Yes, close enough.
“Curator”, okay.
As I said, I am the director-curator of the Musée des maîtres et artisans du Québec and have been for more than eight years.
Founded in 1962, the museum specializes in handcrafted objects made by Quebec masters and artisans. The museum is one of 42 that are recognized and supported by the province's ministry of culture, communications and the status of women. The museum is also a Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board designated institution. We are the only museum in Quebec specializing in this area, which we like to describe as a continuum that ranges from handcrafted homemade objects and pieces by commercial artisans all the way to professional works of art.
Our material culture collection comprises more than 10,000 objects, from current pieces to items dating back to the 17th century. We receive operational funding from the ministry of culture, the borough of Saint-Laurent, in Montreal, and the Conseil des arts de Montréal. Unfortunately, those funds have been frozen at the same level since at least 1995. With everything else being equal and no such cap on inflation, this freeze has obviously diminished our financial capacity every year. To offset that reality, we managed, for a time, to increase our own revenues through sponsorship, fundraising activities and patronage, but there is a limit to how many new patrons we can find, not to mention, that there are clearly more and more of us vying for this source of funding.
In order to cut spending and reduce our accumulated deficit, in 2005, we also eliminated any expenditures not directly related to our collections. Consequently, we no longer have anyone working on communications or any advertising budget to speak of. And yet, we are very active: collections have grown by 30% over the past 5 years and, on average, we host 16 exhibits and produce 4 catalogues every year.
Located in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent, the museum is far enough away from downtown that we do not see any tourist traffic, even though we are right next to a metro stop. Unable to attract tourists, who, on average, account for 70% of museum visitors in Quebec, we had to set our sights on the local population. According to 2006 census figures, 51% of Saint-Laurent residents were not born in Canada. If we take the children of those residents into account, generally speaking, 85% of the local population is made up of immigrants and those with close ties to immigrants.
By reaching out to social agencies and community groups, we have been able to develop a bottom-up approach, as they say. This approach has made it possible for us to present more than 10 exhibits a year, projects that are actually put together by the groups themselves, not by the museum. Our results have even garnered us invitations to speak at the Metropolis Conference in Vancouver in March 2011, to jointly facilitate a workshop at the International Metropolis Conference on immigration in the Azores in September 2011, and to share our experience at a workshop hosted by the Museum of Civilization in Quebec City this coming October.
I think it's safe to say that these invitations reflect, to some extent, acknowledgement of how unique and effective our approach is, as well as the fact that multiculturalism and interculturalism are on the radar of researchers and policy makers in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and around the world.
Cross-border movement by different populations is an inevitable reality, so instead of trying to restrict it at all costs, we might be better off using non-coercive means to swiftly turn newcomers into contributing members of society who have a wealth of resources to offer. The men, women and children who leave their homes and families to immigrate to an uncertain world they hope and believe will be a better one, are in fact the best, the cream of the crop, so to speak, and they deserve to be given the means to succeed and produce wealth for themselves and their countries.
As you can see, we take our social responsibility very seriously, and we sincerely believe that a museum can serve as a catalyst for social cohesion, intercultural understanding and a collective sense of belonging.
But before our social mission, is our duty to preserve the cultural heritage, first and foremost. That is a museum's primary responsibility: ensuring that this heritage never dies, that it lives on forever, because donors entrust us with collections so we can preserve them for future generations, indeed time immemorial. This duty must be taken seriously and serves as the benchmark against which all our efforts must be measured, particularly in periods of financial hardship, when many a museum comes to a crossroads. Some may have to make deeper cuts still to staff and certainly customer service, in the short term, at the risk of becoming less competitive in the difficult arena of sponsorship and patronage, perpetuating a vicious cycle that may ultimately lead to the disappearance of the weaker and smaller institutions.
In this struggle against time, it is paramount that we believe that all governments are aware of the issues facing the smaller among us and support us by adjusting our assistance and programming.
I am saying this because, although I agree the 150th anniversary of Confederation is an occasion to celebrate and dazzle throngs of tourists, it is also important to remember continuity, what will endure and stand the test of time when all the tourists have gone home and the international media has turned its attention elsewhere. All too often, electoral politics—which, by necessity, reflect a short-term vision—trump the rationale for long-term viability when deciding which projects to support. While fireworks displays are extremely exciting—and I am the first to ooh and aah—the fact remains that once the celebrations are over, it would be unfortunate for the smaller among us not to come out the other end stronger as well.
I have always said that for every Maurice Richard or Wayne Gretzky, there are thousands of little guys playing hockey in the street or on a frozen pond. The few at the top of the pyramid, whether we are talking about a social, economic or sports pyramid, are basically supported by thousands of anonymous and invisible faces who bravely form the base. Your duty, in my humble opinion, is not just to help the big players in the downtown cores and major centres, so they can stand out and dazzle tourists and international visitors, but also to help the small local players in outlying areas grow, endure and recover from a much too lengthy fall.
In this world of capitalism, progress is the only way, and that applies to institutions as well. And freezes and moratoriums are not the way to achieve that progress. Certain cultural heritage institutions, such as museums, will never make money hand over fist, they will always need government and community support because their success is measured by the richness of our cultural heritage, not dollars.
And yet, a number of cultural for-profit businesses also receive government support, sometimes considerable support. I am not asking you to turn your backs on them; I am simply and most humbly asking you not to forget about us.
Thank you.