Evidence of meeting #7 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cultural.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President, Association of Cultural Industries of Newfoundland and Labrador
I think it's a perfect time to invest in arts and culture, actually, because we're not using anything—only human resources, creativity, intelligence, development, and research. These are all the things that make us a great country.
Bloc
Bloc
Roger Pomerleau Bloc Drummond, QC
Mr. MacDuff, you said something that almost made me fall off my chair, which was that, using cost accounting, it is clear that, considering what Canada gives companies touring abroad compared to what other countries provide to their own companies, we are actually being supported by foreign countries. There is more support coming from foreign countries than there is from Canada. So, it is actually very profitable to go abroad. You even said cutting this funding is an economic absurdity. This is an activity that brings in money, rather than the opposite.
If this funding is abolished and you no longer receive any money, the work that you have carried out over the last 36 years of your existence will be in jeopardy, and the work you are now doing in preparation for the next two, three or four years will be obsolete before you have even begun.
Is it your view that these unannounced cuts, for which you were given absolutely no explanation, will put your very survival in jeopardy?
Pierre MacDuff
Yes, definitely. This decision is even that much more incomprehensible when you consider that, a few years ago, I calculated that Germany spends more money promoting German culture in Canada, through the Goethe-Institute, than Canada spends on promoting its own culture around the globe. At some point, this becomes a conscious choice. Choices are complex and difficult when resources are limited, but there are a multitude of needs to fill in a multitude of ways.
The important thing for me was to respectfully present our thoughts to the committee regarding the economic consequences of the choices that are being made, given the modest amounts of money invested in the PromArt Program. The funding that this investment allowed us to leverage in foreign currency was already more than the amount of the investment. I will say it again: these cuts are an economic absurdity, not to mention their impact on the artistic community.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
Thank you.
Mr. Bruinooge, you have about two minutes, sir.
Conservative
Rod Bruinooge Conservative Winnipeg South, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate hearing the testimony of the witnesses today. Being from the arts sector myself in a prior life, I know it is an important sector to our economy, and I'm happy to hear some of the testimony, especially from Mr. Everson.
Some of the members around this committee have expressed some concern about our government deciding to make some cuts in certain segments of this sector that weren't performing as well as others. In particular, I know the sector you represent, Magazines Canada, has received about $12 million since 1995 in funding for 53 different projects. Could you perhaps give us a little more background as to the success you've had in your particular sector, give us a little testimony in that regard?
Executive Director, Public Affairs, Magazines Canada
I'm not sure what those funding projects are.
As I said in the earlier piece, consistent application of magazine policy and a fairly stable environment have allowed the industry to really concentrate on investing in Canadian artists and Canadian photographers and make more and more of our content available and accessible to Canadians.
I certainly understand the issue with Newfoundland, because it's a big country and sparsely populated, and magazines are a heavy, physical product. To get them from one place to another is a major challenge, compared to that of our partners to the south, who have a big entertainment and magazine industry and can easily get into the Canadian marketplace and compete directly with us.
What's happened, in our experience, is that every ten years or so there's a major review of magazine policy and programs. It happened with the Perrin Beatty review back in the early nineties; it happened in the late nineties with Minister Copps and the relationship with the United States that was agreed to. Now we're going through another similar review, where we're updating and improving the framework for magazines and making it more relevant in today's economy.
From the point of view of consultations on the questions there, I would say there was no specific consultation on the specific cut to a part of our programming, but I wouldn't want to leave that impression from the point of view of the department's consultation around our programs, policy framework, and the priorities the sector has for the future. We've been very well consulted by the department. They've done summative evaluations, public consultations, and round table meetings across the country. We've had lots of opportunity for input to that, not on the specific question about cuts, but certainly in terms of their understanding the priorities and needs of the sector as it evolves and the needs of the sector to continue the success we've had, as new technologies like online magazines and so on become available.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
Thank you for that.
That's going to bring our questioning to a conclusion, other than one more question I have as chair. Lots of times there's something I think should be asked. You don't have to answer today; it could be sent to me.
Mr. MacDuff, you mentioned that PromArt was only one source of funding. Can a single project be funded by a number of different federal organizations? It's a question, and if you could please send the answer to the chair, I would appreciate that.
With that, we will recess to let our next group of witnesses come forth. Can we do that as quickly as possible and reconvene in five minutes, please?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
Sorry for the rush. Just to explain to our witnesses and to our committee, I'm going to make a suggestion. We are going to have bells at 5:30. We do have to go for a vote. We know that many of you have come a long way, so I'm asking my committee, those who can, to come back for the second half-hour. Our vote shouldn't take too long.
Go ahead, Mr. Del Mastro.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Mr. Chair, I'd support the suggestion that we return, as long as there's agreement from all members that there won't be any votes or motions brought forward during the extension, because we won't have all our members here. We will have some of our members here.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
In all fairness to our witnesses, it's agreed we'll do that.
Again, welcome to the second half of our meeting.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
I am afraid I won't be able to make it; I have another commitment. Some of you may not be able to attend either. I agree with what Mr. Del Mastro has suggested, which is that there be no votes, motions or other business dealt with for a half-hour, if the committee decides to continue.
Conservative
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
I had a social event this evening, but I guess it will have to wait.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
Okay, we have that straightened out.
Again, I welcome our next witnesses. From Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, we have Alain Dancyger. From the Canadian Art Museum Directors' Organization, we have Robert Labossière. From Regroupement québécois de la danse--that has to be a dance group--we have Lorraine Hébert. And from Independent Media Arts Alliance, we have Jennifer Dorner.
Again, welcome.
We'll start off with Alain, please.
I ask you to keep your comments, your intro, to five minutes, please.
Alain Dancyger Executive Director, Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal
Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the committee, I would like to thank you for this invitation to come and speak about the importance of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal's export activities for our country.
It could be said that Les Grands Ballets, a non-profit organization created in 1957 by Ms. Chiriaeff, has always been a company that operated on an international scale, from its very beginnings. The company's first international tour was in 1958, when it visited the United States at the invitation of the renowned Jacob's Pillow Festival. Following that, a series of historic tours took place, thanks to the federal government's support at the time, including the first European tour in 1969, the first South American tour in 1976 and the first Asian tour in 1983.
Currently, Les Grands Ballets tours outside Canada three to four times annually, for an average of 20 performances per year over the last five years. With 33 performances this season, we will be reaching more than 53 000 people across the globe.
When Les Grands Ballets goes on tour, that involves 55 to 60 people—dancers, technicians, costumiers, ballet masters, etc.—a sizeable cargo and, as you can well imagine, some complex logistics. All of these are reasons for us to plan negotiations, memorandums of understanding and contracts carefully, to guarantee Les Grands Ballets' international presence at least three years in advance.
Financially speaking, Les Grands Ballets has benefited each year, through the PromArt and Trade Routes programs, from export assistance in the approximate amount of $200,000 annually, which represents, on average, 2 per cent of our annual budget.
Why should the Government of Canada support the export activities of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal? Allow me to use my five minutes today to focus on factors that are socio-economic and, in some ways, political.
We all know that the arts, a natural human form of creative expression, reflect a country in all its cultural diversity, give it its identity… In short, as a great philosopher once said: “Science without conscience is the soul's perdition”.
Beyond the mission of Les Grands Ballets, which includes international visibility, the company's export activities are a necessity, for the simple reason that the Montreal market alone does not hold sufficient potential to generate the annual revenues that we require.
The Grands Ballets' export activities are also a direct response to international demand. Our cultural product is popular because it is distinctive, original, innovative, and because our company has a reputation for excellence and performance. In other words, Les Grands Ballets has succeeded, thanks to the devoted work of our dancers, designers, crafts people, board of directors, committees, employees, freelancers and volunteers—several hundred people, in fact—and thanks to the support of the three levels of government, in earning a place among the ranks of Canada's most active cultural institutions, and is now one of the most highly demanded on the international scene. This success is built year after year, month after month, and day after day.
But international competition is fierce, especially at this juncture. My international colleagues have benefited from the continued support of their governments and, for the most part, from increased support—particularly our European competitors, which makes them even more competitive today, especially considering the cuts we are currently facing here in our country. Our situation is all the more fragile in that Les Grands Ballets, like all other major North American cultural institutions, is also dependent on revenues from the private sector, which is currently in crisis. It is extremely difficult for us, despite all the extra efforts we are making, to maintain our current level of private sector revenues and, as you can understand, even more difficult to compensate for the financial losses resulting from the cancellation of the only two federal programs that assist with export activities.
This situation threatens Les Grands Ballets in the short and medium terms as regards its financial viability, but it also creates a major image problem for our country outside our borders.
The foreign cultural milieu—and the political one, because let's not forget that our embassies throughout the world “use” the presence of Les Grands Ballets to forge ties with local governments and economies—has a difficult time understanding the reasons why a country like Canada, a member of the G-8, does not support its cultural actors even while they—and I will say this once again—inspire unprecedented interest from international audiences. If Les Grands Ballets were a dynamic and innovative SME producing electronic components, for example, whose products were in high demand on the international market, it would be logical, even strategic, to support that SME so that it could gain market share, especially in the current economic context. Why would a cultural product be treated any differently?
Can Les Grands Ballets survive without financial support to export its product? No—for all the reasons I have mentioned, but also because we, like every other economic sector, operate in a competitive and standardized world. These international standards require that a company invited by a promoter cover the entire cost of transportation and accommodations—the very reason why the PromArt Program was created to begin with. As for Trade Routes, this program was particularly effective in that it allowed us to host future buyers in order to guarantee our future export contracts.
Let's take, for example, the last performances of Les Grands Ballets at the Les étés de la danse Festival in Paris last summer. More than 32,000 people applauded the company's performances at the Grand Palais. Thanks to the Trade Routes Program, we were able to host more than 40 promoters interested in the company.
And here is the result:
- tours are currently being finalized for France and Holland for February 2011, and for the United Kingdom for spring 2011;
- we began negotiations with the Bregenz Festival in Austria, Cologne and Berlin, the Ravenna Festival and the Venice Biennale;
- but the most prestigious export contract is, without a doubt, Les Grands Ballets' historic tour of the Middle East this coming June, to Israel and Egypt, as Les Grands Ballets has been invited to take part in the official celebrations of Tel Aviv's 100th anniversary.
It is also worth mentioning that our presence in Israel will coincide with the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations between Canada and Israel.
The consequences of the federal government's decision to eliminate all of its support for export activities are disastrous.
I will close with a couple of concrete facts.
This year, we cancelled a tour of the United States—four cities in California and Pennsylvania in January, 2009—and we had to cut three cities from our U.S. tour last fall, for lack of financial support under the PromArt Program.
We cut short all our negotiations with the Venice Biennale, which wanted to present the company in June 2010, even though we know full well that an invitation as prestigious as that is the result of many years of effort and excellence. Performances scheduled in Poland, in Lodz and Krakow, were also cancelled.
Italian promoters are now asking us for confirmation of our federal grants for the anticipated tour of Les Grands Ballets in April of 2010, to Ferrara, San Vincenzo, Bolzano and Modena, and should no confirmation be forthcoming, Les Grands Ballets will be replaced by more cost-effective competitors.
Our Middle East tour scheduled for June is now in jeopardy because we have not yet been able to replace the export funding of $250,000 that we had expected to receive through the PromArt Program.
In closing, as a manager who has been active with Les Grands Ballets for more than 13 years, and in the cultural sector for much longer than that, I can state that today, regardless of our differences, whatever they may be, the Canadian government's financial support for touring—and let's not forget that we are talking about $3 million for the performance arts under the PromArt Program and $500,00 under Trade Routes—is, in my opinion, not only justified, but logical and absolutely vital. I would even add that it just makes good business sense.
Thank you.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
Thank you.
We're going to run out of time for any questions if we keep having presentations that long. If I hold up my pencil, it means that we've gone five minutes and please close your comments.
Mr. Labossière.
Robert Labossière Executive Director, Canadian Art Museum Directors' Organization
I'll try to pay attention.
Thank you very much for inviting me. I'm here on fairly short notice, and no one can say that government doesn't act quickly when it wants to.
