Friday, April 26, 2019
Canadian Public Arts Funding and a New National Narrative
HowlRound Theatre Commons: The immigration of actors between Canada and the United States generally goes one direction: south. I, however, went the other way. I was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and, by way of Montreal and Vancouver, I now live in Toronto. (Basically I’ve lived in every Canadian city an American can name.)
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It is interesting to see the difference in how Americans and Canadians support local and national arts in their respective countries. Americans, believing much more in independent liberties and decentralized government, are much less likely to support local or federal arts subsidies, as opposed to Canada, who believe much more in the modern “welfare state.” When it comes to art, this is very unfortunate, as most people are unable, or otherwise unwilling to pay the amount that the art is actually worth to produce. However, with government subsidies and support, this makes sure that artists are compensated more fairly, and that the cost it takes for them to produce their art in the first place is offset, at least by some amount. Government subsidies for art are not only beneficial for the artist, but for the overall population as well. As it allows for artists to produce more work, thus deepening the culture of society as a whole.
I read an article last week on the theatrical scene in Toronto and this article is a great addition to that article. As I have mentioned before, the Canadian theatre scene is one that is really intriguing to me, and articles like these only make it more fascinating. The idea of public arts funding at the scope that Canada is doing it is actually mind-boggling for me. Growing up in the southeastern region of the United States, public arts funding might as well have been a curse word, or you were just going insane for thinking of such a thing. With my background, it is so refreshing and motivating to know that there are places in the world that still support the arts, and Canada is looking like they are taking it one step further and letting their art scene grow all the while supporting it. I still do not know where my career will take me, but Canada will always be an option in my head.
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