An arts conversation with Canadian Taxpayer Federations' Scott Hennig

On Tuesday afternoon a Calgary City Council committee approved a bylaw amendment to help offset the costs of city services to festivals. Obviously Scott Hennig of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation didn't agree with this kind of precedent and he made a comment about it on Twitter.

As an arts advocate who believes the small subsidy (compared to other industries) Canadians provide arts organizations is far outweighed by the return on investment and quality of life we get back, I took it upon myself to have a conversation with Mr. Hennig on Twitter about this topic.

Here is the full conversation to the best of my Twitter searching capabilities:

CalgaryCowbell: We want our cake and to eat it too. Low taxes = no money for city to provide services for festivals #yyc

ScottHennig: @CalgaryCowbell low taxes = citizens have the ability to fund festivals, arts, and other things themselves.

djkelly: @scotthennig Canadian arts would disappear w/o granting support. And with it the differences between Canada and US, followed by the border.

djkelly: @scotthennig It is in the city/prov/country's interest to support the arts to attract and retain talent.

ScottHennig: @djkelly I don't think it is in the "city/prov/country's interest," it is in citizen's interest to support the arts, willingly and freely.

djkelly: @scotthennig Does that argument extend to garbage collection? Public transit? Road maintenance? And other things in the public interest?

ScottHennig: @djkelly there R some things that R difficult to fund directly & freely (ie. police) + there R things that R easy to do so (ie. arts).

djkelly: @scotthennig What makes the arts easy for individuals exclusively to fund? No country has been able to do it successfully. (Most don't try.)

ScottHennig: @djkelly Most theaters have ticket offices, most buskers have hats, & most painters will sell their work. Plus most arts groups R charities.

djkelly: @scotthennig NP arts revenue model: 1/3 ticket sales, 1/3 donations, 1/3 grants. No arts group can survive on ticket sales alone.

djkelly: @scotthennig Eliminate grants and prices would triple and no-one would come. Same thing if we made every street a toll road.

ScottHennig: @nenshi @djkelly 99.7% of the Metropolitan Opera expenses covered by non-gov't sources. But not the point.

ScottHennig: @djkelly vry doubtful. Lwr tax = more charitable giving. Plus, arts that nobody wld support wld disappear. Just like car companies...whoops!

djkelly: @scotthennig The increase of charitable giving created by lower taxes would not come close to offsetting the lost of grants.

ScottHennig: @djkelly True. But only to those who get a disproportionate amount of tax $. Other artists or charitable sectors would get more.

djkelly: @scotthennig Sorry, who currently gets a disproportionate amount?

djkelly: @scotthennig RE the Met: you cite an example from a city with 12M ppl. Your point doesn't translate to Canada as it would mean no opera 4 us

ScottHennig: @djkelly Those arts who get more tax $ than the public would give them freely if given back their money back currently get a disproport. Amt

ScottHennig: @djkelly RE: Met, the point is that citizens will support the arts, and yes on a smaller scale so could any group of citizens in Canada.

djkelly: @scotthennig Sounds like that would take more $ in red tape & admin than it would save.

ScottHennig: @djkelly Not much red tape involved in cutting taxes.

djkelly: @scotthennig Can't do the vast majority of operas on a smaller scale. A symphony and cast can't be replaced by less ppl.

djkelly: @scotthennig Looks like we are having a 140 character problem as I apparently didn't understand your proposal. Or you wanted a sound bite ;)

ScottHennig: @djkelly Yes, and the Calgary Flames don't play games in 500 seat arenas, but other hockey teams do.

ScottHennig: D djkelly Good convo. Gotta run.

djkelly: @scotthennig As a fiscal conservative I appreciate the CTF. Obviously we disagree on this issue though.

djkelly: @scotthennig Can't DM back bc your not following me. Thanks 4 debating the issue. 2 often ppl lob insults at the arts & won't back them up.

Unfortunately we were just getting warmed up when the end of the work day came and we both had to leave our computers. It is a worth while discussion and I hope to have the ability to continue the debate with Mr. Hennig in the future. Perhaps in person next time.

Starting over from scratch: creating a gallery of contemporary art for Calgary

Also available on the Calgary Herald's Q.

The recent "resignation" of Jeffrey Spalding from the Glenbow Museum has created a new call for a gallery of contemporary art. The Herald is all over it. And I've had several of my colleagues bring up the thought as well since Spalding's departure.

The Herald article is the one I find the most interesting however. The first thing I see is they talk to the IMCA pushers (the group that tried their damnedest to secure the old AGT building on 6 Ave SW for the gallery a couple years back) and they mention the $165 million the City of Calgary has available currently as a possible starting point. Yes, that is a good fund to draw from, but you didn't make it to the short list last year - assuming you put in an application. The money won't help you if you don't ask for it. But first you need to get organized better. This is the one over riding thing I've heard from people: the group is a high profile group but not well situated to lead the creation of a new gallery. Trust me: after being part of building two new cultural space in the city you need to have a good solid group of people who know what they are doing and are connected in the right ways to get it off the ground.

Which leads me to the second thing I noticed in the article: the IMCA pushers think Spalding may be the man to lead there charge. This is a very good idea - but have you talked to him? I'm not sure this is the best time for him personally. The article says he is has not made any comments since his "resignation". True, but I've had a conversation with him, albeit a shortened one over email. Let's just say my thoughts are not baseless. (And those quotation marks aren't for gramatically incorrect emphasis.) I emp

The long and the short of it is - the opportunity for a contemporary art gallery is upon us. But someone is going to have to get a supportive organization organized in the very near future it make it happen. Spalding is just one man - as evidenced by recent events. Someone else will have to step up to lead the organization.

The Glenbow will not and cannot be that gallery. I've said it several times over the last few days - they don't have the space or the brand to make it happen. Don't even try. We'll have to wait and see if someone else can make the seemingly impossible happen.

Recession: no wonder it is so hard to say if we are in one or not

Also available on the Calgary Herald's Q.

I've been thinking a lot about the recession we are currently in - or the one that is coming depending on who you are talking to - and one thing has struck me in some of the commentary I've been hearing. It seems the horrible nature of a recession or a depression comes not from the low stock market yields but more from the instability of said markets.

This makes complete sense to me. As an investor I sure don't want to invest in something that isn't going to increase in value, but at the same time if I can predict when something is going to go down in value I can better prepare my financial portfolio. Where things start to get hairy is when there is no predictability. The markets are up one day and down the next.

This is when people start keeping their money in their pockets because they are scared to spend it - they have no idea when they will need the savings.

This all came flooding back to me when I saw the following two stories come through my Twitter one pretty much right after the other last night:

Calgary charities worry as donations drop
Spirit of philanthropy is thriving

In addition, I'm seeing stories about Ballet BC and the Baltimore Opera folding under the pressure, while personally I'm hearing local arts groups saying everything is okay so far - they haven't noticed a drop off in sales at all.

Seems how no one can agree on whether things are just as good as ever or that the world is ending. So I'm going to go out on a limb and officially call it: we're in a recession.

Civic arts funding approved

Thanks to the efforts of the members of the CPAA and some thoughtful deliberation by our Aldermen, today Council defeated two motions to cut arts funding from the 2009-2011 civic budget.

The first motion was regarding the Public Arts Program while the second was a motion to cut increases to Calgary Arts Development's granting budget.

I am very pleased to report that the second motion fell unanimously. Even Ald. Chabot, who put the motion forward, voting against is own motion after indicating he was swayed by the arguments of Ald. Ceci among others.

A big thank you goes out to everyone who took the time to call or write your Alderman or the Mayor. It was those arguments formed the discourse Council participated in today. I hope all those folks take the time to send them a personalized thank you note. They deserve much credit for making such an informed decision today.

PS - It has been a busy past couple of months on the advocacy front for the CPAA and our members, so I encourage everyone to, yes, celebrate today's "victory". Hopefully you will see less email directly from us in the near future!

When is a good time to invest in our future?

Also available on the Calgary Herald's Q.

Several years ago Rick Bell wrote one of my favourite lines about Calgary. He called it, "the city planning forgot." At the time, I whole-heartedly agreed. It was the mid-90s and it seemed the city was pulling itself apart after a period of growth that all areas of civic infrastructure had not kept up with. In short, Calgary was not prepared for the kind of city it was becoming.

I am very impressed with recent Councils determination to not see this happen again. Even the average citizen can see that planning is a priority for the Mayor and Alderman. And everyone will agree Calgary will be better because of that foresight.

As someone who works in the creative industries, I was especially impressed with the creation of a Civic Arts Policy because, at the time, this kind of advanced planning by our Council almost seemed foreign to me. After extensive surveys, focus groups and reviews of best practices Council set forth determined to invest in "creat[ing] a city where people want to live and do business … by establishing a community enriched by artistic, recreational and cultural choices". A noble cause, and yet one with its expectations planted firmly in reality. They knew this would not happen overnight and that it would require continued vision and creativity to make this goal come to life.

There is no good time to invest money – especially with all the competing interests City Council deals with on a regular basis. During the recent "boom" arts and culture funding increases found it hard to come to realization because of the high cost of everything else Council was trying to build. That investment would have to wait. And now that the economy has slowed, the citizens of Calgary hear from some that we need to tighten our belts and arts and culture funding might need to be a casualty of that. It is a no-win situation. When is the right time to focus on the noble goals of the Civic Arts Policy?

Here are some interesting numbers that show the "uncultured" stereotypes about Calgary are not true:

• Calgarians more per capita on art works and events than any of Canada's major metropolitan centres.
• Maclean's magazine recently published a scientific study proving Calgary was Canada's "most cultured city".
• 13.5% of Calgarians work in the cultural industries.
• At $29.43 dollars leveraged from other sources for every City dollar invested, Calgary's arts organizations achieve the highest leverage of funds from other sources on the City's municipal investment ($19.86 Winnipeg leverage, $17.53 Edmonton leverage, $15.00 Toronto leverage; and $12.78 Vancouver leverage).
• Albertans spent 75% more on live performing arts ($140 million) than on live sports events ($81 million in 2005. In addition, nearly twice as many Alberta households spent at least some money on live performing arts (43% of households) than on live sports events (23%) in 2005.

Given these numbers ranking us so high on the cultural front, I think it is fair to say Calgary should not rank last on a list of benchmark cities' investment in the culture per capita.

To create the kind of city we all want to live in we need not only planning but commitment to achieve the goals we have set out for ourselves. That includes reducing EMS wait times, improving traffic flow, increasing LRT ridership, and "establishing a community enriched by artistic, recreational and cultural choices."

We need to be prepared for the kind of city we are becoming. And there will never be a better time to invest in our future than right now.

A final issue to push you to the polls?

As you no doubt know, today is election day in Alberta. So if there is one thing you plan on doing today it should be getting out to your local polling place and marking an X next to the candidate/party of your choice. You can find your polling place by visiting www.elections.ab.ca.

Have you made up you mind who you'd like to vote for yet? There are many issues that you (or I) can choose to go into the voting booth with at the top mind. Health care, education, the environment, and the royalty review will no doubt be popular ones this time around. But I'd like to draw your attention to another issue that doesn't get the same about of "air time" in Alberta: Arts and Culture.

It's an issue that effects us pretty much ever moment of every day. It is the building blocks of quality of life and standard of living. Without it you can't belong and you become just some loser in your dark basement typing (which is ironic actually...).

The Calgary Professional Arts Alliance (along with their Edmonton counterparts, PACE) provide a good run down of each party's platform when it comes to arts and culture. I present them here for your review:

CONSERVATIVES:
Although not listed in their election platform, the PCs announced a new Cultural Policy called "The Spirit of Alberta".

• Ensure stable and predictable funding
• $12 m in the next provincial budget including a 30% increase to the AFA
• Provide support for arts festivals, post-secondary artist-in-residence programs, community presenters,Aboriginal arts camps, traveling exhibitions, public galleries and the acquisition of art
  
• Encourage greater private charitable giving to non-profit organizations by increasing the tax credit for charitable donations
  
• Provide funding for communities to plan, build and upgrade cultural and recreational facilities
  
• $1.6 million for the Alberta Film Development Program

LIBERALS:

• Double Alberta Foundation for the Arts funding immediately and triple it within three years.
• Pursue Status of the Artist legislation.
• Launch an Alberta Arts Festival, equivalent to the Alberta Games.
• Create an Alberta Film and Television Tax Credit.
• Pilot an Alberta Publishers Fund.
• Develop a capital investment strategy for heritage and cultural facilities.
• Eliminate entrance fees for youth to cultural facilities.

NDP:

• Create a separate Ministry of Arts and Culture to coordinate arts funding and programs, and offer stable funding to arts groups.
• Improve the living and working conditions of artists by helping artists to establish thriving markets for their art, gain easy access to information about building their careers, and support collective bargaining in those sectors where the artists want it.
• Introduce $30 million in new funding for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Ensure the independence of the Foundation’s board.
• End political patronage in board appointments.
• Allocate 1% of all large capital projects for the commission of arts projects. Increase fine arts curriculum in elementary and secondary schools.
• Expand and coordinate Alberta’s network of museums, historical sites, galleries and libraries.
• Promote Alberta arts and artists on the national and international stage.

WILDROSE ALLIANCE:

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure that the arts, music and physical education curriculums are fully funded in Alberta’s public schools.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will encourage and support through funding for community projects and school programs such as music, art, theatre, dance, sculpture, reading-writing and other arts and cultural activities as an essential enrichment of life and integral part of Alberta’s communities and cultural diversity.

GREEN PARTY:

• The Alberta Greens will encourage diverse community arts programs and cultural centers by providing up to 3 years start-up money for community-initiated proposals.
• Proposals would be expected to be self-sustaining after three years.
• Stable funding would come from the general revenue, and not be dependant on lotteries.

The CPAA and PACE have a great table on their websites too which shows each parties' stance on several key points around this issue. Please check it out if you have a moment.

If you haven't made up your mind on who to vote for yet, hopefully this will help, and perhaps arts and culture will be your "top of mind" issue today.

Now get out there and vote before 9pm!

A political pat on the back from the arts community

I'd like to take a moment to actually pat a politician on the back. I don't do this very often so please savour the moment... ah... yes...

Yesterday Calgary City Council made a very smart move - a move that looks to the future instead of just fixing the here and now. Calgary Arts Development says, "yesterday Council ear-marked 5% of the province's $3.3 billion infrastructure contribution for arts & culture space in the city. This amounts to $165 million in civic funding for arts and culture space over the next 10 years. Much of this support will be directed towards projects brought forward by Calgary Arts Development though the Arts Space Assessment Process."

This is fantastic news. I am a huge proponent of budgeting via percentages (i.e. policing gets 10% of our revenues, waterworks gets 15%, etc). So to see city council ear-mark 5% to arts and cultural spaces is indeed a very positive thing. Usually we have to fight to get even 1% of any governmental budget to be ear-marked for anything designed to improve quality of life for Calgarians.

So again, a big thank you to each and ever alderman who saw this investment as an opportunity to not only fix a current problem (extreme lack of available space for cultural activity) but to look to the future (making Calgary a world-wide cultural beacon).

A culture of policy announcements: 30% is a good step

This morning the provincial government unveiled their much anticipated (at least it was anticipated a year and a half ago) cultural policy. (You can read it here.)

I was extremely impressed with the number of people that showed up to the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. Turnout was such that there were not enough chairs and about one third of the audience had to stand. It is fantastic to see that there are that many people in Calgary that believe it is about time that Alberta once again had a cultural policy guiding them. And it was good to see Peter Lougheed front and centre leading the charge. (Unless they were trotting him out as a publicity stunt.)

The big news of the day however was probably the fancy dual press conference technology – Minister Hector Goudreau in Edmonton and Premier Ed Stelmach in Calgary – that allowed both cities the honour of participating in the announcement together. (That and watch the premier befuddled by said technology: “Hopefully this works.” Yes it has been working for 10 minutes already. “I guess they are still clapping.” Yup. You have two audiences listening. That’s how it works. That’s the point of all this.)

All kidding aside there was good news for arts and culture practitioners in the content of the press conference: “Alberta’s Cultural Policy”. Which like most policies has keystone goals and guiding principles et al, but there were a couple real numbers included too. All in all, it will be a $12 million investment in arts and culture, which includes $1.6 million for the Alberta Film and Television Development Fund and a 30% increase to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

To put that last number in perspective the Calgary arts community has been advocating for about 5 years for a doubling (100%) increase to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts which before 2002 hadn’t received an increase since the early 80s. So, to the arts community this announcement is a very positive thing, but is only being seen as a first step.

On the negative side I’m not sure what to think of the announcement that the government is expanding its definition of “culture” to include sport and recreation. I agree this can – and perhaps should – fall into the province’s definition of “culture”, but I certainly hope this will not be at the expense of the inclusion of “art”. It’d be a shame to see money earmarked for one funnelled to the other.

The real good news for all in the room – myself included – was this was the first time the arts community has heard the government use the same language we’ve been using during the advocacy process. Could it be that the message is finally getting through? I hope so. Or is it just that Michelle Stanners wrote the premier’s speech? None-the-less its wonderful to hear a provincial government talking about culture once again.

Although, certainly I would have like to have seen more hard commitments during a press conference with such fancy technology.

PS – When I got home I was impressed to see the Alberta Liberal Caucus had already emailed me a copy of their Arts Policy. Comparables? A doubling of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts in their first year and a tripling by the end of their third year as the government. Tough not to give this round to the Liberals who are taking the Calgary arts community’s ask and going above and beyond it. That’s something most everyone tends to like to see in their government. (Of course they are the opposition and can promise whatever they like at this point. They are after all just trying to get elected.)

[On the arts front: I'll blog more later about British academic John Holden's lecture on "Arts and Politics" which was presented by Calgary Arts Development last night. I was lucky enough to get to sit beside Mr. Holden at dinner on Wednesday night. He certainly had lots to say and for us, arts folk and politicians, to think about.]

Calgary's 2008: the year of dreaming BIG

Hello all! I've been rather silent over the holidays so apologies in advance for the Ken Chapman-sized post...

Now that the New Year has arrived it is time for all of us to get back to work. And I think it is time for Calgarians to seriously begin looking forward at what we want 2008 to be. What do we want to accomplish for ourselves this year on our path toward becoming a "great city".

I know I'll have plenty to say in the coming months about the political direction we have to head in, so I want to take this opportunity to make my first post of aught eight about the quality of life in Calgary. Specifically our arts and cultural sensibilities.

During almost every one of my years of involvement in Calgary's arts and cultural scene there has been a sense going into any new year that things are building -- and certainly this year is no different. But this year I think there is something a little extra in the water: a sense that this could be the year we officially "arrive" on the arts scene. Of course nobody has any idea what that means, and I doubt anyone else will admit the same, because "arriving" is impossible to measure. None-the-less I think you can feel it in the air.

So what can we do to make sure this happens? I turn your attention to a comment I wrote on the Calgary Arts Development blog last June about "branding Calgary's arts scene". I suggest here that the four steps I outlined for Calgary's arts and cultural community should be accomplished in 2008.

1. What is the problem we are trying to solve? Is it: are Calgarian's proud enough of what their artists do? Is it: that Calgarians don't attend enough arts events? Is it: that we want more visitors to come to Calgary for the express purpose of our arts and cultural scene? Is it: that the arts aren't as intrinsic in what Calgary "is" as we'd like them to be?

2. Once that is done we must identify what the key issue of that problem is. What is the blockage? What is the barrier to successful communication? Why doesn't this exist/work/happen already? We'll need to dig deep and find the specific issue (not the symptom but the actual problem).

3. Then we can finally look at what our current equity is. What IS Calgary's arts scene? What do all these artists and groups have in common? There is some kind of current brand, what is it? This is important because we can't just make something up and apply it. That's false advertising and will fizzle quickly. We also have to do this so that we get a brand that is as dynamic as Calgary's artists are, otherwise we'll get something lame and corporate like "js" points out in Edmonton: "The Art of Downtown". (WTF is that? What does that mean?)

4. Then, and only then, can we bring together all three answers and state what Calgary's arts brand is. (A brand is not a logo, that's just a visual representation of your brand. A brand is what you are. What drives you. Its your heart, why you do what you do.)

And for a little extra cream in your coffee I'll look back again to a Facebook message I sent Eugene Stickland that he wrote about in his weekly Calgary Herald column this past July (when he was querying friends on their thoughts about the Calgary Stampede). Hopefully this helps get the juices flowing for 2008.

I love Stampede for all the reasons I hate it. And I hate it for all the reasons I love it.

Stampede is the one time of year all Calgarians come together in clearly defined community, if you will. Downtown becomes alive. People actually talk to one and other on the streets. And judging by the CHR post-Stampede STD stats: Calgarian’s love each other during those 10 days. They love each other a lot.

I’m not a Stampede fanatic (I doubt I’ll go down to the grounds this year) but Stampede is the only thing that I have found that offers Calgary an identity. That’s why Tourism Calgary and Calgary Economic Development created the “Heart of the New West” tagline that now greets all as they enter our fine city’s ever expanding city limits. But what the heck does that mean?! Those who know me have heard me say it a thousand times however: you might as well have called it “Heart of the Old West”.

Sure those agencies make pretty posters with ballerinas. But they’re wearing cowboy boots. This only perpetuates the redneck myth. But the Stampede can be used as a cultural beacon. Let me explain…

I used to be one of those arts community folks that said the Calgary arts community would be better off if the Stampede disappears. Calgary artists are doing some amazing things and breaking some rules and creating art unlike anywhere else. But on civic, national and international levels the Stampede is all consuming and people rarely notice these artists. Everything Calgary does is framed by the Stampede. The amazing offerings of Calgary artists don’t stand a chance. It’s like sleeping next to a giant. Nobody really pays attention to you. Least of all the giant.

But over the past couple of years I’ve been spending a lot more time with business people in the downtown core and I’ve notice that their “stories” are not so different than those of the arts community. However they have tended to find a way to frame them better. This is what I call the “Calgary maverick” story.

Calgarians in both the business world and the arts community are breaking new ground (or a new trail if you want to use old west language). We’re constantly creating new things and thinking in ways that are different than in the past. We’re all mavericks in the same way the cowboys of the old west and founders of the Stampede were. And certainly Calgary has a maverick mentality: if you want to do it, go to Calgary, you can make it happen there.

That is how the Stampede can be embraced instead of reviled.

This means we as arts organizations have to start re-shaping our stories (or key messages). Think of the Alberta Ballet’s Fiddle and the Drum. They could have just said look at the beautiful ballet we have created. But no, instead they said, look at how Jean tracked down Joni Mitchell from self imposed exile and worked with her to create something unlike anything Joni’s music has been used for before. That is a maverick story.

As an added bonus the media love maverick stories! (They love pretty much any personal story but if it is one of someone overcoming odds it’s even sexier). Everything about the High Performance Rodeo is a maverick story. That’s why it gets so much coverage every year. Why did the Grand Theatre re-opening get three double page spreads in the Herald? Because it is a maverick story of both a theatre company and an old building breaking the boundaries. (Tooting my own horn, yes. Sorry.)

Let the Stampede continue to form the identity of the city, but let’s all start framing our stories as part of the cities identity. There’s no need to fight it when we can make it work for us.

Also, just an observation: the Stampede used to be about family fun like Carnival d’Hiver in Quebec City but it has turned into a more adult oriented booze fest a la Mardi Gras. I wouldn’t say either of these events is better than the other. They’re just different but equally fun for different reasons.

The ‘I hate’ Stampede part of me is excited for August to hit so our downtown will stop smelling like stale beer and urine on every block. (And go back to just smelling like urine on every other block.)

More to follow for sure! Have a great year everyone! One filled with creative ideas that help make Calgary an even better city.

Ready. Set. Go?

Is this seriously all it takes to start up a blog? I've been wanting to do it for some time now but was worried that I would have nothing to say. Well here I am now! I've still got nothing to say but I know that part will flow later. For now I just need to get my feet wet.

What will I blog about though? That's an easy one: politics, the arts in Canada, and marketing. Or maybe the art of politics, or political marketing, or a combination therein perhaps. These are the things that interest me and if they interest you too I invite you to subscribe and here my musings as they are published.

It will be interesting to see in a year or two years time if any of my expectations have changed. Will I still be writing about marketing or the arts or politics? Will one have a heavier presence than another? Will anyone read any of it? Will I be an absentee blogger? Time will tell I guess.