Arts cuts confront PM's wife in Cow Head by James Bradshaw and Oliver Moore
Source : Globe & Mail
August 25, 2008
TORONTO and HALIFAX — A serendipitous encounter with Laureen Harper in Cow Head, Nfld., this month gave one tiny theatre company the chance to lobby against Ottawa's recent cuts to arts funding.
The opportunity to tout the benefits of the soon-to-vanish PromArt grant program for travelling artists was not lost on Theatre Newfoundland Labrador when it learned Aug. 13 that it had a Sussex Drive guest in the audience.
The troupe was staging Tempting Providence - a play about renowned Newfoundlander nurse Myra Bennett, which has toured internationally for years.
Only after the performance at the Gros Morne Theatre Festival did house manager Ruth Payne tell the actors that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's wife had been in the audience and wanted to meet them.
As an avid theatregoer, Mrs. Harper was thoroughly impressed with the play and said she could well imagine why it had toured so successfully.
Mrs. Harper and a female friend were in the lobby of the national park's theatre, there was no security around and one actor knew she had to seize the opportunity to mention the recent cuts to arts funding.
"I just felt it was my responsibility," said Deidre Gillard-Rowlings, who has performed the lead in the play for five years, including on trips to Scotland and Tasmania that couldn't have happened without a pair of PromArt grants in 2004 and 2005.
"I just sort of touched her on the arm and said, 'Your lovely husband has cut all this money.' She said, 'Yes, I have very little to do with that.' And I said, 'Yes, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't say anything.' "
The actor said that Mrs. Harper was very gracious about the exchange.
"She wasn't taken aback by it, she wasn't offended because it wasn't done in an offensive way," Ms. Gillard- Rowlings said by telephone from Cow Head. "Whether or not she can actually do anything, I don't know."
Theatre Newfoundland general manager Gaylene Buckle said the positive effects of the grants were exponential.
"[The grants] allowed us to leverage other money and of course every time we tour, for every dollar that comes from a government program, there are a lot more dollars that come from presenter's fees or box office or other sorts of revenue," she said.
While the Newfoundland encounter with Mrs. Harper may have little effect, Canadian Heritage Minister Josée Verner said she hopes to craft streamlined replacements for PromArt and also for Trade Routes, a Canadian Heritage program that helps artists export their works and which also faces an imminent demise.
Ms. Verner is discussing her options with Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson, whose ministry runs Prom- Art.
"We will look at all options for alternatives. We know that this is really important, to make sure that our culture will be seen at the international level. It's not only good for our country ... it's part of our identity. And on the other side we know that has a wonderful impact on our economy," she said.
Ms. Verner is striving to have replacements in place by March 31, 2009, the day PromArt and most contributions to Trade Routes expire, and insisted that PromArt and Trade Routes need to be more "efficient" and "adept" at adapting to a globalizing marketplace.
But she dug in her heels on nearly a dozen other arts and culture cuts soon to take hold.
The minister then brushed aside concerns that the cuts' widespread unpopularity, coupled with claims by Liberal heritage critic Denis Coderre that he would restore all endangered programs, might become troublesome in the event of an increasingly plausible fall election.
"What I will always remind [Mr. Coderre] is that when he was around the table in cabinet, he [helped draft] the famous sponsorship program, so I'm not sure that I have to listen to any kind of best way to do things about culture from the Liberals," she said.
Still, pressure on the Tories is mounting.
The mayors of Montreal and Toronto have joined Quebec and Ontario's culture ministers and a wide array of arts organizations in lobbing criticism at the Tories and highlighting past success stories from the programs.
Ms. Verner countered that a measure of success doesn't preclude a need to improve.
"We have to work in a way to get more results. I'm not saying that we haven't had some good results from [these programs], but [we have] to do more, to have more."
© Globe and Mail
The opportunity to tout the benefits of the soon-to-vanish PromArt grant program for travelling artists was not lost on Theatre Newfoundland Labrador when it learned Aug. 13 that it had a Sussex Drive guest in the audience.
The troupe was staging Tempting Providence - a play about renowned Newfoundlander nurse Myra Bennett, which has toured internationally for years.
Only after the performance at the Gros Morne Theatre Festival did house manager Ruth Payne tell the actors that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's wife had been in the audience and wanted to meet them.
As an avid theatregoer, Mrs. Harper was thoroughly impressed with the play and said she could well imagine why it had toured so successfully.
Mrs. Harper and a female friend were in the lobby of the national park's theatre, there was no security around and one actor knew she had to seize the opportunity to mention the recent cuts to arts funding.
"I just felt it was my responsibility," said Deidre Gillard-Rowlings, who has performed the lead in the play for five years, including on trips to Scotland and Tasmania that couldn't have happened without a pair of PromArt grants in 2004 and 2005.
"I just sort of touched her on the arm and said, 'Your lovely husband has cut all this money.' She said, 'Yes, I have very little to do with that.' And I said, 'Yes, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't say anything.' "
The actor said that Mrs. Harper was very gracious about the exchange.
"She wasn't taken aback by it, she wasn't offended because it wasn't done in an offensive way," Ms. Gillard- Rowlings said by telephone from Cow Head. "Whether or not she can actually do anything, I don't know."
Theatre Newfoundland general manager Gaylene Buckle said the positive effects of the grants were exponential.
"[The grants] allowed us to leverage other money and of course every time we tour, for every dollar that comes from a government program, there are a lot more dollars that come from presenter's fees or box office or other sorts of revenue," she said.
While the Newfoundland encounter with Mrs. Harper may have little effect, Canadian Heritage Minister Josée Verner said she hopes to craft streamlined replacements for PromArt and also for Trade Routes, a Canadian Heritage program that helps artists export their works and which also faces an imminent demise.
Ms. Verner is discussing her options with Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson, whose ministry runs Prom- Art.
"We will look at all options for alternatives. We know that this is really important, to make sure that our culture will be seen at the international level. It's not only good for our country ... it's part of our identity. And on the other side we know that has a wonderful impact on our economy," she said.
Ms. Verner is striving to have replacements in place by March 31, 2009, the day PromArt and most contributions to Trade Routes expire, and insisted that PromArt and Trade Routes need to be more "efficient" and "adept" at adapting to a globalizing marketplace.
But she dug in her heels on nearly a dozen other arts and culture cuts soon to take hold.
The minister then brushed aside concerns that the cuts' widespread unpopularity, coupled with claims by Liberal heritage critic Denis Coderre that he would restore all endangered programs, might become troublesome in the event of an increasingly plausible fall election.
"What I will always remind [Mr. Coderre] is that when he was around the table in cabinet, he [helped draft] the famous sponsorship program, so I'm not sure that I have to listen to any kind of best way to do things about culture from the Liberals," she said.
Still, pressure on the Tories is mounting.
The mayors of Montreal and Toronto have joined Quebec and Ontario's culture ministers and a wide array of arts organizations in lobbing criticism at the Tories and highlighting past success stories from the programs.
Ms. Verner countered that a measure of success doesn't preclude a need to improve.
"We have to work in a way to get more results. I'm not saying that we haven't had some good results from [these programs], but [we have] to do more, to have more."
© Globe and Mail
