Councillor to move against Ottawa arts cuts after hundreds protest
Last Updated: Monday, December 1, 2008 | 5:06 PM ET
CBC News
Arts supporters held a rally outside Ottawa City Hall on Monday afternoon shortly after hearing from speakers such as Francis Beaulieu, foreground, head of Muséoparc Vanier and spokesman for a coalition of francophone cultural groups. (Kate Porter/CBC)An Ottawa councillor says he will move to take $4.1 million in arts and culture cuts off the table for the 2009 city budget after hundreds of arts supporters turned out to protest the proposed cuts.
Clive Doucet, councillor for capital ward, was unable to move the proposal Monday during the first day of budget hearings for public delegations, but is expected to do so on Thursday once council begins formally debating the budget. In addition to the $4.1 million in cuts, staff have recommended hundreds of thousands more in deferrals to new arts programs.
About 300 people of all ages packed the council chambers at Ottawa City Hall on Monday, carrying signs that read "Stop the cuts: My city still includes culture" and "My Ottawa includes festivals."
Those who got up to speak said it was irresponsible for the city to put arts and culture groups in the position of having to beg for funding year after year.
About 300 arts supporters packed into the council chambers for the first day of budget hearings for public delegations. (Kate Porter/CBC)"Others understand the economic value of culture but in Ottawa, there's a perception problem evident in the draft budget," said John Reid, chair for the city's arts, culture and heritage advisory committee. "We need to break out of this annual cycle of destructive debate and threats to long-term plan commitments which are a matter of trust."
The cultural community is ready for constructive dialogue, but "never again do they want to feel so victimized," he added, bringing all 300 arts supporters to their feet in applause.
Doucet's announcement, which followed, drew even louder applause.
Shortly after noon, the arts supporters exited the council chambers for a rally outside City Hall.
Richard Lebel, general manager of La Nouvelle Scène, a francophone theatre centre on King Edward Avenue, said it's good that many groups, francophone and anglophone alike, have united to fight the cuts as they did successfully in 2004 and 2007.
But he added that they would prefer to work together on concrete projects rather than protests.
Linda Balduzzi, head of the Ottawa Arts Court Foundation, said Ottawa won't be able to hang on to its artists if the cycle of cuts continues.
"When you keep this kind of threat up over years and decades, people start to lose faith that they can actually make a living in Ottawa," she said.
