“Our culture deserves better than being cut down,” says the Common Front for the Arts

Around fifteen cultural organizations announced Wednesday the creation of the Common Front for the Arts, rallying behind the slogan “Our culture deserves better than being broke” in order to call on the Legault government to increase the funding granted to the Arts Council and letters from Quebec (CALQ).

In total, 17 organizations representing different disciplines are taking part in the initiative, including the Union of Artists (UDA), the Union of Quebec Writers (UNEQ) and the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM). They denounce the decline in recent years of the budget of the CALQone of the main funders of culture in Quebec.

In the last three budget years, the total budget of the CALQ went from $185 million in 2022-2023 to $172 million in 2023-2024. It would be $160 million for 2024-2025 and other reductions are expected if nothing is done.deplores the Common Front in a press release.

The organizations also denounce several cuts in more specific grant programs, such as that of mission support or the multi-year grant program which would have a deficit of 61% in 2024, with only 94 million dollars to offer out of the 151 million requested. .

The Common Front for the Arts is calling for clear actions from the government to ensure the long-term survival of the cultural sector, in particular increase the permanent appropriations of the CALQ from the next financial year and of systematize the indexing of its programs.

300 artists request general statements on culture

In parallel with the creation of the Common Front for the Arts, 300 artists, including Michel Tremblay, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Lorraine Pintal, signed an open letter Wednesday morning in The Press asking the government to organize a general meeting on culture, an assembly aimed at debating this particular subject in depth.

The text, written at the initiative of Pierre-Luc Brillant, Isabelle Blais and Olivier Aubin, essentially asks the question where is the money for culture?

Despite a 25% increase in cultural budgets in recent years, the average salary of artists has not changed significantly in 30 years.we can read in their cry from the heart. Today it is $20,787, or $4,500 less than a minimum wage worker.

States general on culture would, according to the signatories of the letter, make it possible to answer several thorny questions which remain unanswered, in particular: How are our main granting institutions governed? Or again: How can production companies that request subsidies find themselves sitting on the boards of institutions that grant them these same subsidies?

A major collective questioning is necessary in order to reflect on the future of our rich cultural ecosystem, to find solutions to the pitfalls that await it, to free speech and [de] restore a little dignity to the artists who constitute its raw foundation.

Words neither incendiaries in exaggeratedaccording to the Minister of Culture

At the microphone of Patrick Masbourian at All one morning Wednesday morning, Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, underlined the relevance of the questions raised by the artists, noting that the words of the letter were neither incendiaries in exaggerated.

Estates General are not in the government’s sights for the moment, because the realities are different depending on the artistic disciplines, according to Mathieu Lacombe.

It is certain that when we try to find solutions for everyone in such complex and different environments, the risk is to arrive at something that will not satisfy anyone because we tried to please to everyonehe explained.

The minister claims to have instead looked at each of the industries individually to try to meet needs more specifically. There are a lot of players and that’s another challengehe added.

To the question of potential conflicts of interest in the way in which the various funding is allocated, the minister affirmed that this was not not a new question.

He recalled that it was a double-edged sword since to be able to have an informed look at the projects, we cannot form selection committees with people who are not from the arts community. We don’t need states general to resolve this. These are questions that we are already asking ourselveshe added.

A motion was presented Wednesday morning at the Salon rouge by the PQ MP for Matane-Matapédia, Pascal Bérubé: That the National Assembly ask the Government of Quebec to organize a general meeting on culture. It was refused by the Legault government, said the press secretary of the parliamentary wing of the Parti Québécois.