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Ottawa, November 2, 2004 – The Canada Council for the Arts has called on Canadians to send all levels of government a clear message about the positive impact the arts have on their communities.

In his introduction to the Council’s 47th Annual Report, which was released today, Canada Council Director John Hobday said current levels of public funding to the arts are inadequate to sustain the enormous artistic growth that has taken place in Canada over the past half-century.

“At current levels of government funding, this growth is proving not to be sustainable. And this means a huge loss of opportunity,” he said in the report. “We have the skills, talent and imagination to produce outstanding creative work, but we do not have sufficient base funding to support our organizational infrastructure and the efforts of arts managers and administrators as they strive to maintain this level of achievement.”

Mr. Hobday called on “artists, arts organizations and all Canadians who believe passionately in the arts to become partners in arts advocacy.”

“The arts are important in the lives of our communities: they are a significant factor in enhancing ‘creative’ cities; they provide value-for-money, and they improve the quality of our lives immeasurably. The prompt, clear and effective communication of this message to all levels of government is key to assuring a viable future for the arts.”

In 2003-2004, the fiscal year covered by the Annual Report, the Canada Council awarded just over $137 million in funding to Canadian artists and arts organizations, including grants, prizes and payments to 14,435 authors through the Public Lending Right Commission, which provides payments to Canadian authors for the presence of their books in Canadian libraries. Canada Council grants were awarded to 2,089 individual artists and 2,091 arts organizations, including theatre and dance companies, orchestras and music ensembles, art galleries book publishers, and film, video and new media cooperatives. 

Other highlights of 2003-2004 outlined in the report include:

• The selection of Canada as the featured country at the Turin International Book Fair in Italy.
  
• The Sonic Weave tour of Canadian musicians to world music festivals in Europe.
  
• The terminus1525 initiative, which encourages artistic creation by young Canadians.
  
• The loan of 10 fine instruments worth over $23 million to winners of the September 2003 Musical Instrument Bank competition.
  
• The acquisition of 52 new works by the Canada Council Art Bank.

The full text of the Annual Report, as well as more detailed information by province or territory and a searchable database of grants awarded in 2003-2004, are available on the Canada Council web site at www.canadacouncil.ca/publications_e/annualreports.

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Tous les documents du Conseil des Arts du Canada sont offerts en français et en anglais.

Media contact:
Public Affairs, Research and Communications
Donna Balkan
(613) 566-4305 or 1 800 263-5588, ext. 4134
donna.balkan@canadacouncil.ca

Carole Breton
(613) 566-4414 or 1 800 263-5588, ext. 4523
carole.breton@canadacouncil.ca