Stamps Party!
In case you haven’t heard yet the Stamps won the Grey Cup today 22 to 14 over Montreal. Congrats to the Stampeders Football Club.
But not much of a scoop there. So here’s a bit more of an exclusive:
While it hasn’t been announced officially yet you might as well put the Grey Cup party in your calendar now. Come out and welcome the Stamps and their shiny new trophy. The shindig will take place at Olympic Plaza on Tuesday, November 25 at noon.
So don’t put away your jerseys and flags just yet…
Please stop picking on the arts so I can sleep
Is anyone else tired? Or is it just me?
I’m an arts advocate (among other things – don’t try to define me!) and it turns out that has been about as busy a person as you could be lately. First I was run off my keester during the Federal election because the PM decided to run his mouth in Saskatoon there-by getting the entire arts community up in arms, and lately it has been all about making sure a proposed increase to Calgary Arts Development’s budget was approved in the City of Calgary’s 2008-2011 budget. I haven’t been alone in the crusade (wow, now that is hyperbole!), but it has been exhausting and pretty much thankless.
Those that know me, know I prefer to – to steal a theatre phrase – stay backstage and out of the spotlight. I never wanted to be an actor. I always wanted to be a designer or a stage manager. But I do have to say it has been very nice to get all the encouraging and thankful emails lately. I’m no glory hound but I wanted to say to all those folks: thanks for backing us up and appreciating what we’re trying to accomplish.
I was pushed over the edge on this front today by Stephen Hunt and his Blade Runner blog over at the Calgary Herald’s website, where he basically republished a few of my recent ‘call to action’ emails. Thanks Stephen! I was equally blown over by the congratulations offered this morning by Rick Bell at the Calgary Sun after Council rejected the proposed cut to arts funding. For all his recent bluster in the paper about arts funding it was very kind of him to offer such kind words of encouragement.
Now I beg everyone to please let the arts be for a little bit so I can get some sleep! (Will I be able to stay out of this conversation?)
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.
Subscribe
-
Like Minded
