Arts platforms: Two down, many more to go …

The dog days of summer may be upon us, but at least two mayoral candidates have taken time out from the BBQ circuit to reveal their arts platforms.

 

Joe Pantalone was the first to publicize his plans for the arts – the Cultural Capital Plan.  His three point plan covers:

 

- Phasing in over five years an increased investment in arts and culture to $25 per Torontonian

- Developing a Cultural Access Pass Program for new Canadian residents in Toronto

- Marketing Toronto as a screen industry leader throughout the world, and developing local screen industry jobs

 

Pantalone also endorses the Toronto Arts Council’s “Creative City: Block by Block” plan and Neighbourhood Arts Network initiatives.

 

I hope someone will point out to “Mayor Joe” that the Institute for Canadian Citizenship has been running a very successful Cultural Access Pass program in Toronto (and, in fact, elsewhere across Canada) since 2008.

 

Over in Rocco Rossi’s world, his Creative City Plan vows “major new role for the arts” by including an immediate 39-per-cent increase in per capita funding (also to $25 per Torontonian), the appointment of an Arts and Culture Commissioner and a commitment to match what other major North American cities invest in the arts.

 

For those who are interested in learning more about candidates’ arts platforms, Business for the Arts in association with ArtsVote, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Toronto Arts Council will host The Mayoral Arts Debate on Wednesday, Sept.29 (7 p.m. at the AGO, Walker Court). 

 

Let’s hope the other candidates will put pen to paper to craft their platforms well before then …

About Gillian Hewitt Smith

Arts setting the agenda

For the past 17 years, ArtsVote has been working to mobilize the arts and culture community to make the most of their democratic power by voting for candidates who support the cultural sector in the City of Toronto.

The ArtsVote committee is comprised of artists and cultural workers in Toronto, each representing a different discipline. Their work has provided a sector-wide voice on key arts and culture issues; and their approach has been to educate candidates about the arts in their particular ward, and the challenges of the sector as a whole.

To foster the discussion, ArtsVote today outlined three priorities they believe will contribute to a better Toronto.

1. Toronto leads Canada in arts and cultural activity. It should lead the country in per-capita cultural investment, starting with an immediate increase in investment to $25 per citizen. Toronto currently invests $18 per Torontonian in arts and culture, outperformed by Vancouver and Montreal.

2. Toronto needs to position itself as a truly creative city and global cultural capital. Toronto needs to commit to a new generation of the Culture Plan, with clear targets for the next decade and new investments to reach these targets.

3. The arts are a catalyst in economic development, tourism and civic participation and should be at the centre of all of the city’s strategies and planning. Toronto must include culture in infrastructure planning, and take a leadership role to leverage private and government support.

In addition to releasing the priorities, ArtsVote continues to work on its Report Card that will grade candidates and challengers on their support for the arts.

According to ArtsVote organizers, this has been a particularly interesting campaign thus far. With all new mayoral candidates, and with many incumbent councillors choosing not to run, the field is wide open. Already, several candidates (new and old) appear ready and willing to learn about arts and culture in their ward.

It will be interesting to watch candidates respond to this articulate, artful call-to-action.

About Gillian Hewitt Smith

Toronto needs a volunteer strategy

It’s National Volunteer Week in Canada, an opportune time to ask ourselves where volunteering fits into our lives, and into the life of our city.

According to a 2007 report prepared by Statistics Canada, 12.5 million Canadian volunteers give more than two million hours of their time per year.

Despite this impressive statistic, the rate of volunteering is declining in Ontario (from 50 per cent in 2004 to 47 per cent in 2007). There are fewer willing to give of their time, energy, ideas, influence and/or money to good causes. This is concerning, given that volunteers are the lifeblood of many charitable organizations and deliver many vital social services.

Although it is recognized by the City that volunteers play an instrumental role within various Toronto communities, there isn’t a city-wide volunteer strategy in place to promote volunteerism, connect potential volunteers to suitable opportunities, nor celebrate and recognize their contributions (Toronto’s last set of Community Service Volunteer Awards were handed out in 2006).

Vancouver has extensive online resources for its citizens to learn how and where to volunteer, and Montrealers are offered a comprehensive guide to volunteer opportunities, as well as volunteer bureaus to consult throughout that city.

Why volunteer? Apart from the feel-good aspect of contributing to the community, there are real skills to be learned and networks to be built.

And there is interest in engaging. For example, in a recent survey, Business for the Arts found that young professionals expressed interest in learning about, and spending time, volunteering in the arts and culture sector. What’s missing is a guide to what volunteer opportunities are available.

For someone early in their career, volunteer opportunities offer the opportunity for skill development and learning. Often skills learned while volunteering can be applied to professional endeavours (I’ve found that to be particularly true).

For newcomers to Toronto, volunteer opportunities potentially offer social connection and the ability to build networks, thereby supporting professional aspirations, or fulfilling other needs of the volunteer.

In short, volunteering can offer citizens invaluable building blocks for future success. And our city is built for the better in the process. Toronto needs a volunteer strategy to harness our diverse talent and put it to (pro bono) work.

About Gillian Hewitt Smith

Can city candidates campaign on an empty stomach?

Last week, the second part of an innovative campaign to draw attention to poverty and hunger concluded. Do the Math, an advocacy initiative of The Stop Community Food Centre (full disclosure: I’m on the board) asked 10 prominent Torontonians to live off a food bank hamper for one week.

Others have commented in the Star on the campaign and reported on the experiences of those who participated. Not surprisingly, it was an eye-opening and (literally) gut-wrenching experience for those involved.

Stemming from this campaign, I believe all city candidates should Do the Math. Although the campaign’s message is targeted primarily at provincial policymakers and officials – to draw attention to inadequate social assistance rates – there is much to be learned by city candidates by living the Do the Math experience. These are the representatives who are closest to us, their constituents. With that in mind, it’s essential for civic politicians to know fully the circumstances of how many Torontonians actually eat ... or don’t.

It would be fascinating to learn how city council candidates manage their punishing campaign schedule with so little fuel. My hope is the experience would be enlightening, making all candidates more informed advocates for Torontonians struggling to get by, and even more caring and understanding citizens in the process.

For anyone interested in Do the Math, please check out the campaign at http://www.dothemath.thestop.org/. This is an interactive website where visitors are asked to add up the monthly expenses they think necessary for a single person on social assistance. This budgetary exercise illustrates that, after housing, clothing and transportation, most people have no money left over for food and must rely on food banks and drop-in meals to survive.

About Gillian Hewitt Smith

Toronto + Arts & Culture = Dollars & Cents

Gillian Hewitt Smith.

In this newly-dawned era of fiscal rectitude, I imagine we’ll be listening to Toronto electoral candidates’ vows to do "more with less" and calls for absurdly austere spending plans.

I shudder in anticipation. While I fully understand that Toronto staggers under the burden of too many obligations and too few ways to pay for them, I also brace myself for the inevitable rounds of proposed cuts to items deemed non-essential expenditures. I fear the arts and culture sector will fall victim to this nonsensical categorization.

Non-essential … what a confounding term … especially applied to arts and culture endeavours so vital to human health and happiness and integral to knitting together people of diverse backgrounds.

We must continue to invest in the arts.

It is my wish, throughout the course of the municipal election campaign and beyond, for the arts and culture sector to be heralded for what it is: a powerful economic engine that is a driver of the local economy. Moreover, I’d like to hear commitments to increase support of the arts and culture community, lifting it from its current flat-lined budgetary status.

Consider that in 2007, according to the Conference Board of Canada, the economic footprint of the Canadian arts and culture sector was approximately $84.6 billion. It’s easy to estimate that Toronto contributes a generous slice of that pie, especially given that Toronto has the largest percentage of its workforce – 6.1 per cent – employed in the culture sector.

Moreover, arts advocates point out that for every additional $1 invested in the city’s arts organizations roughly $15 is injected into the economy from private sector sponsorships, donations, ticket sales and grants from other levels of government.

The arts are a net contributor to Toronto’s economy.

Today, the City of Toronto spends $16 for each tax paying resident on arts, culture and heritage. This is well below Vancouver and Montreal, and pales in comparison to Chicago, San Francisco and New York City. In fact, in 2003 City Council agreed with local arts advocates: its Culture Plan proposed a total of $25 per Torontonian be invested in the sector.

Investment in the arts and culture sector pays economic dividends that would impress the toughest financial planner, and we haven’t even factored in the social gains achieved!

So, Toronto, let’s invest in the arts to build a beautiful, interesting and thriving economy.

About Gillian Hewitt Smith