Thank you for the invitation to be here today.
New Dawn was founded in 1976. Through its work in a number of sectors, it's focused on creating a vibrant, self-reliant Unama'ki/Cape Breton Island.
The Cape Breton Centre for Arts and Culture, a cultural hub in industrial Cape Breton, is still in the process of becoming. With the support of the Province of Nova Scotia and the Government of Canada, New Dawn began restoring a 40,000-square-foot 130-year-old convent in September 2017. The centre, which will focus primarily on the provision of affordable workspaces for artists, is set to open in May of 2019.
As I thought about what I wanted to share with you today, I settled on three facets of our journey over the last five years as they relate to the work of Canadian Heritage: first, the importance of investing in the creation of cultural hubs in non-metropolitan communities; second, the efficacy and professionalism of Canadian Heritage staff from the perspective of a non-profit organization; and third, as has been highlighted by several other recent witnesses, the importance of operational funding.
Our experiences in bringing the Cape Breton Centre for Arts and Culture to life are very much rooted in the place in which they have unfolded, an Atlantic Canadian community that has struggled for the past four decades to reinvent itself after the rapid decline of its primary industries: coal and steel. This historical context is important. It continues to influence the lives we live in Cape Breton today, and it connects us to, rather than separates us from, many other communities in Canada.
The creation of a sizable cultural hub against this backdrop is transformational. It is a project that stands out today in Sydney, and one that will stand out for years to come, for a number of reasons.
The Cape Breton Centre for Arts and Culture is the largest investment in downtown Sydney in the last eight years. It will open in an area largely characterized by empty buildings, for sale signs, and deteriorating public infrastructure. It will offer people a reason to come back to our downtown and will offer our downtown a critical mass of people to shop at its shops and dine in its restaurants. It will also, as it already has, give people in the community something to be hopeful for, to take as tangible evidence of the corner that many of us are longing to turn.
Bringing the Centre for Arts and Culture to life in this context has meant having to do so with the support of two levels of government, rather than three. In 2018-19, our municipality will repair only one of 60 local roads, will spend less this year than last on street lights, recreation, parks, buildings, and libraries, and has had to turn down more than $3 million in requests for capital investments from community organizations. To say that our municipality is poor would be an understatement.
Your investments in non-metropolitan communities and economically struggling communities are transformational.
I will note that making these kinds of investments will require ongoing sensitivity to the differences that will arise in bringing these kinds of cultural hubs to life. Arts organizations in these communities may look different: they may not be as big; they may not be as long-standing; and they may not be as well-resourced as organizations in larger cities. I say this knowing that the struggle for resources typifies this sector all across the country.
Cultural hubs themselves may also look very different in these communities. They may have to make space for volunteer-run arts organizations alongside professional arts organizations. They may have to be multi-use spaces where a critical mass of users in the arts sector does not yet exist to fill the cultural hubs. They will likely and perhaps almost exclusively have to be able to provide affordable spaces to artists as defined in relation to the local market and income levels of artists. Local governments, despite their strong philosophical support, may not be able to come to the table with financial resources of any kind. These governments, as was the case with ours, may be struggling to meet even their most basic infrastructure obligations.
Cape Breton has a long history of artistic excellence, and many on the island are committed to reinvention through these means.
My two next comments on the efficacy and professionalism of Canadian Heritage staff and the importance of operational funding will be brief.
As a non-profit organization, it has been incredibly uplifting to work with a department that is professional, efficient, and empowering. This has been our experience with Canadian Heritage staff. From the outset, it has been our sense that they believe—beyond the rhetoric—in the importance of cultural hubs. They have remained focused on the end goal and have been flexible, reasonable, and committed advocates as we've worked through the challenges that are inevitable in a project of this size.
I will close by underlining the importance of operational funds for cultural hubs. For us, our objective remains: creating affordable spaces for artists to work in.
The operational costs of a centre providing affordable space to artists are no less than the operational costs of a building providing space to entrepreneurs or lawyers or the civil service. We have done our best to create and refine a strong and sustainable operational plan for our centre, but even modest periodic supports are helpful in easing the tension between the competing pressures in such a case: the pressure to keep the cost of space as low as possible and the pressure to provide a warm, safe, comfortable, and accessible environment in which to work.
Thank you.