Arts projects await $96M in funding
Six Toronto arts groups that have been counting on $96 million of top- up money to assure the completion of the city’s cultural building spree may find themselves still waiting for Godot when the federal government, as expected, falls today. The top- up funding, under discussion for months with both Ottawa and Queen’s Park, is urgently needed despite an epic, astonishing wave of private donations totalling $444 million over the past few years. Ten days ago, Joe Volpe — the federal minister responsible for the GTA — raised hopes when he remarked during a Royal Conservatory of Music dinner that the appeals of the so-called Gang of Six have not fallen on deaf ears. “ I think your entreaties will find a ready patron in the government of Canada,” he said.
That seemed to be the climactic moment of a tango the Gang of Six have been doing with leaders of both governments. But Volpe backtracked by adding: “ I have not been authorized to announce anything.” And David Caplan, Ontario’s minister of public infrastructure renewal, said yesterday in a phone interview: “ The federal government has not approached us about this so far. At this point, we can’t rule it in, and we can’t rule it out.”
At issue: extra funding to put the finishing touches on the six arts building projects that were given $232 million of SuperBuild funding ( with matching contributions from the two governments) in 2002. Three years later, all six are lurching toward a conclusion, promising to turn Toronto into one of the world’s leading centres of creativity.
Representatives of the six arts groups involved have been working for months on the topup proposal. The $96 million of extra funding ($ 48 million from each of the two governments) would raise the total investment of the two governments in these projects to $328 million. The top- up funding would include $28 million for the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Frank Gehry makeover, $24 million for phase two of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Renaissance expansion, and $20 million for the Canadian Opera Company’s new home, the Four Seasons Centre. The Royal Conservatory of Music would get an extra $ 12 million; the National Ballet School $ 10 million; and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art $2 million.
If the top- up funding comes through, each of these projects would still need more private funding. The AGO would have a shortfall of $40 million ( on a $254 project budget); the ROM would still need $33 million ( out of $233 million); the opera house would need $ 17 million ( out of $ 182 million, which includes $ 31 million of land donated by the province). The music conservatory would have to raise an additional $ 10 million to meet its $90 million target; the ballet school an additional $7 million to reach its $100 million cost; and the ceramic museum an extra $2.5 million of its $20 million cost.
“ It is becoming clear how much these buildings are going to contribute to this city and the whole country, both creatively
and economically,”
says Florence Minz,
chair of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s
board of directors.
“ The private sector has
really risen to the occasion with overwhelming generosity. Of course, it was the governments that made these projects possible with the SuperBuild money. But as we get close to the end, it’s crucial that they help us finish the job. By now, people are realizing that the results will more than justify the investments.”
Wallace McCain, co-chair of the National Ballet School’s capital campaign, adds: “ The capital campaigns of all these projects have raised very impressive sums of money from private donors, and now all these wonderful buildings are coming to fruition. But certain things have crept up, including the cost of steel and energy, so we need a little extra help.”
According to Caplan, the provincial government is currently going through the process of consultations with all the requests it has received for capital funding. Premier Dalton McGuinty has agreed to meet with representatives of the Gang of Six in mid- December, but final word on what can be funded in the next budget probably won’t come until spring. Of course, it is possible for one government to make a unilateral announcement, as former premier Mike Harris did in 2002, when negotiations with Ottawa on which SuperBuild arts projects would be funded broke down. But that led to months of confusion until the two governments came to an agreement after Harris left. Three years later, it would seem, Ottawa and Queen’s Park are still having trouble getting together on Toronto’s cultural renaissance. Martin Knelman can be reached at mknelman@thestar.ca