Friday, November 23, 2012
Peter Worthington: Is the Canada Council Just Funding Hobbies?
huffingtonpost.ca: There was a rhetorical sigh of relief in the Canada Council for the Arts establishment that extensive federal budget cuts this year did not include them. While the DND budget is being cut by up to $2 billion, and the CBC budget of $1.1 billion is being cut by 10 per cent, the Canada Council's arts budget is standing firm at about $190 million.
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2 comments:
Personally, I don't know how to respond to this. There are so many different types of art that what art actually is, can get lost. No, I don't think that a giant hamburger is necessarily art, especially from the description that the article gave. But someone obviously did and it was significant enough to be in a museum. It is such a difficult idea to work out because even if someone does think it is art and even if it is hanging in a museum, I don't know how that would verify that it is art. No one cared about most artists and when they died, they were suddenly revered. I really wouldn't blame a taxpayer for getting upset that they are funding someone's hobby. While art can be a hobby, there has to be something more to it, more significance to the artist. There is just such an unclear line that determines art from a hobby. While I'm not sure how to work it out, I do understand the possible frustration.
Artist do not make art as a hobby. That is why they are artists they spend their lives making art. So to have somebody think that their livelihood is just a hobby is insulting. If anybody is paying for somebody to create art then the person is doing well. A society can have many artists working at once, it does not need just the singular best selling novelist and famous painter. Much of the problem could be in fact traced back to people who are unwilling to support the arts beyond the best selling novelist and famous artist. Part of creating and experiencing art is taking a chance. You may go to the theatre one night and see something you cannot relate to, but the next time you go you could experience something that hits so close to home it makes you rethink things. Artist cannot simply say "Hey I feel like writing a best seller" There is hours upon hours, days upon days and sometimes years that go into making works of art. To condemn all non-famous artists' work for hobbies is grossly wrong.
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