After the resounding success of last year’s event, ARCA is again taking part in the Canadian Arts Coalition’s Arts Day on Parliament Hill this October 23 with a group of over 120 arts leaders from across Canada.
This advocacy group constituted from a range of arts disciplines will be broken up into smaller, mixed groups to meet with Senators, MPs and senior officials over an amazing one hundred and eight meetings of 30 minutes each, scheduled to run throughout the day on October 23. Arts Day will conclude with a reception for MPs, Senators and the arts community. The aim of this event is to talk about the role of arts organizations of all scales, located in communities all over Canada, and to discuss the important role that federal policies and programs play in their success.
The Canadian Arts Coalition has worked hard in preparing participants to meet and engage with parliementarians as an opportunity to deliver key messages in a cohesive, effective way. ARCA encourages all artist-run centres interested in developping a closer relationship with local politicians at all levels of government to appropriate this advocacy material which includes a handy one pager on the contribution of the arts to the canadian economy and reputation on the world stage to be left behind for decision-makers to reflect on. This material can be found on the Coalition’s Action Centre, on their website.
The Canadian Arts Coalition has also put forward a pre-budget submission to the House of Commons Finance Committee requesting that the government:
- Renew investments in such funds as the Canada Arts Presentation Fund
- Maintain funding levels to the arts through the Canada Council for the Arts at $181 million in fiscal year 2013-2014
- Consider raising this investment to $300 million per year.
Last year, ARCA’s representatives met with 31 key persons who, in their respective positions, are influential and instrumental in implementing meaningful changes for the arts in Canada. This year, ARCA’s delegation will include Brenda Cleniuk (PARCA & Neutral Ground, Regina), Todd Janes (AAARC & Latitude 53, Edmonton), Lise Leblanc (Director, AGAVF) and Anne Bertrand (Director, ARCA)
Follow the Day on ARCA’s Twitter at #artsday.
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