Our culture deserves better than to be reaped

Montréal, Wednesday, October 2, 2024 - A number of organisations have joined forces to create the Front commun pour les arts (Common Front for the Arts), dedicated to the long-term survival of Quebec culture. The 17 organisations are calling on the Quebec government, through a communications campaign, to shout loud and clear that ‘Our culture deserves better than to be cut down’. They are all sounding the alarm and calling on the Legault government to act before too many cultural organisations suffer the consequences of inadequate investment in the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).

A shoestring budget

The Quebec government has been reducing the budget of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec over the past few years. In the last three budget years, the CALQ's total budget has fallen from $185 million in 2022-2023 to $172 million in 2023-2024. It will be $160 million for 2024-2025, and further cuts are expected if nothing is done.
 
In addition to CALQ's total budget, there have been a number of cuts to more specific grant programmes. In mission support, the amounts granted have increased by only 4% in 6 years, while inflation was 22% for the same period.
 
Between 2022 and 2025, the average support offered to organisations supported by specific programming will have fallen by 35%.
 
In 2024, for the multi-year grants program alone, the total amount of grant applications submitted to CALQ by cultural organizations was $151 million. Yet the CALQ had only $94 million to grant to these organizations. These applications exceeded CALQ's capacity by 61%. This is the first time that the gap between the requests made and the financial capacity to respond to them has been so wide, even though the organizations asked for the bare minimum necessary to maintain their assets. 

A commitment to cultural challenges

Constantly rising costs are making it difficult to create, produce and disseminate artistic works. In order to meet the challenges facing the arts sector, the Common Front is calling for clear action to guarantee the long-term future of the cultural sector:

• Increase CALQ's permanent funding to $200 million as of the next fiscal year;
• Consolidate CALQ's budgets by making all of its funding permanent;
• Systematically index CALQ programmes ;
• Make culture here a genuine government priority with a long-term vision for the thousands of artists and cultural workers in the sector.

Artists and arts workers need recurring commitments from the government to enable Quebec culture to remain an economic sector that benefits Quebec society as a whole.

An environment at the end of its tether, where all that's needed is to maintain what has already been achieved

Implementing these actions would enable the cultural sector to overcome the challenges it has faced in recent years, in particular the rising costs of production and dissemination, which have been amplified by inflation in supplies, services, equipment and labour. Expenditure on events, especially in the regions, continues to rise, reinforcing the need for investment in eco-responsible and inclusive practices. At the same time, digital transformation brings with it significant costs for infrastructure and technical skills.
 
In the absence of additional structuring investment, the cultural sector will be greatly weakened, which will diminish its capacity to pursue its mission and significantly reduce the services offered to the public:

• Suspension or reduction of artistic projects and audience development activities ;
• Degradation of cultural infrastructures and a decline in artistic daring, particularly affecting niche disciplines such as dance, circus and the visual arts;
• Reduced support for emerging artists ;
• Reduced accessibility and diversity of shows, especially in the regions;
• Loss of competitiveness on the international stage and reduced influence of Quebec culture abroad.

Quotes : 

"Art makes up a large part of what makes Quebec unique and influential, so we need to protect artists' ability to create and provide the financial means for organisations to disseminate these works. We cannot in all conscience claim that culture is a priority and condemn its bearers to see their ambitions wither away. On the contrary, we need to invest in it in order to preserve and promote it, both in the regions and internationally. Culture is our collective wealth, and it is unthinkable that it should wither away for lack of investment."
- Julie-Anne Richard, General Manager, RIDEAU
 
"The Quebec government has been cutting the budget of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) for far too long. Our artists are already stretched to the limit, and the government is making their situation even worse."
- Camille Cazin, General Manager, Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec (RAAV)

"We are faced with feelings of discouragement, absurdity and incomprehension, and we have witnessed the psychological distress of the members of our 17 associations representing a clientele supported in one way or another by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. We are very proud to unite to say to the government: Enough is enough!"
- Pierre-Yves Villeneuve, President, Union des écrivaines et écrivains québécois (UNEQ)
 
"We're not asking for luxuries. Investment is essential if we are not to see a major decline in Quebec's cultural scene across the country. We hope that the government will listen to us, because if devitalization continues, institutions will close, new talent will receive less support, audiences in the regions will have less access to a diverse range of cultural events, art forms will die out, our international influence will diminish, our expertise will be lost and jobs in various economic sectors will be eliminated."
– Caroline Gignac, directrice générale, Conseil québécois du théâtre (CQT) 

About the Common Front for the Arts

The Common Front for the Arts brings together 17 organisations (see below for names of members) representing various artistic and cultural sectors in the province. United by a common goal, these organisations are working to defend the vitality, diversity and future of culture in Quebec. Faced with economic pressures and social challenges, the common front is calling for government investment in the cultural sector to ensure the long-term survival of Quebec's arts and creativity.