Canadian Heritage Committee on April 19th, 2018

[Alanna Jankov]

The biggest thing The Guild would need for succession planning is money. It's operational investment from the community and all levels of government, because like with any not-for-profit, most of my staff come from HR grants. You hire somebody, you have them for a short term, and just when you get them trained, you don't have the money to keep them so you have to go on to something else.

The Guild will always be at risk until we can come up with solid solutions to have good, strong, creative staff on a permanent basis.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

Thank you.

Now we will be going to Mr. Shields, please.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I've appreciated the presentations by the witnesses today.

Mr. Casey, my family lineage in Prince Edward Island goes back to 1791. Some of us claim some history there.

I would start with Ms. Jankov. You mentioned and went through very quickly some of the barriers. You've only referred to one, but you had some other barriers that you went through or challenges that you have. You mentioned four or five, and you've dealt with one. What else is there? You talked about applications very quickly. Could you go back to that?

[Alanna Jankov]

Sure.

You have a great name. That's my son's name.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I get a compliment.

[Alanna Jankov]

Among the other challenges, I mentioned the daunting applications. Sometimes an application process to receive a $5,000 bit of funding would take days to prepare, and then there is the reporting process that goes with it. Perhaps there is a way to simplify that process, especially if you are already a proven organization that includes the checks and balances going forward. In terms of the provincial government, for example, one of our biggest challenges is the operational investments that we receive from the municipal government and the province of P.E.I. Every year, I have to reapply and prove my existence for a small piece of seed money just to get the doors open each year, to get the festival and get the events going at The Guild.

If there were a way that we could even have three-year contracts, it would simplify life so much. I spend so much time proving my existence that I then run out of time to do what I should be doing, which is finding other opportunities for The Guild to grow.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

You'd like a contract that recognizes that you exist and can be renewable or for a longer term, let's say three years.

[Alanna Jankov]

Indeed.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Would you make sure to supply that in writing to us?

[Alanna Jankov]

Yes.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

We'd appreciate that.

Are there any other things under those recommendations?

[Alanna Jankov]

Yes. The other one I had mentioned was the Canada summer jobs initiative. Thank you very much for the student I would get every year, but getting them for eight weeks when you have a six-month festival and a university student who has four months to work, it becomes really problematic for me to find additional money to keep them longer.

Could we somehow extend them out to 12 and 16 weeks? Also, for organizations such as mine, maybe we could get more than one, because I increase my staff in the summer by 22 additional students. It really affects the bottom line.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

You've experienced when they used to be longer than 13-plus weeks. Now it's down to eight weeks.

[Alanna Jankov]

A couple of years ago, something came out saying there was going to be more money for Canada summer jobs, and maybe there was, but instead of getting one student for 12 weeks, I now would get a student for eight weeks. There might be more students being hired, but they're getting shorter terms. In essence, it's not really working.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

You have to come up with the other funding if you want to keep them longer, which makes continuity better for you, but you don't get it.

[Alanna Jankov]

That's correct.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Okay. Thank you.

I'll go now to Interactive Ontario and Mrs. Dickenson. You talked about start-up being the most critical piece. Could you explore that a bit more and what, from our level, start-up could mean and how that could be reflected by us?

[Christa Dickenson]

Start-up, for us in the interactive digital media space, often begins with two people creating a company, versus a lone artist. For instance, it could be an actual designer with a coder, who create their first pieces of IP. To be able to scale up from that one project they've done and become a viable company, what they're looking for is to be able to collaborate with potentially a sound designer who would add an element to their IP, their video game, and professional services such as marketing and access, all that type of thing.

A cultural hub that provides different types of cultural entities within it is really what we're looking for.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

You're talking about the synergy that would be created by the multiple.

[Christa Dickenson]

That's right. That's what we find. The minute there's a supportive environment, where the artists are able to find each other and collaborate together, all of a sudden there is more opportunity for the company to grow and to become more viable—and for discoverability, at the end of the day.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

From our level of government, where do you see that we play a role in that?

[Christa Dickenson]

I think from the federal perspective, it's about providing support and partnership between the private side and all levels of government. We've seen start-up examples that have been very successful. In the case of Innovate Niagara, for example, you have federal money, provincial money, municipal money, and private sector money. All of a sudden that becomes more viable for the start-ups to participate in. It's not just an incubator. There are start-up organizations like the Generator out of St. Catharines. It's quite successful. However, you have to apply. It really is an incubator versus “I'm going to rent space in there with people who are like-minded”.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Great.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Nantel, the floor is yours now.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you all for your presentations.

Ms. Dickenson, your testimony demonstrated well the extent to which the creative industry needs its nurseries—if I may call them that—and its creative areas in order to start on projects.

For Ms. Jankov, it is not so much about the sector, but it is very much about the basic concept of hubs, cultural centres, as described by the Minister. My congratulations. I also understand exactly what you mean when you say that you have developed your hub in the shadow of the official one, the Confederation Centre of the Arts. I feel that it will be a major complement, especially for the residents of Charlottetown.

On that subject, I would just like to tell you that I am not up to date on the government's plans. However, I know that, last fall, the Minister said that she was going to inject $300 million into cultural spaces, specifically into cultural hubs.

We read that the objectives are achieved by supporting “the construction and/or renovation of arts and/or heritage facilities, including creative hubs; and the acquisition of specialized equipment and the development of feasibility studies for the construction or renovation of arts and/or heritage facilities, including creative hubs.”

This is the description of a “creative hub”:

A creative hub is a multi-tenant facility which brings together professionals from a range of arts or heritage sectors and creative disciplines. Creative hubs feature diverse business models, such as not-for-profit and for-profit organizations and self-employed creative workers. Creative hubs provide multiple users with shared space, equipment and amenities; opportunities for idea exchange, collaboration and/or professional development; and offer space and programming that is accessible to the public.

Perhaps it is not the case in Toronto, but I feel that the objectives of our three witnesses this morning fit those criteria perfectly. So it already exists. Personally, I think it is wonderful for the federal government to be investing money in this area.

In your opinion, what absolutely has to come from the feds?

We do not want to interfere in the projects. I do not believe that it is a good idea to sterilize, to “bleach”, the process so that everyone is the same. Actually, I feel that we need to do the opposite.

Take the rue de Gaspé project as an example. If I understand correctly, there are issues there. I feel sure that everyone would be interested in hearing Mr. Fortin's or Mr. Renaud's comments on the matter.

There are issues about recognizing initiative. Correct me if I am wrong, but the rue de Gaspé specifically has experienced significant tax increases. To be able to assist everyone and all the provinces, given the distinct and very different projects, what would be the basic criteria we would need to ensure more long-term programs and better collaboration with the other levels of government?