The Farwell Files
Posted Mar 4, 2011 05:15:49 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
As cities across our region set their 2011 budgets, there is an increased push to include money for arts and culture.
The push comes primarily from the Prosperity Council, an organization founded in 2003 and “committed to positioning Waterloo Region as the region of choice for new investment and talent.” A key part of the Prosperity Council vision is to brand and market this region as one successful area for business, arts and lifestyle.
That branding, according to the Prosperity Council, should include a vibrant arts and culture sector. It’s been argued that such a sector enhances not only the quality of life for those living within the community but also makes the community more attractive for people considering relocation, thus setting Waterloo Region up as a desirable destination for the workforce of our future.
The City of Kitchener, despite tremendous funding pressures, maintained $220,000 in new arts and culture funding in this year’s budget. Waterloo did not add any new money but also did not cut from the arts and culture budget to direct available monies elsewhere. And in Cambridge, the city is moving ahead with a plan to fund a new Performing Arts Centre, a facility which will require more than $5-million in debentures next year.
The proposal is not without its critics and we’ll hear from the spokesperson for that group of critics on this weekend’s edition of the Farwell Files.
The Performing Arts Centre in Cambridge will include a new theatre for Drayton Entertainment and its Artistic Director, Alex Mustakas, admits that it’s somewhat frustrating to hear criticisms of a project where he sees tremendous value.
Yet Mustakas remains diplomatic in his reaction.
“We live in a great country where people can express their views. The thing that we’d like to ensure is that the views are fair and the information is accurate,” Mustakas states. “I think what we get sometimes are knee jerk reactions to not having all the facts.”
We will share all the facts on this weekend’s show and dispel myths about not only the Drayton project in Cambridge but also funding for arts and culture in general.
One fact Cambridge mayor Doug Craig wants to set straight at the outset is that he believes there’s a hidden agenda within opposition to the project in his city.
“This is mainly a group of people who ran in the last election and weren’t successful,” Craig says. “One of the issues in the last election was Drayton Theatre and clearly the council that was elected, including myself, ran on the issue that we were going to support that complex coming into Cambridge. And we all got elected.”
Craig points out that his biggest challenger in the last election, Linda Whetham, ran on a platform opposed to the Drayton theatre. Craig suggests that, in electing him, Cambridge residents have demonstrated their widespread support for the project.
Funding arts and culture institutions from the government purse is in no way unique to Waterloo Region. What is unique in some respects, however, is the amount of funding being requested. Some models in Waterloo Region require far less in the way of public dollars than do institutions in other parts of the country.
While arts advocates point to a variety of economic spin-offs and other community benefits that stem from the existence of vibrant facilities for arts and culture, they also admit that not all money should come from the public purse.
“I do think that there is the absolute need for the not-for-profits and the cultural groups to try and act like a business, to keep an eye on their bottom line and try to raise their earned revenue and be relevant,” admits David Marskell, CEO of The Museum in downtown Kitchener. “(That allows) donors to come and assist (the facility) where they can.”
Listen to the complete discussion and weigh in with your thoughts this Sunday at 6 PM on The Farwell Files.
