Dept of Heritage Emergency meeting, 1pm EST

APPARENTLY the Heritage Committee of the House of Commons has scheduled an emergency meeting for 1pm today to take up the issue of the over 40 million dollars in Arts Funding cuts being dropped by the Conservative government.

It might be worth a moment of your time to flood them with an email or two before then. Be passionate but calm. Speak of economic impact, and remind them that the arts employs over 600 000 people in this country, and is a multi billion dollar industry.

And if you happen to know your MP is Conservative, remind them that the Arts is actually big politics in Quebec.

You know, the place they're trying to troll for more seats....

H/t to Margaret Dinsdale (via Ink Canada)


HERITAGE COMMITTTEE MEMBERS:

Denis Coderre Coderre.D@parl.gc.ca
Gary Schellenberger schelg1@parl.gc.ca
Andy Scott Scott.A@parl.gc.ca
Jim Abbott Abbott.J@parl.gc.ca
Ed Fast faste@parl.gc.ca
Luc Malo Malo.L@parl.gc.ca
Bill Siksay Siksay.B@parl.gc.ca
Michael D. Chong Chong.M@parl.gc.ca
Dean Del Mastro delmad@parl.gc.ca
Hedy Fry fry.h@parl.gc.ca
Francis Scarpaleggia scarpf@parl.gc.ca
Jim Prentice Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca

(T)here are the over 600,000 Canadian artists and other cultural workers who help to brand Canada to the world and inject over $43 billion annually into the Canadian economy." - JOSEPH L. ROTMAN, CHAIR, CANADA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS

"Both PromArt and Trade Routes are modest programs, but remain crucial to Canada’s art and cultural sector. These programs have a high return on their investment and some estimate the return on investment ratio is as high as 10 to 1.... Public funding for the arts is a proven economic and cultural stimulus that the majority of Canadians embrace." - PEGGY NASH, MP, LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER

"Canada must compete in the Global Entertainment and Cultural economy. And the competition is well-armed and very aggressive. Brits and Swedes travel to Japan annually to sell music. The Americans have the "biggest" (of course) stand at MIDEM. And everyone sings in English. Federal funding provides a bridge to markets which we couldn't otherwise access...the recent returns, both in terms of artist recognition and economic benefits have far outweighed the small amounts invested by the Federal government. Now the Chinese are in the game, we are looking at the largest market in the world, with fewer resources to reach it." - DUNCAN McKIE, PRESIDENT/CEO, CANADIAN INDEPENDENT RECORD PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION (CIRPA)

"Cultural investment pays off in jobs! It pays off in royalties earned from foreign territories! It's GOOD BUSINESS." - DAVID BASSKIN, PRESIDENT/CEO, CANADIAN MUSICAL REPRODUCTION RIGHTS ASSOCIATION LTD. (CMRRA)

"I put on gigs here in Sheffield, England and have had several Canadian acts play over the last 18 months. We've had some great nights and I know a large part of these shows having happened is the support the artists have had from your government enabling them to tour. Many have played to new listeners and helped broaden their fanbase, making connections that simply wouldn't have happened without the support they received." - CRAIG ALLEN, MUSIC PROMOTER, SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND

"To sabotage investments in culture that generate money for the economy not to mention what it generates for the soul, is not only scary in what it says for the future of culture in this country, but it is also simply gross economic mismanagement." - HEATHER MORGAN, alt.COUNTRY MUSICIAN

"These programmes are defensible on two important grounds. One, they pay for themselves in promoting Canadian music and arts abroad; Canadian music alone has returned millions to the Treasury thanks to the success our artists have achieved around the world. Secondly, they give the world a picture of this country as something more than hewers of wood and exporters of oil and harvesters of wheat." - RICHARD FLOHIL, PUBLICIST/PROMOTER, LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER

"The often relatively small amounts granted under (the PromArt and Trade Routes) programs have had a leverage effect for many artists and organizations as they sought support to develop markets abroad, contribute to our national image and lend valued support to other general trade development efforts of our missions abroad. At the time of writing, there is no clear indication that the government intends to replace these programs with more performing ones." - CANADIAN CONFERENCE OF THE ARTS BULLETIN 27/08

"Government money is pump-priming money. Success breeds success. The irony is, if you double the grant to an arts body, you probably end up doubling the amount of private giving to it as well, because people say, 'I want to invest in something that has the backing of government'... From my point of view, the arts don't win or lose you an election, but I think the arts are a powerful voice." - ED VAIZEY, CONSERVATIVE, BRITISH OPPOSITION CULTURE CRITIC (in the National Post)