Oh, absolutely, we see a drain of people following the funding. It's a famous thing. People will say, “I have to go to Toronto; I have to get this produced” or that there's just more work there. I think part of what Toronto is suffering from right now is a glut of migrated artists out of a province. Then, of course, it diminishes relationships that have been built, both for those artists.... We've seen many, many artists follow funding and ending up not employed in those centres, and then it's too expensive to come home. I know many careers that have ended after people have left thinking that they would stand a better chance in another province.
It hurts our local economy, and it demoralizes artists who feel that we are a launching pad for a national career, especially someone like me, who has had a national and international career, and I am proud to remain in my community. I have the experience and the wisdom to know that you can duke it out from wherever you are, but not every artist does.