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| Mayor’s Task Force on arts and culture leader Councillor Kim Devine (left) meets with culture and heritage advocate Catherine Hennessey |
The arts are going to keep the downtown alive,” states arts, culture, and heritage advocate Catherine Hennessey unequivocally. Nevertheless, she recalls her time on the Mayor’s Economic Council trying to push this very point. “I had a hell of year, convincing them the arts are significant,” she says, “but it’s as clear as crystal.” Catherine’s efforts resulted in then mayor George MacDonald calling consultations among what Catherine calls “cultural circles,” centred on the Confederation Centre, the Arts Guild, the University, and the Carrefour. “The list of stakeholders is huge,” Catherine says.
Out of these “cultural circles” emerged a Mayor’s Task Force on arts and culture under Clifford Lee’s mayorship. Charlottetown Councillor Kim Devine is a Task Force leader. “Arts and culture can play an important role in revitalizing downtown,” she says. “They have a lot to do with building society, building on values, making us better people.” But, she also insists, aside from having intrinsic value, there is a compelling economic argument that the arts are important.
The Task Force, according to Kim, will help make that argument, “creating an understanding of the importance of the arts” and “building a case for greater arts funding.” To accomplish these goals, the task force is looking at what kind of economic return we get for every dollar spent on the arts. “We need to change the thinking, so arts funding is seen as an investment,” Kim says.
“A lot of the thinking behind this approach has come out of Richard Florida’s book, The Rise of the Creative Class…We need to link commerce and creativity, and he talks about the need to build creative communities. He argues that jobs come to cities that are able to attract workers.” And part of what attracts workers is a rich cultural life. “Quality of life issues are especially important to attracting young people to cities,” according to Kim.
“When we invest in the arts and culture, we invest in values. We invest in people. We invest in those who are trying to build a community. I think those are important.”
While the Task Force is wrestling with how broad their sweep should be, there is no doubt their focus is on locally created arts and culture, building on an important existing sector. “You have to be careful when you rely heavily on the tourist industry,” Kim says, acknowledging the problem of presenting culture only in the summer, or with only out-of-province audiences in mind. “If we can make a city that does its best for residents, tourists will come.”
She points to the sold-out benefit for Eric MacEwen at Confederation Centre, which featured a lot of local talent, and attracted a capacity audience of over 1,100 people. “You gotta know that the restaurants and bars benefited by that,” she says. She thinks the argument for the arts is sinking in as more people participate in the arts as audience.
There are already tangible signs this translates into arts funding. “By coming up with matching funds to keep the Arts Guild building in operation, I think it’s a sign to the community that these things are important to the City.” Catherine Hennessey still sees the need for lobbying. “There’s no doubt: we need an arts policy,” she says. “There’s a whole group that believes the mercantile business will come back downtown to be what they were—but it’s not going to happen.”
Kim puts it more softly: “There has been a mercantile shift to the edge of the city. What happens downtown has to be different. We’ve got so many assets to draw people downtown—how pleasant it is, how beautiful it is, the human scale that lets people walk around. The City currently doesn’t have an arts policy, and I think we need one,” she says. Since policy will be developed with the whole Council, she urges that citizens talk to their councillors about the need for increased recognition of arts and culture.
“Artists have always needed support,” said Kim. “The great art of the world has always had a patron—whether a church or a government. It’s important to remember that.”
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