On Monday night before Arts Day, arts advocates gathered for a training session hosted by the Canadian Arts Coalition (CAC) to prepare speaking points for our meetings with MPs. The energy and passion in the room from arts supporters across our nation paired with guidance from the CAC prepared us to head into our respective meetings.
- Thank you for the arts and culture investments in Budget 2016 ($1.87 billion over five years)
- Short-term investments from Budget 2016, in the Cultural Spaces and in the Showcasing Canada programs, need to be extended and sustained beyond two year.
- The Digital Culture consultations are an essential process between government, industry, and artists – the Canadian Arts Coalition wants to ensure that artists are part of the conversation
Arts Day was an opportunity to advocate for the important work happening in arts and culture organizations in Canadian communities with these three key messages from CAC – and a large item on the list was an increased investment in the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund. Teamed with PACT, Mirvish and the Canadian League of Composers – we met with two Members of Parliament: Scott Duvall, MP of the Hamilton Mountain and Kyle Peterson, MP of Newmarket-Aurora – both supporters of the arts in their communities.
ArtsBuild spoke to all three speaking points, with emphasis on the importance of extending funding in the Canadian Cultural Spaces Fund to Phase 2 of the Government of Canada’s Infrastructure plan. We stressed that the extension needs to be included in Budget 2017, so that arts organizations can begin feasibility studies on their capital projects.
Arts Day was an exciting and essential initiative to participate in – especially since this year’s messaging tied closely to the advocacy work of ArtsBuild. We would like to thank the Canadian Arts Coalition for organizing this important and vital day of advocacy for arts and culture!
