Thank you, Madam Chair, and thanks to the rest of the committee for inviting me to speak to you today on behalf of the Canadian Association of Stand-up Comedians, CASC.
I want to take a moment to clarify that our newly incorporated not-for-profit organization, as of May 1, also now includes members who are sketch and improv artists, as well as stand-up comedians. Since we started this endeavour in July 2017, we have grown to over 880 members in communities across the country in all provinces and territories.
CASC is pleased to learn that the Canada Council for the Arts has been managing an increase from budget 2016. That's good news for artists. We're very excited as well to learn more about the council's transition to a modernized funding model.
The motion mandating the study, which your committee adopted, also stated your intent to examine how the council's new funding model will ensure that artists, no matter where they live in Canada, have the support they need to contribute to the creative sector. I'd like to speak to that last part on behalf of comedians across the country.
With full respect to the committee, in addition to ensuring the council funds and supports artists no matter where they live, I believe it's time now to also ensure it funds and supports artists no matter what kind of art they create. The council has taken a bold approach to this idea in reducing their funding streams from 150 to six, and reducing the number of fields of practice, or artistic disciplines, that applicants can opt into.
Historically, under the old model, comedians have been excluded from the council. This conspicuous absence of comedy has sent a message to comedians over the decades, a message that I believe has compromised our art and been a disservice to the creative sector in this nation, a nation that is recognized on the global stage as a comedy nation.
With the newer model, comedians were initially advised to make an applicant profile under the theatre field of practice. Comedy, of course, is a practice in its own right, and many comedians still face barriers in accessing council funds, even in just getting to the point where they're approved to submit an application. They're told that they do not meet the general background requirements of a theatre artist, and of course, many of us don't. We generally have different training and different peers, and typically perform in different venues.
Last week we met with Canada Council for the Arts staff for the second time, including with the director general. We learned more about the council's new emerging-career profile, which the council has encouraged comedians, as potential first-time recipients, to apply under. We also understand that the council wants to provide 25% of the new investment to first-time recipients, something that likely would not be possible without the historic doubling of the council's budget.
Canadian comedians continue to innovate and develop boundary-pushing work, take risks and reach new audiences. We do so just like many other artists in this country. CASC is optimistic that comedians will finally get a seat at the table with the Canada Council for the Arts.
There are barriers that remain for comedians who will not apply under the emerging-career profile, or as they receive funding in future years, will still be required to apply under the theatre or writing profiles. This means they may run into the same dead ends. Right now, we create a theatre profile, apply hopefully to get a grant as a theatre artist, and then are rejected based on eligibility criteria before any consideration is given for the artistic creation.
While opening the fields of practice to be more broad is theoretically a good thing, the risk is that the council's program officers and peer assessors will not adequately understand the unique contexts across very specific disciplines. We believe it is crucial that comedians be active participants in developing, assessing and delivering the council's new model. Comedians must be consulted in order to establish a more clear understanding of the art that is created in the stand-up sketch and improv disciplines so that program staff at the council, those who help design, oversee and evaluate grant applications, can more accurately identify comedians who do satisfy the council's eligibility criteria and do support its mandate.
We've been informed that comedians can already apply to be on peer assessment committees at the council. With an absence of any comedy influence from within the council for decades, however, we believe the council must ensure that comedians are on the team, joining a diverse range of artists and arts professionals who evaluate, score and rank eligible applications.
All of our federal public support programs for the arts, including those within Canadian Heritage, are fundamental to a thriving comedy landscape in this country, and they benefit comedy artists by creating opportunities to train and perform, but none of them provide funding directly to the comedy artists, the ones who perform the discipline. This is why our relationship and access to the Canada Council for the Arts is an integral part of the health and growth of Canadian comedy.
Having had us call ourselves something else in order to work around or accommodate the process implies that we are not artists. It suppresses our perspective of ourselves and the world around us, and it discourages the very expression that the council is mandated and professes to compel within the Canadian artistic community of creators.
If the fields of practice are now both more open but still limiting, at the same time, what other new accommodations might be indoctrinated in the new council funding model that alienate comedians or other artists for another 60 years?
As arts distribution and presentation models change and as, seemingly, less programming and content are being properly supported and created in Canada by Canadian artists, CASC believes the country's creative sector is in crisis. Therefore, it's more important than ever for the council to get it right.
Advancement for artists doesn't necessarily mean mainstream success or reaching massive audiences on the global stage. For many comedians, it does, but for some comedians who have searched for an outlet, exhausted all avenues and perhaps even given up hope of being able to express their innovative voice to Canadian audiences, the council is one of their only prospects for the kind of advancement that is meaningful to them.
This is the first time in history in Canada that there's been an association like CASC. With the council's current transition to a modernized funding model, the timing is optimal for comedians to be active participants in creating legislation, policies and funding programs that foster and promote the arts and that bolster the production of works in the arts.
Furthermore, in nurturing and advancing Canada's creative sector, it's crucial that Canadian policy-makers protect not only big domestic corporations but also Canadian artists, when fighting to protect our distinct culture from foreign influence and ownership. That's why CASC is asking this committee to direct the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts to collaborate with all private and public stakeholders in the arts community, including comedians, to ensure we maximize all possible avenues to build upon Canada's brand as a comedy nation.
I thank you, Madam Chair, for the time.
We're grateful for the opportunity to speak to the committee today. We look forward to working with the Canada Council for the Arts on their new funding model.