Last year the province of Alberta surprised countless thousands of artists and cultural organizations alike when it announced a sweeping 16 per cent cut to its otherwise meagre budget.
St. Albert-raised Daniel Cournoyer wasn’t the last one to take notice. He’s the artistic director of L'UniThéâtre as well as the chair of the board of the Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton (PACE). The not-for-profit arts advocacy organization run by volunteers serves to promote professional arts organizations and independent professional artists from Edmonton and the surrounding region.
Lately PACE has been putting the pressure on the Ed Stelmach government by running a postcard campaign that has seen increasing levels of support from the public.
Cournoyer is impressed but wants even more of the public to come forward and voice its concerns.
“There’s that whole identity question behind it, but it really fosters creating a voice,” he began. He used the examples of several Alberta artists including Ian Tyson, k.d. lang and Corb Lund who have used their high profile status to help the campaign. He said even more supporters are needed to make the message hit home.
“They all started somewhere. These are all artists that depend on a certain level of commitment from the government to create their works and those works do wonderful things for this province.”
He added that, despite the tough economic climate, Alberta is still in an overwhelmingly positive position compared to most other provinces and states in North America.
“I’m making the argument that the arts aren’t an effective cut considering its return on investment and its impact on the community.”
After an initial run of 10,000 postcards, PACE is already looking to print another batch before the campaign’s scheduled end on Feb. 28.
He ended by saying that St. Albert has a vibrant cultural scene that has become known as a vital producer of bona fide artistic talent.
“You look at the best talent in Edmonton and a lot of it has come out of those grassroots programs. I think those are great things.
“There is an investment and there is a vision that exists. I think it’s time that we grow up and recognize that the arts are important and we need to foster it and really create a momentum for it. The payoffs will be 10-fold in the future. If we keep minimizing it and limiting it, we’ll never get as far as we can.”
On Monday, supporters of the organization and the campaign will be holding a flash mob event at 12:30 p.m. at Edmonton City Centre Mall East in the food court. For more information visit the Facebook page at Love Alberta Arts Valentine’s Day Flash Mob. According to the site, more than 200 people are planning to attend.
PACE is asking all arts organizations, professionals and supporters throughout the province to go to its website at www.pacedmonton.com/advocacy/toolkit and download postcards, fill them in and mail them back to PACE for delivery to the legislature.
