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.