An hour with the Provincial Treasurer

Freshly back from the Treasury’s public consultations, I thought I’d reflect on the event for a while. The consultation was cordial and friendly, and far more engaged than perhaps I’d hoped for. Certainly, there are some bright minds at that table, and there was no need to elaborate or belabor a point once the point was made.

The sad fact remains that we are funded at a remarkably low level. To illustrate, using 2005/2006 figures, the investment in the Council from the Province is at $1.72 per capita. In sheer dollar amounts we would obviously fall to the bottom of the pack. But we needn't be there as well in a per capita comparison. There is one peer agency below us, ArtsNB at $1.52 per capita. Yet, as I pointed out, the economies of scale begin to play a role. Despite global administration costs at about 1/3 of their total allocations, ArtsNB still has about $750,000.00 of their $1.1 Million dollar budget to spread across the Province of New Brunswick. I don’t need to tell you, I’m sure, how the same economy of scale affects the PEICA but I will point out that our entire allocation is $238,000. You can do the math.

While keeping the language in terms and comparisons familiar to economists I think some good points were raised and taken – including this per capita problem. I did demonstrate the obvious impact that this has and discussed how, given the situation, we are providing a level of service and programs far, far, below our peer agencies.

My main goal was to illustrate how a rather modest additional investment could have a profound impact – again due to the economy of scale. With our current per capita investment of $1.72 we are at 0.38 of the national provincial average ($4.47 average per capita allocation among the provinces - don’t get me started on those three territories). My request was to bring the PEICA to 0.67 of that average, an even $3.00 per capita by 2010 (that's an increase of about $58,900.00 per year in each year). I also pointed out that at that time, given NLAC’s tripling of their allocations, we would, once again, likely be low on the list.

I should add that there was real interest around the table in looking at, and addressing, the demographic problems the Island is facing, both in the arts and generally, and I was glad to know that we weren’t starting from zero on that matter. In short, I think we were well understood, but I don’t know where we’ll rank at the end of the day and when Cabinet meets to discuss these and all the other matters raised.

So now, we’ve met with the Minister of Community and Cultural Affairs, we’ve presented to the Treasury Boards public consultations, and I’m sitting down with the Premier on Monday morning in his riding office. What’s left? Advocacy.

That's where you come in, so contact us.

A better understanding

To say that relations between the West Prince Arts Council (one of the Provinces regional arts councils) and the PEICA have been contentious in past would be a mammoth understatement. In service of finding common ground, we’ve made a number of trips to the western end of the Island and, we are making progress.

A bone of contention is the lack of investment that they see, from us, in their region. It is an issue and we’ve been struggling to find ways to address is. Of course, in our defense, we receive very few applications from that area, in, in their defense, they submit very few applications due to a perception that all the money goes to Charlottetown.

We’re not alone in this problem. Canada is such that we have urban centres (where artists tend to congregate) and rural areas, where there are certainly highly skilled artists, just a lot less of them per square kilometer. Our peer Council's all face similar criticism whether they be Newfoundland or Manitoba.

Out of our last meeting came a better understanding on their part, I believe, of what are existing programs are intended to do, and a better understanding, on our part, that we need both programmatic changes to ensure or increase investment into the region, and training.

For any artist who wishes to pursue public funds through grants, there are skills to be learned. Among those skills is grant writing, public presentations, engaging in critical dialogue and more. Where we can help (now) is in the grant writing. And so, beginning last fall, we went on the road with ½ day sessions across the Island. Clearly, we need to expand this effort, and partner with the WPAC to ensure that we reach the artists we need to reach in that region. As I ended the conversation at that meeting, the only thing preventing this from working is our [shared] commitment to make it work. I believe that WPAC is willing to commit to this and, while it may be slow, I think we'll see some improvement in years to come.

Communities, Arts and Schools

We met today with two of the Province’s Regional Arts Council’s. Despite the provinces small size, there are several regional arts council’s in addition to the PEICA. While I found this a little odd upon my arrival here, I have come to understand their great value in a province that is very regional in its psyche.

Take, for example, the Le Comité culturel de la Région Évangéline, based out of Abrams Village. Within that community, they are clearly a driving force. Not only do they conduct a small granting program through a provincial allocation, they also support a great deal of community activity with workshops, showcases, and other events. Through these activities, the community retains its identity and important interpersonal bonds. Our trip there also served to illustrate what may be a cultural difference in the inclusion of the cultural community into the school system. Indeed, there is a great deal of integration and the school acts somewhat as a community or cultural centre.

Not so in the English school system where the schools, while not closed to extracurricular activities, do not seem to be as integrated as in the previous example (there are, of course, any number of examples to refute this claim but there is a noticable difference). Other, non school activities become an “add-on” more than a “part-of”. I believe that’s an important distinction. As we have identified that “Arts in Education” is a likely priority coming out of the public consultations it seems that a first step might be looking at increasing the level of integration modeling the relationship after that in the French school board and most notable at l'École Évangéline and the Carrefour de l'Isle-Saint-Jean which regularly hosts cultural events in both English and French.

It should also be noted that it is the French school board (La Commission scolaire de langue française de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard) that plays the role of organizational host to the provinces ArtsSmarts/GenieArts program. All in all, there is much room to grow in the realm of arts integration and education and in community integration and participation, and the French school board looks like its already providing some excellent examples.

Consultation Report now available

Throughout the autumn of 2006 the PEICA held a series of public consultations across Prince Edward Island. The report on these consultations is now available for download.

The PEICA is committed to responding to the community whose input has been so valuable. This report and its findings will greatly inform our 2007 – 2010 Strategic Plan now in development. We welcome comments on this report, and interested members of the community can submit their feed back my mail or email using the information on our contact page.

Most interesting was the consistency in the messages we heard. Certainly, different groups in different areas brought distinct issues to the table, as they should; however, the degree to which the “top issues” remained top issues across the Island was refreshingly regular.

In the “Next Steps” section, you will find our distillation of the results and some projections on how we might respond. These are already in the hands of the Strategic Planning Committee and will form the basis of the new plan along with the results from our Arts Organization discussions, and the collected concerns of the Regional Arts Councils.

Get the report here, and comment, if you wish either by email or below in the comments section.

Arts Organizations Teleconference

Earlier today we held a teleconference with some of the Islands Arts Organizations. Attending were the senior staff of eleven of the some of important organizations that dot the Island.

The conversation was engaging, free flowing, and very insightful. I was glad to have the chance to start an independent dialogue with these people and their respective organizations, and I hope that more join in.

The “agenda” was based on our need to determine what the issues are and what role we can play in addressing those issues. The three agenda topics for discussion were:

• As an Island Arts and Culture organization, what challenges, do you face for success and sustainability?
• What changes would you make to the current arts and culture infrastructure and supports?
• How does the current funding model meet your needs as an arts and culture organizations?

From this discussion, some main points arose. In the area of challenges, we identified the following:

• General lack of funding
• No long term funding (year to year scramble, have to reconfigure programs each year to meet funding requirements) Having to justify the value of arts and culture funding (in terms of return on investment and making the intrinsic value resonate with public and funders)
• Funding programs are not aligned with arts organizations’ programs (decisions made too late in the year, criteria too rigid, no core funding)
• Nature of funding requests (a divided effort with too many small requests from various sources)
• Human resources (hard to find seasonal professional staff)
• A general arts grounding is lacking (e.g. arts in education, provincial museum, and volunteer supports)

And in terms of areas for change to improve the general situation:

• Funding: access to secure, adequate multi year funding (eg. once a strategic plan is in place, funding should continue unless the organization deviates from the plan)
• Collaboration amongst organizations: Plan an event to promote cohesion, develop connections and set priorities; open communication
• Advocacy: One broad and unified message to articulate arts organizations’ needs to government; find new methods of evaluation, frame an argument that resonates
• Public engagement: arts awareness campaign, motivate the public to mobilize their elected officials; mentorship model to engage youth and family

Considering that we’d never spoken together as a group, it was remarkable how collegial and flowing the discussion was, and the degree of agreement on these issues. To further prioritize the results, we prepared an online survey for the participants to use.

As everyone agreed that the conversation needs to continue, we’ll be looking at a face to face meeting in the near future, winter weather notwithstanding. If you missed this conversation, and want to be a part of the next one, please get in touch.

Meeting with the Minister

Today I met with the Minister of Community and Cultural Affairs, Elmer MacFadyen, the Deputy Minister Ron MacMillan, and the Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries, Harry Holman.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the meeting was the level of engagement from the Minister. While I am sure he was thoroughly briefed in advance, there is little doubt that this level of engagement is a stark improvement from past meetings.

I’d like to think that part of the change is due to the increasingly collaborative stance that we are taking, and part of it due to the degree of organizational change that has occurred over the past few years. It is easy to be dismissive of an organization that is unsound or troubled; harder to be dismissive of an organization that is growing and thriving.

What is clear to me is that the Department was interested in our Community Consultations and the report (to be released Friday) and is supportive of our activities. The question remains – how much of that support can be converted from good-will to dollars. Ultimately, an increased investment will lead to the programs so desperately needed by the Islands arts community - and as articulated in the report.

Towards the end of the meeting, we had the opportunity to table a project we’d been working on independently, for a training and export mission(s) for Visual Arts. For this projects funding, we’d been seeking support from Foreign Affairs, PEI Business Development, and ACOA - not Community and Cultural Affairs. It was noted at the meeting that, ideally, funds for the project should come from CCA, but those funds apparently do not exist. Indeed, the Minister did offer to advocate for the project where and when possible.

The meeting ended cordially, and had been friendly throughout. The Minister made statements to the effect that there was little money available. We made statements to the effect of our intention to make the case, and ask for some, nonetheless.

So, at the end of the day, are we poorly funded by a Ministry that is poorly funded (at least in the culture components)? Perhaps yes. If so, all the more reason to continue to reach out to the community and to government at all levels.

Legislators and Advocacy

Taking the lead from Montana and as mentioned in Rand's "The Arts and State Governments: At Arm's Length or Arm in Arm?", we've been booking meetings with the Island's Members of the Legislative Assemble (or MLAs).

By and large, simply trying to book the meeting seems to be an element of consternation, and, no wonder. How long has it been since our organization engaged their organization - particularly on a one-to-one level? More disconcerting for them, I suspect, it that my hand is not out for dollars.

What is clear from the meetings to-date is that their concerns are largely identical, the value they place on their communities is identical, and their reasons for going into public service are identical. Indeed, regardless of political stripe, their fundamental concerns for population, community health and growth, for their constituents remains consistent.

This, most definitely, works to our advantage, as we can be, with effort and commitment, equally consistent with messages going “in” – and ensure those messages come from constituents who are equally concerned with population, community health and growth, and who are concerned for their neighbors AND who can articulate the role that the arts play in these issues.

Our task will be finding a way to provide leadership in engaging, and motivating the members of the arts and culture community to act at this level in an informed and consistent manner.

In service of that goal and our desire to be better engaged with the arts community ourselves, we’re also continuing along on our consultations with Arts Organizations and with the Island’s Regional Arts Council’s.

Beginning the dialogue

Discussions in the office this morning have centered on making the best case to Government in our upcoming presentation to the Treasury Board. While we, on this side of the table, believe in the value and power of the arts that is not necessarily true on the other side of the table, at least not in the same way.

I’ve begun meeting with all of the Islands MLAs, some of whom are proving tricky to track down. From the first four meetings (Olive Crane, Minister Bagnall – Fisheries, Wayne Collins, and Minister Shea- Transportation and Public Works). By and large, there is a recognition that arts and culture play a role in their communities, a role that is tightly bound to community identity. If that proves consistent, I and expect it will among the remaining 23 members, the question I have is whether or not ,in the context of a Treasury Board consultation, this notion will be meaningful.

My fear is that, in the Treasury Board will be so used to hearing instrumental arguments (invest x$ is us and we’ll generate x$ times 3 in output) that the stage will not be receptive the true nature of our case. And while we can produce economic figures (as in the report “Economic Contribution of Culture to P.E.I.”) which may help assuage concerns, I don’t want to tie any increased investment in the Council to predictions of output that we are poorly equipped to measure and prove and when the real benefits may be largely immeasurable.

What would help both now and in the future, would be for all of us for whom arts and culture are important features of our communities, to regularly engage our elected officials in conversations about the role of arts and culture in our communities. Make it a regular conversation, so that the topic becomes as comfortable as sport or health or economic development. As far as I’m concerned, it ranks right up there, and impacts all three.

Whether we understand each other well or not, on January 25th, the Treasury Board will at least gain an introduction into the world of public arts funding, and have a better understanding of what we do and why.

The Value of the Arts

I’ve been reading a lot about the value of the arts, or, more precisely, the variety of ways to look at that value, to express that value, and the different ways that different groups look at valuing the arts.

Here at the Council, we are in the middle of wrapping up consultations, and formulating our new Strategic Plan. The fact remains that, in order to be meaningful, the plan needs to have appeal to three distinct groups who value arts and culture in three different ways.

John Holden (with Demos, a UK based think tank) illustrates the problem quite clearly in his pamphlet Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy. I do this job because of my belief in the intrinsic value of the arts but need to ensure that the organization has institutional value for its own sake, and for continued support from the “public” who have their own ideas about the intrinsic value. Yet, I find myself talking in instrumental value terminology to the elected officials who make decisions on our funding. John makes some interesting observations and I'm happy to see that some of his conclusions are reflected in some of the activities we've undertaken.

We have a long road ahead of us, but I can't help but feel we're gaining a little bit of momentum.

Where are we now?

The Strategic Planning Committee (Michael Stanley, Rilla Marshall, Annette Campbell, and me) met today to review the report on our public consultations (publicly available as soon as I review it with the Board). There are some pretty clear themes arising and they relate to community, services for artists, and the role of arts in education. Hardly surprising results, but important to have gathered and confirmed.

This topic of community is very interesting as it opens new doors for the Council within the existing mandate. There are so many interesting examples of community arts programs that have had remarkable impacts. We have the DVD from BC’s Documenting Engagement project that is positively inspiring. Feel free to drop in and view it here at the office.

We’d already started looking into expanded services for artists, first in our grant programs, and then in other programming, such as a pilot for export readiness that we’re in discussions on at present. In that light, it was encouraging to see that supported in the consultations.

Lastly, in Arts Education, the need for work in this area is becoming more and more evident. The trick here, as I see it, will be in hammering out a partnership with the Department of Education, assuming, of course, we can adequately illustrate the need for the partnership. Good thing is, we’ve got the consultation to support that, and we’ve also go the recently completed “Arts and Learning Environmental Scan”. While this document is an internal Canadian Public Arts Funders (CPAF) study (not for public release) the Council can use the data and findings, and we can share the official CPAF response. We’ll be meeting next Monday to determine how and when we will share this document, and I’ll have it on our website as soon as the release is agreed.

We'll also post the complete public consultation report on our website shortly(now available here), and we’ll be touring the province once again with the Strategic Plan, in draft, in the next month or so. Stay abreast of this information by subscribing to our newsletter.