To the Standing Committee on Finance and

Government Services:

September 16, 2010

Hello, my name is David Diamond and I am the

Artistic Director of Headlines Theatre. The best way, I
believe, to talk about arts and culture is to make it
personal.

One of the reasons I am here is because sometime in

the last 30 years, Headlines will have done a project
in every single one of your constituencies; projects on
addiction, family violence, racism, intergenerational
conflict, homelessness, gang violence, suicide
prevention and many others.

I want to acknowledge off the top that I am very happy that a portion of the money that
was cut from Arts and Culture has come back to the BC Arts Council. Let us not think,
however, this has solved the problem.

Mr. Les – you came to the opening of Meth, in Sto:Lo Territory – Meth toured into 27
communities across BC and then toured western Canada. I remember you came to me
after the show, literally vibrating and said you had never experienced anything like this
powerful theatre project on addiction;

Mr. Ralston – you might recall “Here and Now”, on gang violence. It was so deeply
embraced by the Indo-Canadian community it was created and first performed inside the
Ross Street Temple in Vancouver and then moved to the Surrey Arts Centre;

Mr. Donaldson – I carry a Gitxsan name because of the theatre work over many, many
years throughout the Hazelton area – in Kispiox and Gitanmaax in particular.

Mr. Rustad – Street Spirits in PG who do work with at-risk youth, who I am sure you must
know, were born directly from a Headlines’ workshop over 10 years ago.

I could go on through all of your constituencies. It is already well researched that art and
culture is a great financial investment for Government – but art and culture is far more
than that: Art IS the psyche of a society. I want to share some other people’s words about
this with you:
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“One of the most powerful moments in After Homelessness…1 was when a well-
dressed woman in her 50s replaced the character of a crack addict. She was able to
improvise a few lines, but then she began to weep uncontrollably. I didn't get the
impression that it was her pity that was making her cry. I identified with her privilege
and maybe I'm projecting, but what I thought made her break down was something
that I was also experiencing: getting it, for the first time, an understanding of the
indignity and inhumanity that homeless people face everyday and that we, the
audience, share our common humanity with the characters on stage.”
David Q.

“I have been working with a young First Nations boy who has been diagnosed with
FAS and has been ordered into counseling due to several charges ranging from
assault to car theft all while he was under the influence of Alcohol or Meth. He has
been a very challenging client for me to engage, until I happened to see him at your
production (on addiction).

At our next session I casually asked him what he thought of the Meth2 play he
immediately lit up and started to talk about how real it was and how much it
reflected his own situation. It was the most talking that he had done up to that point
and we have continued to return to it on many occasions. I wanted to let you know
how your play impacted both myself and my client and thank you.”
Stewart Johnston, Counsellor /Program Director, Vanderhoof Alcohol & Drug
Services (Feb, 2007)

“Meth has had a profound affect on the audience members and has resulted in a
significant increase of approximately 100 people in self referrals to our mental health
services. This is a good thing! We are moving forward with facilitated discussion
groups and would really like to use a live theatre performance as part of our follow
up. On behalf of Kitamaat Village and all those who attended. Thank you all for the
work, the performance, the energy that you bring.”
Lorna Morrison, Director of Health Kitimaat Village (Feb, 2007

“The Here and Now3 project (on gang violence) holds a great deal of value within
our local community and within our larger global community. I came with my
mother, brother and partner. Sitting within the family context was important to me as
many of the issues were mirrored in our lives. It is so easy for many of us to stand
back and say ‘call the cops’ - but it isn't as easy as that. There are so many strings

1
Headlines’ 2009 production, created and performed by people who know homelessness, won
‘Outstanding Production of the Year’ at the local professional theatre awards – the Jessies.
2
Headlines’ 2006 mainstage production, created and performed by people who were touched by
addiction, that played in Vancouver and toured BC. It then toured Western Canada in 2009 renamed
“Shattering”.
3
Headlines’ 2005 main stage production, created and performed by people who had lived issues of gang
violence.
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that are interwoven and if you tug one - it impacts all of the rest. Thank you for
allowing us, as a family, to view this.”
Bindy Kang, December 22, 2005

I could have brought you 28 pages of these testimonials, in 10 pt. print, each a window
into a world, deeply touched by art.

We have a definitions problem in the arts and culture sector. Tax dollars to other
industries are “industrial subsidies”. We get “government grants”. Industrial subsidies
sound like good business practice and grants sound like hand-outs. And yet, every dollar
invested by the Province in the arts returns up to $1.36 back to provincial treasuries.

When the current Minister responsible for Culture asks the public what they would rather
have us fund, art and culture or education and health, he misses this fact and he is not
understanding how profoundly art and culture IS education and health.

Cuts to an already tiny arts and culture budget hurt communities – this in turn hurts
education (because art and culture challenges us and nurtures critical thinking – art in
schools nurtures better students), it hurts health – in the same way that individuals need to
express themselves to be healthy, so do living communities – what does it mean for our
major cultural self-reflection to be through US-based TV and movies?

To put this in a financial context:

Total arts and cultural spending – including money to the BC Arts Council (BCAC),
Gaming, Ministry staff, Royal BC Museum, including the 7M that was just returned equals
0.1% of the total Provincial budget (According to Gov’t budget figures).4 The BCAC
portion (again, including the $7Million that was just returned) represents 0.04% of the
total BC budget.

Canada is one of the lowest funders on a per capita basis of culture in the western world,
and BC is by far the lowest funder of art and culture per capita in Canada, according to
2007/08 figures – the most recent we have.

Operating Grants 2007-08 – before the most recent cuts5

Amount Per Capita Rank

Yukon $8,915,000 $268.52 1
Nunavut $4,292,000 $135.82 2
Northwest Territories $4,209,000 $96.98 3
Prince Edward Island $6,161,000 $44.16 4
Newfoundland and Labrador $21,976,000 $43.40 5

4
i.e. $46 Million out of a $40 Billion budget.
5
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/87f0001x/2010001/part-partie4-eng.htm
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Quebec $322,965,000 $41.65 6
Saskatchewan $39,696,000 $39.16 7
Manitoba $44,504,000 $36.90 8
New Brunswick $24,174,000 $32.36 9
Nova Scotia $26,127,000 $27.90 10
Ontario $270,445,000 $20.91 11
Alberta $74,814,000 $20.81 12
British Columbia $42,406,000 $9.67 13

This should be a province-wide embarrassment.

What do the recent cuts to BCAC and Gaming mean in practical terms to companies like
Headlines Theatre? Operating funds are extremely hard to replace.

Our yearly budget averages around $300,000. 45% of that comes from various levels of
Government, 30% is other fundraising and 25% is earned income.

We will either have to do less work or we will have to charge FAR MORE for that work.
Keep in mind the communities we work with are themselves impoverished, meaning their
access to this work will be severely limited. This will happen because of a double
whammy being experienced by the arts and culture sector between already low levels of
BC Arts Council funding, and the diversion of what are really small amounts of Gaming
funds away from arts and culture. We have come to rely on Gaming funds for core
operations and are anticipating these will vanish entirely this coming year.

Gaming is also a way many cultural groups who do not get operating funds manage to
survive. They have been devastated by the changes in Gaming and, as a result of the
recent funding chaos have laid off staff, or reduced their output, like the See Seven theatre
companies. Some have closed their doors entirely, like the Helen Pitt Gallery.

The Government is now targeting Gaming money for arts and culture to only youth
projects. This is misguided. When did violence become a youth issue? When did
addiction become a youth issue? Racism? Suicide? Gangs? These are all intergenerational
issues and ghettoizing these issues into one generation is an abrogation of our
responsibilities to youth. How do we say to a 15 year old girl that she should get a handle
on her addiction when she is going home to a father or a grandmother who is living inside
their own addiction to alcohol, to violence, or to work? This reductionist, mechanistic
approach is part of the problem, not part of any solution.

Also, arts and culture is not a “tool” for tourism. It is the nurturing of a healthy arts and
culture community – a community that has the stability to take risks – that creates a local
vibrancy that tourists find attractive. This happens from the bottom up – not the top down.
It cannot be directed or manufactured by Government – only supported from a distance.

With all this in mind, what do we need from you? FIVE THINGS:
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1. We need to stop calling taxpayer dollars that go to arts and culture “grants” and
refer to them as the cost effective industrial subsidies that they are. This could begin with
this Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services.

2. We need a TRIPLING of the arts and culture budget allocation. Allocating 0.3% of
the overall budget, up from 0.1%. This would equal $19.62 per capita and STILL be the
lowest in the country, but certainly better than what we have now. This would mean an
allocation to the BCAC of 0.12% of total BC budget, up from 0.04%. Twelve one-
hundredths of one percent.

3. We need across the Board reinstatement of the Gaming funds allocation to arts and
culture, accessible with the same criteria as before the cuts and changes in focus.

4. The last year or more has been complete chaos for arts and culture here in BC. We
need stability. We need a similar model that is in place at the Canada Council and that is
three-year stable funding cycles. We need to be able to plan effectively; to get out of this
cyclical crisis management mode.

5. We need a specific direction in the budget that the BCAC’s arms length status is
sacred and will never, regardless of the political complexion of Government, be
threatened again. Government has no role to play in determining the content of cultural
expression. When this happens in other so-called “uncivilized” countries we wave our
fingers at them from here in the West. All of us, regardless of political affiliation, need to
be very concerned about the recent move in this direction here in BC.

These are not complicated or unreasonable requests. Each of them will help build a
healthy arts and culture sector, which in turn helps build a healthy Province.

Thank you

David Diamond
Artistic/Managing Director