Evidence of meeting #159 for Canadian Heritage in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was council.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Gordie Hogg Liberal South Surrey—White Rock, BC
As a quantum, it seems to me that you're still spending many more dollars on core funding.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
We are spending many more dollars on core funding than we used to, but we are fifty-fifty in terms of where we spend the money right now.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Thank you very much, Mr. Brault
We will now have a second last tour, depending on the time we have left. I am told we started 15 minutes early, which means we can do a round and a half.
The floor is yours, Mr. Shields.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Thank you. I appreciate the dialogue and the questions.
When you talk about 50% core, what is that for? Can you tell me what the core is for, quickly?
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
Core is money that goes to 2,000 organizations in Canada right now—institutions and small and medium-sized organizations—for their ongoing operations.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
If new organizations are formed in communities, they can apply and still get into that 50%?
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
They can, and this year, in 2018, we accepted 320 new organizations.
At the moment we are favouring organizations that are innovative and that also represent voices that are less represented right now in Canada. We have a big emphasis on diversity and on indigenous culture.
Conservative
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
Absolutely. It's the same thing. They can apply.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
I'm saying a community. I represent a small city, and they have formed a municipally sponsored arts and culture....
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
This year, in 2018-19, we are in 1,900 communities across Canada, and it can grow.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Okay.
I have, in my riding, the second-largest indigenous group in Canada. It's going to be a challenge. How do you get out in that far-flung area and deal with that issue in the sense of communicating what you're talking about?
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
You're right that it's a challenge. At the same time, we committed.... In the context of the doubling of the funds for the council, we're tripling investment in indigenous arts, so there are resources. Our work is to make sure that we work with local partners to ensure that we reach the artists and invite them to apply.
This is really the job we do every day. That's the core of our job.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Are you dealing with indigenous people through their national organizations, or do you reach out and partner with the local people themselves?
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
We try to do everything. Sometimes we work with what we call NASOs, national arts service organizations, across Canada, such as the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective. Sometimes we work with local organizations, sometimes national ones. We use every possible way of presenting the council's programs and distributing and sharing knowledge. We do get a lot of support to do it, but we can do more, and we will.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
I think that's a great challenge and I look forward to more success with that, because I think that there is a gap in trust.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
I think you have to build that trust, and I don't think it's there. Another challenge is to find those local artists. They are there, but they don't understand how the system works.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
At the same time, I think it's fantastic because the Canada Council has been doing work with indigenous artists for 30 years. We are one of the organizations in this country that has the most experience and trust with indigenous artists. I think the question now is to scale up what we do.
Conservative
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
You talked about digital. We have spent a lot of time talking about digital in relation to different things. What are you doing with digital?
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
Three years ago we did a kind of survey. We tried to see what was happening worldwide with the arts sector. What happened in fact with digital is that the disruption really happened in the cultural industries, in the music industry first and then in film, with digital screens and all that. The disruption was not so much with the arts sector, especially the performing arts, but it is disruptive in the sense that the cultural habits and the way people relate to any content is profoundly changing with digital.
Our fund is to help the sector find ways of coping with that and using the possibilities. We decided that we would create a fund, and that the fund would support initiatives whereby people would partner. It's interesting, because the fund is present everywhere in Canada.
It started, very surprisingly, in the far north, because people were ready to take it. Right now there are probably 250 projects across Canada. There are a lot of collaborations on big data, on access, on ways to be more visible on the web. This is the kind of work we do.
Recently we opened a component to help organizations that wanted to understand where they are from a digital standpoint, and it has been a huge success. A lot is invested right now, and frankly, the Canada Council's fund is one of the most important ones for the arts sector worldwide.
We wanted to do that, and because we are also responsible for supporting the writers of this country and all of that, we really wanted to make sure that we would address that and also protect our investment. The digital fund will be $30 million next year. It's roughly 9% of everything we invest, but we think that by investing there, we will protect the other 90% of our investment, and if we don't do it, all of that will be at risk.
Conservative