Political Arts: culture sector reaps some reward in federal budget

With only a scant mention of arts and culture in the budget speech, Canada’s minority Conservative government nonetheless committed money to the sector during the January 27th brief on the federal budget.

Lumped into the speech with parks, heritage sites, tourism and sports, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty added to his lengthy list of budget promises — the bulk of which focused on tax cuts and stimulus spending — government “support for the promotion of Canadian heritage and culture.”

Based on Government summaries, this support reads to the tune of $335 million, however, it must be noted that not all of the money is new spending, but rather continued commitments to existing programs and initiatives.

For instance, the budget sets aside $30 million over the next two years for community newspapers and magazines. While alluding that this is a new investment, the money in fact steps in for funds about to be lost from other sources such as the expiring Postal Subsidy.

Other about-to-expire programs with pre-existing funds included in the budget are the Canada New Media Fund, with it’s renewed funding of $28.6 million over the next two years as well as the $100 million per year for the next two years for the maintenance of the Canadian Television Fund (at its 1996 levels).

One program that will see a bona fide increase is the National Arts Training Contribution Program. In addition to having existing funding renewed, the program will net an increase of $7 million for its budget.

There was also an increase included for the infrastructure support program for community cultural and heritage institutions: the Cultural Spaces Canada Program. It will receive an additional $30 million per year for the next two years, while the 2006 initiative launched by the Conservative government for festivals and events will have $50 million for each of the next two years added to its budget.

The only indisputably new allocation in the 2009 budget is for the "Canada Prizes for the Arts and Creativity":http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2009/01/28/canada-prize.html. Spurred with a $25 million endowment, the new initiative will distribute cash awards to artists, though it is yet unknown exactly how or who will administer the prizes.

There were no new funds for those "programs":http://plankmagazine.com/columns/tories-cuts-arts-funding-shocker previously subjected to the Conservative’s high-profile cultural cutting block, specifically those related to supporting Canadian culture abroad and the Museums Assistance Program.

Further spending details will emerge as budget documents are released, but from an initial glance, the arts and culture sector can breathe a sigh of relief. Though not a lot of truly new spending neither are there any fresh cuts. Most importantly, it looks like the Conservative government has put culture on the table for 2009.

Arts and culture sector reaps some reward in federal budget