The arts are not a ‘special interest’

“A Cultural Exchange 7.0” took place on Wednesday. This is the all-candidates forum on arts, culture and heritage issues TheMuseum has been hosting during election campaigns — federal, provincial and municipal — over the last few years.

In this case, candidates for regional chair, mayor of Kitchener and the two downtown wards were invited.

There was close to full participation. Attendance from the arts and from the community at large, however, was sparse.

The room was so empty that some last-minute adjustments to the format were necessary.

But the basic formula, which involves candidates making brief statements and moving from table to table to chat with attendees face to face, remained.

As usual in these sessions, the tone was cordial and the views generally positive.

All the candidates expressed their respect for the value of a vibrant arts scene as part of a healthy community, for a variety of reasons, with the economic benefits predominant.

That is as it should be: The arts transcend standard partisan divisions. They are not a special interest, but something that touches us all; not a sector, but an allpoints connector.

If specific proposals had been put forward, especially with a significant budget attached, things might have been different.

There were a couple of references to the demise of the Creative Enterprise Initiative. For the most part, however, the most dramatic development since the last municipal election in 2014 remained the elephant in the room.

This is a matter that has to be dealt with, and soon. What has been most damaging is how this has undermined confidence, whether among elected officials, civil servants, business leaders, or the people of the region as a whole, in our capacity for any kind of cultural planning and development.

It has also damaged morale in arts circles.

There is no longer any point of contact, so arts practitioners may not have known the forum was happening. When people were asked to get listed in the original Cultural Directory for Waterloo Region, just over 20 years ago now, they were asked the question “Can you be found?”

Coming to terms with what happened with CEI, and why, is an absolute necessity. This is not to find fault or assign blame, but to make sure mistakes aren’t repeated again.

For all the issues and concerns, and all the aspirations that the CEI was dedicated to are equally if not more valid today as they were eight years ago.

Urgent as this may be, it is not an issue that can be settled, or even clarified, in an election campaign. It’s too complex, with too much potential for being divisive.

The congenial, even celebratory, tone of “A Cultural Exchange 7.0” is more appropriate, and more likely to produce positive results.

Impromptu remarks from Gordon Hatt, executive director of CAFKA, ended the evening. Reflecting the 30th anniversary of his arrival in Kitchener, he recalled how dismal the place appeared in 1988. He’d touched on this earlier in a Facebook post:

“All the bars were so rough back then. The Mayfair and CJs, Danny’s, Cats and Dogs, The Station Hotel ... all those places are gone now ... I didn’t know anybody here, so after work I’d walk around the downtown. I remember walking into Danny’s and the band was playing “Detroit City” ... I thought this was the saddest place on earth.”

Thinking back, it becomes clear and how much has been accomplished over the years, in large measure, directly and indirectly, through the influence of arts-related projects and endeavours.

Such thoughts were a great way to wrap up the evening, and also very suitable for thinking about the state of the arts in our communities on Thanksgiving weekend.

Martin de Groot writes about local arts and culture each Saturday. You can reach him by email at mdg131@gmail.com.