Writing the story of a promising future for the arts and literature in Canada

Good morning. It’s a pleasure to be here in the company of so many talented writers from across the country.

The Canada Council is proud to have supported this event. I want to thank the Writers Union of Canada and the many partners involved in organizing such an exciting and relevant programme. It touches on many of the key issues affecting writers in the 21st century.

This summit is unique in that it brings together writers from English and French Canada. The two literary communities are, of course, distinct. But one of the messages we heard clearly when we hosted the National Forum on the Literary Arts in 2014, is that there is great value in sharing experiences, collaborating and bridging the two solitudes. Probably, now more than ever.

That’s because we are living an historic time for the arts and literature. It’s a time when there’s an incredible confluence of opportunities and challenges. A time when the benefit of the arts and literature in our lives is increasingly understood and appreciated. A moment when there is growing momentum for artists and writers to have greater voice in conversations about the complex issues of our times. As a matter of fact, Alberto Manguel writes, in The Traveler, the Tower and the Worm, "We are reading creatures. We ingest words, we are made of words. . . It is through words that we identify our reality and by means of words that we ourselves are identified."

The impacts of globalization and digital technologies have given rise to issues of equity, diversity, identity, reconciliation, freedom of expression and cultural rights. Issues that are shaping the society that we’re living in – as writers, as citizens.

These are also topics of concern we’ve heard clearly at the Canada Council in our consultations in all arts sectors – from dance to film, theatre to music, visual arts to literature. And these concerns are the impetus for a large-scale transformation now underway at the Council. A transformation to be sure that writers, like yourselves, have the support you need in this era.

And now, with the Federal Government’s latest budget announcement, the Council has the means to carry out its transformation in a way that has been out of reach for decades.

In March the federal government announced that it will progressively double the parliamentary appropriation to the Canada Council over five years. The scale of this investment is unprecedented in the history of the Canada Council. It is also unique worldwide at a time when many arts funders have seen their budgets cut. It’s an incredible opportunity for us to make strategic investments that will make a meaningful difference – for creators and for the public.

It is the nature of art – and literature even more – to be constantly questioning itself, perceptively and intelligently, about its future – the conditions for its existence, its affirmation and its survival. It would be out of the question for me to try to come up with an answer to every question on the future of poetry, novels or nonfiction. By dint of its existence, literature bears witness to the human condition. As Camus said in his Nobel acceptance speech, “the artist forges himself to the others, midway between the beauty he cannot do without and the community he cannot tear himself away from. That is why true artists scorn nothing: they are obliged to understand rather than to judge.”

In Canada, I think it’s fair to say that our country’s writers hold a special place in the hearts of Canadians – and in readers all over the globe. Perhaps more than any other art form, our literature has come to define us – and inspire us – at every stage of our development. They are the stories we heard as children, and the stories that are re-told and re-interpreted in film, theatre, music and dance.

In fact, Governor General award-winning author Nancy Huston writes that to be human is to have a story and to tell stories… Each and every detail of our precious identities… is part of a story that was invented at a particular place and time... [from The Tale-Tellers]

For Canadians, our authors are a source of pride and a catalyst for conversation. We all felt the glow of pride when Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize, and when Dany Laferrière was the first Canadian to be made a member of the prestigious Académie française.

Little wonder then that literature is the art form that receives the most support from the Canada Council. The Council cares deeply about writers and their work. And we remain first and foremost concerned with supporting writers in their pursuit of excellence and in their quest for readership – in an everchanging context.

Digital tools make it easier than ever to share work. But quality work still takes time, and risk. Time to be researched, conceived and developed. And even those writers most comfortable in the virtual world still need strong, tangible support in the “real” world. They need a strong infrastructure to share their work with readers.

That’s why for the Canada Council, our priority remains literary excellence. We will support writers directly and indirectly to fulfill their creative ambitions on their own terms. Give them time to create, and support them to reach out to new audiences. Because when we do this, writers, readers and all of society benefits.

This idea is the foundation for all of our work at the Council. It’s at the heart of our mandate. So how do we best fulfill this mandate in the 21st century? This is the question that is shaping our transformation – and our strategic commitments over the next 5 years.

We’ve identified four commitments where we will focus our efforts and our investments. So let me take a moment to touch on each of them:

Our first commitment is to increase support to artists, collectives and organizations striving for artistic excellence and greater engagement in the arts by an increasingly diverse public.

It’s in this commitment that we will invest over 80% of our new funding. That’s because it is vitally important. Writers need targeted investments to flourish and succeed -- especially those who have traditionally faced barriers to funding – those who are at the beginning of their career, or who are culturally diverse or living in remote communities, for example.

Beyond opening the door wider to our grant programs, we want to help writers to understand new business models that are emerging rapidly, so that they can survive and thrive in this new economy.

This includes finding ways to reach out to audiences in new ways. Young people and new Canadians are increasingly engaging with art in untraditional ways. All arts audiences – even readers – expect collaboration and participation more and more. They express their opinions on social media as a way to define their presence in the world. And they want to extend and share their experiences with books in the same way.

This brings me to our second commitment over the next five years: To amplify the quality, scale and sharing of Canadian art through digital technology.

If as a society we want to ensure that our digital culture empowers us and authentically represents who we are and who we want to be, we need to our artists and writers to be well equipped to master these digital tools and strategies.

You may know that the Department of Canadian Heritage is in the midst of a large scale consultation on Canadian content in a digital area. At a time where there is a glut of content from all over the world available at our fingertips, Canadian Heritage wants to find a way to bring quality Canadian content to the surface.

We at the Canada Council are following this closely and obviously whatever the government decides will affect our work. But we can’t afford to wait longer. We want to move quickly to give the arts and literary sector targeted and practical support that will have an impact in the near future.

This doesn’t mean pouring funds into any specific technology. After all, we have no idea what the leading technology will be in the years ahead. It simply means that we recognize that the way people communicate, share and exchange will never be the same, and that being a writer in this era means being able to continually adapt the way you practice your art form and share it with the world.

We’re in the discovery phase of this digital commitment. In April we launched a survey to gather input – and I encourage you to take the survey before it closes on June 24.

Next year, we will host a summit to dig deeper into the issues and ideas raised in the survey and we will keep you posted on the outcomes of this research.

Our third commitment is to renew the relationship between Indigenous artists, and indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences for a shared future.

Canada is at a critical turning point in re-defining the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, and the Canadian state. The power of the arts to make this happen was identified in the Truth and Reconciliation report, as was the role of the Canada Council in support Indigenous arts.

I’m proud of the leadership the Council had already shown in this respect through our Aboriginal Arts Office, which we set up over 20 years ago. Now is the time to shift towards cultural self-determination as a fundamental principle an as a legitimate aspiration the re-contextualize and reinvent our approach towards investing in Indigenous arts.

Many of the best-loved authors in Canada today are Indigenous: Think of Richard Wagamese, Thomas King and Tracey Lindberg to name a few. There is also a strong voice emerging from francophone writers from Indigenous communities. For example, Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, Rita Mestokosho, Jean Sioui – all female poets whose work reflect the movement toward reconciliation and issues related to the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Their work not only exemplifies literary excellence, it also shares stories and expressions that will help us all on our journey toward reconciliation. As Innu poet Joséphine Bacon writes: “Quand une parole est offerte, elle ne meurt jamais. Ceux qui viendront l’entendront."

At the same time, the preservation of Indigenous languages is key to the survival of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We want to support writers create and share their work in these languages.

Our fourth commitment is to raise the international profile of Canadian art and artists.

In a sparsely populated country like Canada, reaching international markets is vital to the financial and artistic success of Canadian writers. What’s more, Canada’s cultural exports boost our influence abroad.

Dany Laferrière puts it well, when he says that the writer is a privileged individual who has been given the right to cross the boundaries between social classes as easily as the borders between countries.

Just two weeks ago I spoke to a group of new diplomats who were being briefed on their first missions and assignments. They recognize that, for example, literature can provide a safe conversation space. A way to talk about Canadian values. An expression of who we are as a people, and what it means to be Canadian today.

Throughout these four commitments that I’ve briefly described, there is also a focus on youth and equity. Many young writers are arriving on the scene with extremely strong work. Think of recent GG-winners Raziel Reid and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.

Similarly the stories of new Canadians are increasingly part of our literary landscape. Their work is, innovative and reflects unique experiences that give us all new perspectives on the world around us. We are proud to have funded writers like Michael Ondaatje, Kim Thúy, Rawi Hage, Vincent Lam, Saleema Nawaz, Wajdi Mouawad. The list goes on...

The Council is determined to be a public arts funder that is truly focused on the future. This means it must create more opportunities for the next generation of writers and readers. They are the future of literature in our country. We need to be sure we’re opening the door wide for them.

So what I’ve just described is an overview of our commitments for the next five years. How will we get there?

For a funding agency like the Canada Council, the main lever for change is our grant programs. And this is where we will direct most of our new investments in the coming years.

By now you will have heard about our new funding model and its six programs. We’ve posted some general information on our website at CanadaCouncil.ca. And just last week we provided more details about deadlines and the transition from our current programs to the new ones.

In general, I can tell you that we are looking to support literature in a flexible way that will adapt to what authors need now and into the future. In a way that bridges traditional silos in the literary community and the way that stories are created and shared. This will come through clearly in our new programs – every one of which has been designed with writers in mind.

For example, the Explore and Create program will fund the creative process from the start of idea, through professional development and research to creation – stopping just short of production. For the first time, writers will be able to access multi-year funding and funding for career development. And it will be offered in a way that is flexible and open. Instead of prescribing what you need, we’re inviting you to be proactive, take control of your own development, and let us know what you need.

Other programs will fund the infrastructure that supports writers, from publishers and literary magazines to residencies and organizations like TWUC and many of the other associations who worked in partnership to present this event. And who work to advance the practice of writers and connect you with readers.

The Arts Across Canada program will fund travel and tours that give Canadians access to authors – even those living outside of literary hot-spots. For example the type support that helped the Northwest Territories Public Library and the Centre regional de services aux bibliothèques publiques (CRSBP) de la Gaspésie to host author tours in remote communities.

The Arts Abroad program will fund travel and tours, translation and outreach outside of Canada. It has been built based on lessons learned from a 2-year pilot project in partnership with literary festivals in key international markets. This project brought delegations of some of Canada’s best writers to Haiti, Columbia, Sweden, Australia, Slovenia, Ireland, Mexico, and China, for example.

Finally, writers from First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities can access the Creating, Knowing and Sharing program. It will take a unique self-determined approach to supporting the specific needs, ambitions and goals of these communities.

But the Council is about more than just grant programs. I want to reinforce that we offer a comprehensive suite of support to writers.

One of the most important and best-known in this suite is the Public Lending Right Program – and there’s a session about the PLR right after my presentation. Many of you this room are familiar with the PLR as you receive an annual cheque from it – a direct payment for the use of your books in public libraries across Canada.

This year the PLR celebrates its 30th anniversary. It’s a program that has been a remarkable success since its creation, and one that has also encountered growing challenges, due in part to the ever-increasing number of eligible titles and the emergence of electronic books. It is not a perfect system – but then, there is no such thing as a perfect system. But it is a mechanism that makes it possible to fund authors and literary translators directly, with no middleman, and for this reason, the Canada Council has decided to invest a substantial sum in the program, starting on April 1, 2018.

Another part of the system of support to authors is our literary prizes. Each year the Governor General’s Literary Awards present $450,000 in prize payments to the 70 winning and finalist authors. Aside from the payments, the awards generate excitement and buzz about Canadian literature that has a direct impact on book sales. I should mention that 2016 will be an important year for the GG awards as it celebrates its 80th anniversary! Watch for more information this fall. Other important, but less prominent literary prizes include the Molson Prize (valued at 50,000) and the Burt Literary Awards for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Fiction.

Through our Roadmap for Official Languages fund the Council supports writers to access new markets in French-and English-language minority communities. And in doing so, helps the citizens in those communities to break the cultural isolation by having access to the rich diversity of literary works in their language.

A large part of the Council’s transformation is to be sure we can be flexible and responsive, always making the connection between the arts and literature and the world around us. Always making the case that writers should have a voice in the major public issues of our times.

That’s why I was so proud that the arts community was also able to respond nimbly to our Syrian Initiative, Welcome to the Arts. Through this initiative, in partnership with the Department of Canadian Heritage and publishers across the country, we were able to provide each refugee family with a gift back of English- and French-language books by Canadian authors. It’s a powerful illustration of the power of the arts to heal and to build understanding in a divided world.

Our {Re}conciliation Initiative is another example of our ability to work with the arts sector – and with other partners -- to respond to an issue that is timely and pressing. This Initiative has been extended for another year, with foundation partners The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada, and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation.

One project from the first phase of this initiative involves Métis author Joseph Boyden and filmmaker Terri Calder. They are collaborating on an animated film, called For Project Charlie. It tells the story of 12-year-old Indian Residential School student Charlie Wenjack, whose death spurred the very first inquiry into the treatment of students at these schools. It will tour across the country in conjunction with Joseph Boyden’s new novel Seven Matches, and will mark the 50th anniversary of Wenjack’s death.

Finally, there’s one last initiative I want to mention. It’s a one-time, specific funding program to mark the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017.

It’s called A New Chapter, and it’s an ambitious program to support projects that are exceptional in scale. These projects don’t need to address the 150th in any way, but it calls on artists and arts organizations to dream bigger after years without new public investments. To propose projects that will have a lasting legacy. The deadlines are July 4 and October 31 of this year. I look forward to some exceptional projects coming out of this that we can enjoy as a country in the years to come.

I will stop here, because I want to leave time for questions. But I want to conclude by reiterating how important literature is to the Council – and how excited I am for the potential of our transformation and our new funding to make a real and lasting impact on Canada’s literary scene.

We are, together, writing the story of a promising future for the arts and literature in Canada. It’s a story that we know will never be dull. It’s a story that will enrich and excite, inspire and provoke. A story in which the transformative power of imagination, beauty and the universal language of art will be fully recognized, celebrated and shared.

Thank you. Merci.

Background:

$90K summit – project funding – served to make the event affordable for all writers (of all genres, at all levels) across the country, from both linguistic communities by reducing the cost of the participation fee. Core funding to many of the partner organizations.