Artist centers want to get out of the margins, and get out of the cultural margins. Through the voice of the Regroupement des centers d’artistes autogérés du Québec (RCAAQ), their workers are crying out for hunger in the face of the “blatant lack of visibility and financial support”. Gaps that are clearly quantified by a study by the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS). Among other things, it reveals an average salary of less than $24 per hour for its workers. And for its directors, often multitasking octopuses? The salary is more or less $25 an hour.
“Aggravated by the pandemic, the precariousness of working and salary conditions in our organizations remains one of the most marked among the cultural sectors,” proclaims the RCAAQ.
The momentum that pushed the development of artist-run centers between 1976 and 1997 has broken. To the point that artist centers have the impression of having fallen into “the blind spot of financing culture”, as the general director of the group, Catherine Bodmer, calls it.
For what ? The community has thought about it, without having any answers, but still has some hypotheses. “In visual arts, the creation-production-broadcast chain is a short chain, especially if we compare with the performing arts, where there are actors, directors, collaborators, presenters, a whole much longer chain where the money is invested. »
“From the outside, if you don’t know the visual arts ecosystem, you can have the impression that money doesn’t circulate much, that it’s a less furnished sector. » And artists in the field tend to be more individualistic, explains the director, they don’t really like to speak up or make demands.
“It is now imperative to raise the minimum salary floor for workers in artist centers and to recognize the fair value of a highly qualified and often highly educated workforce”, made up of 73% women, demands the RCAAQ via press release.
A young center is a poor center
The INRS study, Financing and human resources in RCAAQ member artist centers, completed last summer, draws up a socio-economic portrait of these centers which most often combine the production of works and their distribution , based on data from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) and the RCAAQ from 2019 to 2021.
The majority of artist centers focus on visual arts (three out of four), ahead of digital arts (12.5%), multidisciplinary arts (7.8%) and video cinema (4.7%). In addition, 52% of them are in Montreal, but they are found almost everywhere in Quebec.
“Financially, their average overall income for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 financial years, located at just over $14 million, is comparable to that of the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art during the same period. period,” we read. A significant force, comments the study.
One of the current problems is the difference between artist centers which benefit from mission subsidies and those which do not. Almost all of the centers that are funded for operations — there are 45 of them — were founded before 2007.
In contrast, almost all of the centers which do not have this type of subsidy – which provides financial support and allows a certain sustainability – were created after 1996, i.e. 88% of members. Overall, according to the analysis, the number of new members subsidized to the mission by the CALQ was reduced considerably after 1996. Three-quarters of the member centers created since then, or 15 out of 20, do not benefit from it.
“In fact, no new members benefit from this type of subsidy after 2008. Can we speak of a moratorium? » ask researchers Guy Bellavance, Nathalie Vachon and Maude Raymond.
Areas for improvement
Funding for artist centers comes half from the provincial (CALQ) and a little less than a quarter from the federal (Canada Council for the Arts). Municipalities pay around 10% and play a less important role than own-source revenues, at 15%, the study continues.
In conclusion, the researchers propose five potential solutions to consider. First, the diversification of funding sources. Although they are already quite varied, certain programs are under-exploited, such as Mécénat Placement Culture or the continuing education programs of Compétence Culture.
Municipal aid and philanthropy could also be used more.
Then, the pooling of resources is another suggestion, as is the review of the mission of artist centers, the management of human resources, and a reflection on the expectations of artist centers and their expectations of donors.
“If we had $16 million more, that would allow us to catch up financially. For us, it’s the minimum viable,” explains Catherine Bodmer. A necessary minimum also to meet the new pricing scales for artists which should soon also be required from artist centers, under Law 35 on the status of the artist.
“But like the entire visual arts sector,” continues Mme Bodmer, it is estimated that the budget allocated to the discipline should in fact be doubled. »