The new director of the Canada Council for the Arts is taking the pulse of Canada's arts communities in a cross-country tour.

Robert Sirman, who was appointed director by the federal government after being recommended by the Canada Council's board in May, spoke in Halifax on Wednesday.

His message for artists was that the council wants to encourage them to push their imaginations as far as possible.

"We don't want predictable, we don't want boring. You know, there's some value in trying to take risks. There is value in trying to do things that artists haven't done before. There is value in trying to do things better — not necessarily bigger — but in a broader context," he said.

Sirman, who guided the National Ballet School of Canada before taking up the post, replaced John Hobday as director of the council.

Sirman is responsible for the council's day-to-day operations and its budget of more than $150 million, most of which goes in grants to arts organizations.

Unlike Hobday, who once told artists they should take a more business-like approach, Sirman says he won't dictate to artists what they should create.

That message was warmly greeted in Halifax, but some artists would like to see the Canada Council have more funding.

"One of the major issues is to ensure that the Canada Council not only maintains the amount that they have but receives more money," Walter Forsythe, executive director of the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative, said in an interview with CBC Radio.

"It's 50 years old and during the last election there was definitely a lot of talk about doubling the Canada Council's funding. It didn't happen, but it would have been great if it did."

Sirman said he sees the tour as a way to introduce himself, and to map out where he wants the Canada Council to go under his leadership.