The Charlottetown Forum

December 4, 2008


Thanks to the generosity of Tim Borlase, one of CCA Board members, who has offered to drive me to Prince Edward Island for today’s meeting, I get to finally cross the famous bridge! All along the road, we follow on the radio the historical shenanigans going on in Ottawa and we get to Charlottetown just as the Prime Minister emerges from Rideau Hall to announce that Parliament has been shut down.

Well, that will not prevent us from holding our own parliament in the coach house adjacent to the sumptuous Beaconsfield House, facing the sea. We have 23 people in the room, including the largest number of visual artists in any forum so far, and while the conversations are lively and people have often diverging views, this parliament remains so civilized and disciplined that Speaker Milliken would envy my role as moderator.

The plenary starts with an animated discussion around the issue of the appropriate focus for the CCA: high brow art of enduring quality or commercially successful art forms and popular culture? One participant gets the ball rolling with a defense of what may be described as an elitist view of arts and a rejection of the concept of cultural industries. This is debated from different angles, some people arguing that there is a continuum between these concepts and that we should not create such division amongst cultural workers. Another participant insists on the fact that if we want to convince others, including politicians, of the importance of the arts in our society, we should use their own language and not try to convert them to our own language. Overall, there is a consensus about the strategic wisdom of using the most inclusive language possible.

Another intervener with a long and distinguished career in the arts and in cultural advocacy underlines the cyclical nature of crises afflicting the cultural sector, which support the impression that we never make real progress. He stresses the fact that we concentrate our efforts on politicians, these cycles will go on forever as we have from scratch each time there is a turnover in political elites. The only road to permanent gains is working on our children through a sensitization to arts in our school system, on our neighbours, on our communities. We have to accept that this a long term enterprise.

As for expectations concerning the CCA, one participant says that our most crucial role in his opinion in the coming years is to keep a watchful eye on what is going on in Ottawa and keep the sector informed in a timely fashion about all developments that may affect if.

As we leave Beaconsfield House, literally thousands of crows have invaded the sky. They form sinister garlands in the denuded trees and cover the roof of the magnificent residence of the Lieutenant Governor: it’s like nightmare before Christmas…the noise is deafening!

It must have been an omen: as we approach Moncton, the warning lights on the dashboard light up one after another and we are happy to make it to an exit in time to call CAA! Tim will have to find another vehicle to go to Fredericton tomorrow!