I think it will be under five minutes.
Good afternoon. I would like to start by thanking the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for this opportunity to present on behalf of our members and the diverse communities we represent. The Independent Media Arts Alliance is a national network of over 80 non-profit independent film, video, and new media production, distribution, and presentation organizations representing over 12,000 artists and cultural workers across Canada. We have member organizations divided into six regions across Canada. These organizations are established in both small communities and large cities, from Whitehorse, Yukon, to Nain, Labrador, and everywhere in between.
When I heard about this strategic review, I put together an online survey. It consisted of a list of the programs that were cut and simple questions related to each one that asked for feedback from the community. By the end of the first day, we had over 100 respondents. These individuals were staff of not-for-profit organizations and emerging artists. We even heard back from Canada's most established documentary filmmakers. We determined that the programs most affected by the sector include PromArt, Trade Routes, CIFVF, the Canada Feature Film Fund, the National Training Program for the Film and Video Sector, and Canadian Culture Online, so I'm focusing on all of those.
Of the thousands of answers we received, not one had anything negative to say about these programs. In fact, it was clear that these programs were very effective and vital to the independent media arts sector. Many people questioned whether they would even be able to continue with their artistic practice, because even before the cuts, funding for the independent media arts sector was very inadequate. For example, the films Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media and The Corporation are Canada's all-time top-grossing feature documentaries. Mark Achbar, who co-directed and co-produced these films states, “The fund was absolutely crucial to our financial structure. It made the films possible.”
I have here a compilation of the survey. As you can see, it's quite big with very small font. There are thousands of answers, literally, from people giving their briefs to me. I'm not going to go into full detail, but just so you know, if anyone wants a copy, I have a few here.
The federal government claims that these programs were cut out of necessity, that the overall funding for arts and culture had to be reorganized. However, taking money from the incubators of art and culture and putting it into the top commercial cultural industries is like chopping the roots off an apple tree and fertilizing the upper branches: it just makes no sense.
Twenty-five million dollars is now going to an international art prize. We all think that sounds very exciting; however, the federal government needs to invest in emerging Canadian artists and new and growing art forms so that Canada actually has a chance at winning it. The trend of increasing funds for the larger industry and cutting from the foundation of art production will have detrimental consequences over the long term. In the immediate future, we will see a dramatic decrease in quality, diverse, and educational programming, a decline in festivals in smaller communities, and an increase in mainstream programming that blends in with the larger productions from south of the border. Yet even these productions over the long term will suffer because we will not have cultivated our creative minds, or offered sufficient training, production, and exhibition opportunities to grow a healthy media arts industry.
To jump back to the specific programs in question, we prioritize the CIFVF and Trade Routes as being absolutely essential for the production and dissemination of independent media art. They, in fact, have had economic spinoffs that far exceed the initial investment. In practical terms, a major and alarming consequence of the loss of these programs will be increased pressures on the Canada Council for the Arts, specifically the media arts section in our case.
The media arts section at the council has one of the lowest budgets of all departments, far below music, theatre, writing and publishing, and even visual arts, yet this is one of the fastest-growing sectors, and we all know that producing a film is really not cheap. Not only does this section lack the human resources to administer the increase in grant applications, but the section will have to turn away hundreds of applications that warrant support.
So let's focus on finding a solution. Based on our report, which was circulated to you all beforehand, we have three suggestions: first, that the federal government reinstate funding to the programs that I mentioned earlier; second, that these and other Heritage programs be reconstituted to expand their focus to include independent media art--currently the Heritage programs do not support independent media art enough, and we feel it would be wise to invest in new art forms and emerging artists; the third is that the federal government invest in the media arts section at the Canada Council for the Arts so that it can address the needs of a growing industry.
Thank you. I would be happy to answer questions if the time permits.