Art can be spiritual — at its best it is insightful, individual and even critical.

These qualities are not always aligned with governmental objectives.

There is a moment in Bruce Beresford’s film Mao’s Last Dancer in which we see ballet dancers, schooled during China’s cultural revolution, dancing as an act of propaganda. Expressionless, with red flags flying in the background, the dancers are more like soldiers, executing every step for a cause.

While we in Canada are philosophically and politically far removed from that kind of crushing control over art and expression, our cultural institutions are not immune to controversy. In the past year the B.C. Arts Council has been at the centre of a dramatic and often bitter debate between the provincial government and the arts community; a debate that was fuelled last spring by the slashing of the arts council’s budget, followed by the August resignation in protest of its chair, Jane Danzo, and finally, on Wednesday, the reinstatement of $7 million in funding.

Following BCs devestating series of arts cuts, Danzo felt it was necessary to resign from her position “in order to have a voice,” and it appears she was heard.

“In my opinion, the work of the BC Arts Council Board, has not been supported by government on a number of different levels,” expressed Danzo in her resignation letter.

The restoration of funding comes after more than a year of intense criticism and action from the BC arts community calling for a restoration of funding to 2008/09 levels. Despite council recommendations the provincial government originally put that funding towards an Arts Legacy Fund (written about by Tyler Morgenstern a few weeks ago).

The $7-million funding increase, which is being diverted from the newly created Sports and Arts Legacy Fund, is a partial restoration of the $10 million axed from the council’s budget last spring. The announcement, made by culture minister Kevin Krueger on Wednesday, comes after B.C. Arts Council chair Jane Danzo stepped down last month in protest over the cuts.

“I am confident in the council’s strategic plan to deliver on the Legacy’s goals through its work with B.C.’s vibrant arts community,” said Krueger. “This will increase the council’s budget to just over $16 million for the current fiscal year, demonstrating our government’s commitment to a strong, creative and growing arts community, even in these difficult economic times. These monies will be distributed to the arts community through the independent peer-review adjudication process that has been established by the council.”

The government respects and values a strong independent council and is committed to ensuring this independence is maintained and enjoys the confidence of the arts community.

See also: B.C. Arts Council gets $7 million, but some question the funding (Victoria Times Colonist)
See also: BC adds $7 m to Arts Council budget (CBC News)
See also: BC government rethinks arts funding (The Globe and Mail)
See also: BC government gives in to artists’ demands that Legacy funds go to BC Arts Council with few strings attached (Georgia Straight)
See also: Government increases funding for BC Arts Council (Vancouver Sun)

“We need champions and advocates in our community,” said Kevin McKeown, spokesperson for the Alliance for Arts and Culture. “There is an element of fear in the community about speaking out, and that in itself is very disturbing—fear there will be further reprisals—and Mrs. Danzo’s leadership has encouraged some to speak out who might not have before.”

The Community Arts Council of Vancouver is the latest to add its voice, releasing an open letter to Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Kevin Krueger on August 24, demanding that he give the B.C. Arts Council the arm’s-length independence Danzo last week told the Straight it lacked. “We request a full review of the BC Arts Council that would strengthen its capacity to support related organizations and efforts that make up the arts in this province,” the letter from CACV president Michael Clague states.

Danzo was the chairwoman of the B.C. Arts Council, a supposedly arms-length organization that doled out money to arts groups without political interference. Her resignation called into question that immunity and prompted a strongly worded condemnation of the provincial government from the national arts council.

On the local front, Frank Moher, artistic director of Western Edge Theatre, is taking to the Internet airways to convince Parksville-Qualicum MLA Ron Cantelon to advocate for the area’s arts and culture groups.

To read the letter: http://www.straight.com/article-339897/vancouver/tom-durrie-asks-assembly-bc-arts-councils-oppose-kevin-kruegers-spirit-festivals

But the Liberal government is also defending the cuts, saying it has poured half a billion dollars into the arts and culture sector since first being elected in 2001.

Newly acclaimed Cranbrook and District Arts Council (CDAC) President Sioux Browning said the cuts are coming at the expense of artists that don’t make a living wage as it is and now their lives will become even harder.

“I’m a huge fan of the Olympics and I love amateur sport too and I thought the cultural Olympiad was fantastic and I fully supported it. But that said I worry about actual working artists because they can’t get any support.”

Browning said money from the new three-year, $30 million Sports and Arts Legacy Fund is supposed to go to young and emerging artists for artistic works that support the spirit of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

This year, the B.C. Liberal government seriously slashed funding to the arms-length council, leaving Danzo hanging.

In the last budget, Finance Minister Colin Hansen also announced $30 million in new arts-legacy funding over three years.

“Even after the announcement, the Board was not consulted for input, nor was it permitted to know the details as they were developed by ministry staff over a four month period,” Danzo write in an August 16 letter [1] to Tourism, Culture and the Arts Minister Kevin Krueger. “Meanwhile, the arts community struggled, some members with life-threatening uncertainty, as they reduced their programming, laid off staff and made poignant appeals to patrons and donors for further support. And the Board remained awkwardly silent until the government released more information about the Arts Legacy Fund.”

Unfortunately for the arts community, Danzo chose to quit in the middle of August.

Jane Danzo of Victoria, the council’s chairwoman, finally reached her limit. She resigned, accusing the government of making “devastating” cuts and failing to support the council’s work.

She says it became clear to her last month that the council was not independent from government. She argues an arm’s length relationship, similar to those in other jurisdictions, would better serve the arts and culture sectors.

She has a point — although the government has a point as well. When the downturn hit, it was obvious the government would not be able to keep balancing its books and would have to borrow money to make ends meet. Finance Minister Colin Hansen tried to limit the amount of red ink, which meant cuts throughout government.

Kathleen Sharpe, the president of the national arts organization, has written to B.C. Culture Minister Kevin Krueger on behalf of the CCA expressing concern over the cuts and over the resignation of Jane Danzo as chair of the B.C. Arts Council.

“With all due respect, we submit that this is a strategic error that will have negative impacts not only on tourism and economic development but also severely compromise the role your province plays in defining Canadian identity at home and abroad,” Sharpe said in a strongly worded letter.

She also expressed support for Danzo’s decision to resign, calling the former B.C. arts chair “widely respected.”

The money was cut back so more funding could be dedicated to keeping the 2010 Olympic spirit alive.

“Spirit week has actually been going on for many years in B.C.,” Hansen said. “It wasn’t something invented in 2010.”

Danzo quit the 15-member board because of what she calls ‘devastating’ funding cuts and the arts council’s lack of autonomy.

Her replacement is vice-chair Stanley Hamilton –a retired business professor.

In the letter dated August 20, Kathleen Sharpe of the Canadian Conference for the Arts stated that it’s a “strategic error” and “ill-advised” for the B.C. government to “drastically and unfairly” cut investments in arts and culture to help balance the books.

She added that this will have a negative impact on tourism and economic development.

Sharpe’s letter applauded Danzo’s “courageous decision to resign in protest”, noting that the B.C. Arts Council “does not possess the independence normally given to such granting agencies”.

In her bombshell fare-thee-well, Danzo told Minister of Ineffectuality Kevin Krueger that the Council’s job is “virtually impossible to accomplish because the Board’s relationship to government is not at-arms-length.” The Victoria Times-Colonist reports that her resignation was prompted by “a meeting late last month at the ministry” that “confirmed that the arts council does not have an independent voice from government, something Danzo once understood it did.” Or, as she tells straight.com, “it was made very clear that the ministry speaks for the arts. So I feel the council is hampered in its role as an advocate not to have an independent voice.”

Come, come, Ms. Danzo, why so glum? Sure, that whole “arms-length” thing is imperfectly understood by the Liberals — but imagine the riches to come!

Jane Danzo, who left her post on August 11, told the Straight she resigned the position she held for a year to protest the provincial government’s lack of consultation with the B.C Arts Council and its slashing of core funding.

“It was a very difficult decision but I thought I could probably effect more change by stepping down than I could by staying,” Danzo, past president of Pacific Opera Victoria, told the Straight. “The main factor was that the council was challenged in what it was mandated to do.”

In her letter of resignation to Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Kevin Krueger, Danzo criticized cabinet’s refusal to take its the legislature committee on finance and governmental affairs’ recommendation, in November 2009, to restore arts funding to ’08/09 levels. Instead, in their spring budget, the Liberals axed the funding [1] the B.C. Arts Council hands out to groups by an estimated 50 percent, from around $14 million to about $8 million.

Note: Read Jane’s letter of resignation here at Stop BC Arts Cuts:http://stopbcartscuts.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/jane-danzo-chair-of-bc-arts-council-resignation-letter/

See also: B.C. Arts Council head resigns amid provincial funding cutbacks (Vancouver Sun)
See also: Former arts official comdemns BC government (Globe and Mail)
See also: BC Arts groups applaud council chair’s resignation (Globe and Mail)
See also: Victoria’s Jane Danzo resigns as chair of the B.C. Arts Council over “devastating” cuts (Vancouver Sun)
See also: B.C. arts council head quits in protest (Metro)
See also: ’Discouraged’ chairwoman quits over lack of provincial support (Vancouver Sun)
See also: Arts council’s Danzo had hopes, good intentions (Vancouver Sun)
See also: Arts council head steps down to speak out (The Daily Kamloops News)
See also:  Cuts and no ‘voice’: Letter tells why BC Arts Council chair quit (The Tyee)