart and entertaining set of facts by Kate Armstrong. And yes, this does have to do with the 2010 Olympics budget overruns, whatever the government may say. And it just doesn’t make sense in a recession.

After a disastrous week for the arts in British Columbia, this is all I’ve got, a photo of a ruined barn and some statistics.Read this entertaining set of facts about arts and arts workers, what they contribute to the economy, and some serious public misconceptions about the role of the arts. As Kate says in the link above:

Artists are not “fancy”. Art is a hugely important part of our shared culture. Were the cave paintings fancy? Do you like written language? Have you ever seen a movie or worn a nice shirt or walked through a public space?

I hate to make purely economic arguments for supporting the arts, because there are certainly enough compelling social ones, but it seems to be important to make them now. Facts: BC already has the lowest arts funding in Canada, and without warning that funding is reduced from last year’s 47 million to this year’s 19 million to next year’s 3.7 million. The province of Ontario, far more badly hit by recession than BC, increased its arts funding by 130 million this year, because they understand that that stimulus provides a huge proven return on their investment within one year, and that it is especially socially and economically smart in times like these. For every dollar given to the arts in BC, $1.36 is returned to the BC government in direct revenue. You can’t get better safe returns than that these days. Furthermore, when indirect returns and benefits are included, culture’s value-added return to the economy per dollar given is more like $6.00. But BC’s current government and its corporate pals doesn’t see it that way, because they don’t understand public spending. They’re stuck in the very neoclassical anti-regulation economics that have been discredited over and over again, most spectacularly by the recent economic crash. Hey, BC, while we’re at it, let’s dam all our rivers and send the power and water to the US! Let’s drill and put oil tankers down the coast! Let’s unregulate fish farms and contaminate all our wild salmon stock! Let’s allow U.S. seismic testing in whale reserves! The BC Liberals are living in outdated, primary resource extraction, cowboy times, and they’re trying to drag the rest of us back there with them. Recall!

If you’d like to join our Facebook group, it’s here. Want to write a letter? Addresses, fax nos. and sample letters are here. And if anyone knows Chad Kroeger, call him and tell him that Nickelback received massive BC and Canadian arts subsidies to get launched, so it’s time they spoke out and told all those anti-arts Nickelback fans in the Fraser Valley that they’re wrong.