A national mandate at the citizen level

Synchronicity

I know that none of you are surprised to see me here today. I’ve spoken about Agenda 21 many times and I’m well known taking part in many forums that call for culture to be considered an essential pillar of sustainable development at the local and international levels. I was already active in this area when I was the president of Culture Montréal and one of the proponents of Agenda 21C du Québec. Today, I am here as the Director and CEO of a national body, the Canada Council for the Arts.

Local, national, international: the same fight, you say? In a way, yes.

Local and national actions are very closely linked. They influence each other to a point where it’s hard to imagine making progress on either without acknowledging their connection. Let’s clearly acknowledge that the boundaries that define the fields of intervention of local and national stakeholders are merely guidelines. They are not borders for us to hide behind, and ignore each other. Rather, we need to leverage them to synchronize our efforts.

Last spring, I took part in the first ever United Cities and Local Governments Culture Summit, in Bilbao, where I talked about Agenda 21 from a ‘national’ perspective. I discussed the principles of equity and diversity, which are key to synchronizing our interventions in support of the arts and culture.

I mentioned many initiatives to optimize cities’ support for their neighbourhoods and diverse communities. I spoke about the support of the provincial and territorial governments for their regions. And I outlined the support of the Canada Council and other national agencies for the provinces and territories overall.

I am convinced that order to fully achieve its mandate, the Council that I’m leading must have a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of all of these levels of support. It must also be the unwavering champion of the principles of equity and diversity in order to transcend the institutional, governmental and paragovernmental silos, which are understandably concerned with their own areas of competence and accountability. We must do this to achieve a dynamic and effective synchronicity that benefits the well-being of all. We also have to appeal, more and more, to individual responsibility, to civic responsibility, both inside and outside of our institutional frameworks. For it is each individual – each member of the arts community and each citizen, in his or her own commitment, who determines what will influence the cultural advancement of our society and its progress in sustainable development.

I want to be clear here. I am not saying that we should stop entrusting institutions with a large part of our collective advancement. What I am saying is that institutions, in exchange for the trust we place in them, have a growing obligation to be transparent and relevant if they are to remain at the heart of the democratic participation process. Incidentally, democratic participation must be practiced on a daily basis – if not, it will continue to decline. The same goes for the right to freedom of expression, and for our ability to create without constraint, to innovate and to dream of the future without censure.

Civic participation is not simply a counterpart to our institutions: it is vital to their regeneration.

But having said this, in this enormous wave of globalization that we’re living today – one that shows no sign of receding – how can citizens make themselves heard? How can they amplify a movement for the well-being of all rather than the self-absorption, complacency and indifference that are rusting and ruining our Western democracies?

Values, references and democracy

In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Yola and Kano in Nigeria, in Beirut and in Paris, we, as a society, have felt the need to voice our solidarity. Here and around the world, we’ve felt the urgent need to reaffirm the values of openness and democracy that are the foundations of living together as a society. And the Syrian refugee crisis now calls for our direct and concrete commitment as a welcoming society.

Sadly, we’ve not been unanimous in affirming these values. All it took was for a false passport found near the Paris attack to stir up fears that, no matter how irrational they might be, can sway public opinion. Fears that make many people forget the compassion provoked by the tragic image of the lifeless body of a child washed up on a Turkish beach.

In a recent article in Le Monde on the jihadism behind these attacks, Jürgen Habermas wrote: “Civil society must be careful not to sacrifice on the altar of security all of the democratic virtues of an open society: freedom of the individual, tolerance of diverse lifestyles, and the ability to see things from another’s point of view.”

When a part of the world that seems so far away suddenly enters our everyday lives, our perspective changes. To consider this transformation of everyday life, we must recognize and defend that which brings us together and defines us as a society. This isn’t as easy as it might seem. A mere statement of belief is not enough. What we need is an informed, enlightened and conscious decision.

The complicated nature of this exercise in citizenship is due in part by the virtual, intangible universe we inhabit in this digital age: a universe where hypercommunication blithely mixes information with disinformation. They become instantly invasive and omnipresent to the point where they become a universal reality. Then, paradoxically, they are shared in a fragmented, disembodied, abstract and inconsequential way. We are trying to stay afloat in a world where the volatility of opinions sometimes gives the impression that democracy is staggering rather than moving forward.

This era of over-communication and over-socialization encourages consumption rather than participation. Algorithms determine the parameters of this consumption and confine us within communities of sameness, of the like-minded, instead of encouraging social consciousness, openness to others and real human solidarity. As Jean-François Fogel and Bruno Patio write in La condition numérique, “A world constructed from the familiar is a world where there is nothing to be learned.” They also note that “The ultimate and plausible ambition of a search engine is to show us the question we want to ask before we ask it.”

I would never deny that digital platforms are marvelous tools for communication, information and sharing. I myself am a shameless tweeter, following and tweeting every day in a medium that will eventually become as outdated as its predecessors.

But even with all of these platforms, it’s still extremely hard to find space to discuss, to reflect, to question. Space to rethink how we want to we live together. Space to argue against the decline of democratic values. Space to redefine human development. The same compassion and humanity that, in a single day of global drama, can crystallize into a viral phenomenon that comforts and reassures us can, in the space of a status update, be thrown into question by another viral phenomena that bears the dubious gifts of fear, intolerance and irrationality.

Recent examples demonstrate this very clearly. Just as with the Syrian refugee crisis, the climate change discussions at the Paris Conference have given rise, on one hand, to grand declarations on the urgency of taking long-overdue action. And on the other hand, to questionable, reactionary opinions couched in economic arguments. In a digital economy that wagers on the power of the masses, and particularly in the arena of social media, progress and regression are facing off. They are building their respective camps using unequal means and tactics – and it’s becoming harder and hard to know just to what extent this is happening.

So what can we do about it?

Art as a vector of sustainable development: a citizens’ movement

Every day, in our cities and neighbourhoods, artists, arts organizations, public libraries and others provide spaces to practice cultural democracy. Spaces where imagination, creation and innovation are invited to contribute to redefining human development. There’s no shortage of examples of artists engaging in critical thinking and civic responsibility. And I believe we can expect even more examples in the area the environment and sustainable development.

One artist that comes to mind is Chantal Bilodeau, a Montreal playwright and translator who is now living in New York. Chantal writes a blog on the work of artists and climate change and is the founder of The Arctic Cycle, a company that – a bit like an international research and observation centre – is exploring climate change by coordinating the development and production of eight plays with eight Arctic countries.

Another example is the work Alain Laroche and Jocelyn Maltais, from Saguenay–Lac St-Jean. For 35 years, their collective Interaction Qui has stimulated their community’s social and creative engagement with the environment. Recently, they’ve had to cease their work because of a lack of funding. This shows, yet again, the real challenge of continuity and sustainability.

And here’s another example: In Mile End, the Champ des possibles project saw a community transform an abandoned railway yard into a park, convincing the city to take ownership and make it a place for Montreal residents to enjoy. And it all started with the desire of one artist to transform it into a civic space of creation.

And yet another: Look at the exterior living walls at the Darling Foundry, which have improved air quality and temperature control in an urban setting.

Just prior to the Paris Conference, Équiterre and the World Wide Fund for Nature asked Inuit artist Peter Ittukallak from Puvirnituq, Nunavik, with the help of Julien Doré, to sculpt an ice bear. This work raises public awareness of sea ice melting and its impact on the lives on the people and wildlife of the North.

Then, of course, there is Tohu, which has an environmental and artistic mission: Tohu is participating in the second-largest environmental rehabilitation project ever completed in North America.

Art and artistic creation drive innovation and progress in many other areas too. Think of the realm of health, where recent neurological research has proven the positive effects of music on people with autism. Think of community revitalization. This was the topic of a recent presentation by the Canada Council’s new Chair Pierre Lassonde to the Quebec Chamber of Commerce. He spoke about Fogo, a small island off the northeast coast of Newfoundland, where the residents have remarkably revitalized their community by reimagining their future and pooling their strengths, creativity and diversity.

I could spend the rest of this presentation giving yet more examples to illustrate – or, rather, to confirm – that the arts and artists must be part of the discussions that determine our present and our future, and that the arts and culture are vectors of sustainable development for the 21st century.

In fact, UNESCO, whose mandate in Canada is carried out by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, which is part of the Canada Council for the Arts, reminded its member states of this major issue. UNESCO declared: “Placing culture at the heart of development policy constitutes an essential investment in the world's future and a pre-condition to successful globalization processes that take into account the principles of cultural diversity.”

Realistic optimism

Of course you all know that I’ve been a cultural advocate for many years now. But nonetheless, I truly believe that my optimistic vision of a future with the arts and culture as key players is not only realistic, but increasingly within our grasp. Further, I truly believe that the Canada Council can be a catalyst and a facilitator in this respect. Tomorrow we will announce an initiative that will illustrate this role for Council’s, and the role of the arts at the heart of our social development.

The Council, like the arts community, believes that public engagement in the arts is not only essential to the vitality and dynamism of the cultural scene – it is essential to addressing the challenges of our society. Which leads me to the mission of the Musagetes Foundation…

Yesterday, today, tomorrow: optimism and synchronicity

In preparing my notes on the role of the arts in our society for tonight’s presentation, I couldn’t help but think back to the Manifesto of the Musagetes Foundation , which I am still involved with – a manifesto that we launched, not far from here, in January 2007, in partnership with Culture Montréal.

The Musagetes Foundation believes that the arts can play a key role in addressing the faultlines of modern society, the deep and perplexing problems of contemporary life, including: [and here I invite you to listen carefully to the list of faultlines and problems identified by the Foundation]:

• the significance we ascribe to instrumental reasoning, which can calculate the costs, but not the value, of everything;
• our reliance on the economy as the most important measure of meaning;
• the diminished sense of community in a world dominated by individualism and fear of “the other”; and
• our neglect, even at times disdain, for the intangible, the difficult-to-measure: intrinsic values, human feeling, inventiveness and imagination, the life of the spirit.

The Manifesto continues, saying: “The Musagetes Foundation recognizes that egocentric and mechanistic values can alienate people from their own inner reality and deprive them of a sense of shared belonging to the human community.“

These problems were enumerated eight years ago and are just as topical today. But today, I like to think that we are on the way to finding creative and innovative solutions. Don’t try to dampen my optimism, because I guarantee that it will flare up again as passionately as ever – and for good reason.

This past October, I took part in the Creative City Summit in Kelowna, B.C. This event brought together municipal cultural planners from across Canada. I was struck not only by the depth of the discussions, but also by the level of commitment to work together to position the arts at the heart of community development. To deal with the challenges we are all facing. For example, how can we leverage the opportunities offered by digital technology? How can we encourage the sharing of knowledge and cultural practices between generations? How can we strengthen our cultural institutions and make them more resilient?

The synchronicity that I mentioned earlier was very present in Kelowna. In Ottawa, where I’m currently based, the results of the federal election have reinforced it even more. The new government has committed to a significant reinvestment in the arts and culture. It has demonstrated that the arts must be at the table when important decisions are being made by sending the both the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and the Minister of Canadian Heritage to the popular Radio-Canada program Tout le monde en parle to talk about the strategy for welcoming refugees.

Rendezvous for the future

The Canada Council is more than ready for this rendezvous. As a matter of fact, we’ve been preparing for it for the past 18 months and more. Not that we had predicted the exact time or form it would take – we don’t have a crystal ball, after all. But we couldn’t help but envisage it. Because the vision of the arts and culture as a pillar of our sustainable development is essential to our work. It’s central to our commitment to put the arts at the heart of the development of our society.

And to do this, after almost 60 years of existence, we decided to put ourselves to the test of relevance. This test targets civic engagement, for this is fundamentally linked to our mandate to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts in society.

How do we ensure that we are playing a relevant role? We have to be seen to be relevant to artists, the general public, policy makers and our current and future partners. Public funding of the arts in a democracy must be explained, justified, debated and defended. Its direct and indirect impacts on cultural rights, social development, education, economic vitality, international outreach, identity, health and more cannot be disregarded in this public discussion. That’s how cultural democracy works. Along with public funding come public considerations and public responsibilities. And we have taken up our responsibilities by betting on a transformation that is promising for the future.

As I’m sure you know, on December 4th we shared further details on the first phase of our ongoing transformation: a new funding model comprised of six major programs rather than the previous 147.

This new funding model is not an exercise in shifting funds. Its real purpose is to precisely identify expectations, explore new territories and demonstrate the results. I have said countless times and I’ll say it again: Our intention is to move away from dictating how the arts should be created, and to move towards giving artists and arts organizations the means to pursue their own quest for excellence and to optimize, their impact on society on their own terms.

Our new program Creating, Knowing and Sharing: The Arts and Cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples is a perfect illustration of this intention. This program is based on an approach centered on Indigenous Peoples and their desire for self-determination. It will be guided by Indigenous values and visions of the world. It will both contribute to and be inspired by national and international movements for Indigenous rights. It is certain to have a strong impact at the community level – particularly Indigenous communities, where the healing powers of the arts and cultural identity are strongly rooted.

But we don’t want to just fund innovation. We want to walk the talk. I believe that the kind of flexibility we’ve shown in order to give the arts pride of place with the cultural initiative for Syrian refugees is an example of the leadership we want to exercise. It’s the role of facilitator and catalyst that we want to play.

Another telling example is the {Re}conciliation initiative, developed in partnership with the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and The Circle. This initiative launched on the occasion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report and recommendations promotes artistic collaborations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists. It invests in the power of art and imagination to inspire dialogue, understanding and change. We are at a decisive moment in our history: the relationship between the Indigenous Peoples of this land and the Canadian state is, in the opinion of many, the defining issue of our times, and the arts have an important role to play. We support them so that they can play that role.

The breadth of our transformation goes beyond funding and is aimed at giving the arts a greater role in society – a role that corresponds, in fact, to that of Agenda 21. We want to continue to promote equity and diversity in cultural expression and we want to reinforce all aspects of public engagement in the arts, so that the arts can become an integral part of our everyday lives – for everyone.

This is why we have clearly integrated equity and public engagement into the funding criteria for organizations supported by the Canada Council, taking into account their scale, mission and presence in their city or community.

To sum it up, the transformation we envisage will have an impact for the Council, the arts community, the Council’s clientele and the population at large.

Creators of content and the future

But “encouraging the production of works of art and promoting the arts” is not a given in an era when there is an overabundance of available content and radical changes in the way people engage with the arts.

We have to reposition support for the arts and promote participation in the arts in a social perspective, making these actions keys for sustainable human development at every level.

In short, if you don’t know where to start – start anywhere.

In Astra Taylor’s recent work The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, translated into French as Démocratie.com: pouvoir, culture et résistance à l'ère des géants de la Silicon Valley, the author looks at the abundance of the cultural supply thanks to digital technology. She warns us to be wary of this abundance, noting that a cultural supply is only as good as the soil in which it is cultivated. She notes that even the most virtual work is produced by people who create in a real social context.

“We are embedded beings who create work in a social context, toiling shared soil in the hopes that our labor bears fruit. It is up to all of us whether this soil is enriched or depleted, whether it nurtures diverse and vital produce or allows predictable crops to take root and run rampant.” [Taylor, p. 248]

This is a powerful metaphor on the value of our work… of your work. This means that in a global society where borders are increasingly blurred, our physical communities are more important than ever. To this I would add that digital platforms rarely create content – content is created by their users. Just as in the Age of Enlightenment, artists, in the digital age, remain the creators of rich and inspiring content.

We are art and art is us

The Canada Council for the Arts is a facilitator and a catalyst of artistic creation and cultural innovation. We strive to discover, evaluate and cultivate excellence on a national scale for the benefit of hundreds of communities, cities and regions, and for the enjoyment of all Canadians. Our decision-making autonomy. Our extensive knowledge of the cultural reality. And our exceptional situation today, with a budget that has seen no cuts and which the Trudeau government has promised to double – a case that is unique in the whole world. All this makes the Council one of the front-line tools available to Canada for stimulating the individual and collective creativity of its citizens and inspiring innovation in the many realms of human development.

Call me a dreamer (wait for question period) or an incurable optimist, but I will continue to invite each and every one of you to this rendezvous, which I believe will be historic for our future and inspirational in developing richer and fuller lives together.

I sincerely hope that this is the dawn of a future where Canadian citizens will say with conviction and engagement: “Art is all of us.”