More arts funding should go to artists

First off, let me state that I’m not against the New Dawn Centre for Social Innovation receiving $3.2 million from the provincial government this week, even though it’s a pretty blatant vote grab.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s a pretty good vote grab and probably better than a lot of other initiatives the provincial government could throw money at.

The people at New Dawn worked hard for that money by writing proposals, making phone calls and publicizing their need to renovate their facilities.

But here’s the problem, and it has bothered me ever since they installed those ‘Arts and Culture’ banners on every telephone pole downtown.

I know artists around here – painters, film-makers, theatre producers and musicians – and they hardly ever see a cent from government arts Initiatives in Cape Breton.

It’s difficult to be an artist anywhere, but it’s next to impossible to do it in Sydney. The actors I perform with at the Highland Arts Theatre (HAT) are cooks, government workers, teachers and any other profession that allows people to rehearse at the theatre until 11 p.m. Even though the HAT goes out of its way to pay their actors, performing in Cape Breton has always been more of a sacrifice than a profession.

Here’s something you might not know. The Highland Arts Theatre is a not-for-profit organization but if Kevin Colford wasn’t constantly pumping his own money into that theatre and Wesley Colford wasn’t working for next to nothing it would probably close next year. The HAT gets no government funding, even though it might be the single most important change to the arts and culture scene in Sydney within the past five years.

And what will this $3.2 million to New Dawn pay for? A new elevator and the refurbishing of classroom to create studios that Sydney artists will still be hard pressed to afford. This money will go to contractors, drywall and roofing, leaving Sydney artists as starving as they were before.

There is a disconnect, and I know what it is. While New Dawn has employees on salary who are trained and qualified to write government proposals, our artists are concentrating on other endeavors, such as creating art.

When government funding is this important to an economy, the government funding becomes an economy and artists are severely outgunned when it comes to competing for this ever-valuable Cape Breton resource.

Rory Andrews

Sydney