Good afternoon. Thank you for hearing us today.
When the Department of Canadian Heritage introduced the “Tomorrow Starts Today” program in 2001, the Arts Presentation Canada component embodied, for the first time among multidisciplinary performing arts presenters, recognition of the importance of the presentation link in the creation-production-presentation chain that conveys the works to the public.
We are conveyers. At RIDEAU, we know that the health of presenters guarantees the health of creators and artists, and that this synergy requires a political vision and resulting support.
The Réseau indépendant des diffuseurs d'événements artistiques unis, RIDEAU, was founded in 1978 and today has 138 members.
Over the years, RIDEAU has built bridges to realities outside Quebec. ARDAS, the Alliance des réseaux de diffusion en arts de la scène, links us to French Canada, while AREA, the Association des réseaux d'événements artistiques, permits productive exchanges with French-speaking Europe.
While the RIDEAU network has expanded for nearly 30 years now, the introduction of a presentation policy in Quebec, of which 2006 marked the tenth anniversary, was undoubtedly a decisive factor.
The presentation of performances is a quantifiable activity. The figures of the survey on performance attendance conducted by the Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec show that, in 2005, the 103 respondent organizations of the RIDEAU network presented 6,206 paying performances, attracting some 2,954,927 spectators and generating nearly $80 million in ticket revenues, which of course also generates revenue for our governments.
The investments of the Department of Canadian Heritage in our network also correspond to approximately $3 million, in 2005, out of $7 million invested in Quebec. If we exclude the major festivals and member networks, the figure is approximately $2 million. Since that amount has generated $80 million in box office revenue, we can undoubtedly state that it's an investment that has a significant leverage effect on the economic activity it generates.
We believe that, since the presentation of the performing arts is such a vital activity, we can conclude that it responds to a need in our society. The organizations that engage in it are unfortunately poorly equipped to prove this. We are recommending that we be able to encourage organizations that produce statistics to develop statistics on arts and culture, more specifically performing arts presentation.
RIDEAU is also about networking, and that networking is particularly well embodied in an annual event called the Bourse RIDEAU, which will celebrate its twentieth anniversary in 2007. Over the years, it has become the largest market for the Francophone performing arts in America. In 2006, 73 artists and companies from Quebec, the rest of Canada and from Francophone Europe showed their creations to more than 300 mainly Canadian presenters, but also presenters from France, Belgium and Switzerland, and 176 artist representatives who set up their stalls on what's called the Place du marché, which promotes business transactions.
Since the vitality of creation depends on presentation capability, we also hope that programs will be maintained promoting performing arts presentation, which is often the poor cousin of the creation-production-presentation chain, but which gives Canadians access to diversified and high-quality programming. Like the colleges, you probably have an auditorium in each of your communities as well, and that's an invaluable asset.
I'd also like to talk briefly about organization management. It is a well-known fact that the community suffers from a lack of resources, more particularly human resources. In addition, a number of structures rely on volunteer workers, which does not facilitate management. We therefore hope to emulate the Canadian Conference of the Arts in requesting a softening of administrative requirements.
On another topic, since the program was introduced, performing arts presenters have always recommended that a multi-year funding structure be put in place. While the horizon of the first years did not permit it, the announcement that the program would be renewed over five years opened up other prospects. However, the decision to move to this type of funding has recently been suspended.
We therefore recommend that consideration again be given to multi-year funding, which promotes long-term management and which, in our community, is intrinsic to our way of working on a number of seasons in advance.
Having regard to the cycles that govern our actions and the complex operation of matching financial arrangements, we would like organizations that show they are soundly managed to be entitled to a form of multi-year funding.
Lastly, the purpose of this presentation has been to show that the performing arts presentation community is extremely dynamic. We especially hope that one point in particular has emerged.
While the vital nature of creation is expressed across this country, at the end of the chain, one link makes it possible to transmit it to the public. That link is the presentation of the performing arts. Just as a library provides access to reading, as a broadcaster gives you access to your favourite television series, the presentation of dance, music, song, theatre, the circus arts and, increasingly, the interdisciplinary arts depends, in many cases across the country, on performing arts presentation organizations.