The main unions in the cultural sector are standing together and asking the Legault government to review the way in which public funds are distributed in the industry. In a letter sent to the Prime Minister and his Minister of Culture, union leaders are indignant that the current system only benefits a few large producers in Quebec, while artists are becoming poorer, according to them.
“We see gray areas in the distribution of public money allocated to the cultural industry, and this worries us. Financing culture seems to be a lucrative windfall for some, to the detriment of artists and artisans,” we can read in the missive from which The duty got a copy.
Among the signatories are the president of the Union of Artists (UDA), Tania Kontoyanni, and Christian Lemay, the president of AQTIS 514 IATSE, the union of technicians in the audiovisual sector. They are also joined by their counterparts from the Musicians Guild, the Directors Guild of Canada, the Association of Directors of Quebec and SARTEC, which represents screenwriters.
Everyone recognizes that the CAQ government has considerably increased spending on culture in recent years, which was required, according to them, by the arrival of large foreign platforms, which have completely disrupted the economic model of the cultural industry in Quebec.
But these different actors in the cultural sector say they see that creators do not see the color of this money. They deplore that only a handful of producers are currently getting rich, to the detriment not only of artists, but also of smaller producers, “who could carry out innovative projects, but who struggle to obtain financing”.
“How can production companies that live solely on public money become so lucrative that publicly traded consortia buy them? » we ask, without naming a particular company.
However, we know that the main private broadcasters hold shares in certain television production companies. Global entertainment giant Live Nation is also involved in the production of shows in Quebec since its association in 2019 with Groupe CH (evenko and Spectra).
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Covertly, the signatories of the letter also protest against the fact that representatives of production companies and record labels sit on the board of directors of SODEC, the main state corporation which subsidizes cultural enterprises. “How can production companies, which receive subsidies, sit on the boards of directors of companies which themselves grant these subsidies, while the artists are absent? » they ask themselves.
The presidents of the six unions also maintain that subsidized production companies still do not respect the collective agreements to which they are nevertheless subject.
They are asking the Legault government to launch a process bringing together all stakeholders in the sector to establish a new framework governing the distribution of public funds in the industry. “For the last fifty years, no major collective reflection has been carried out on these important questions. We believe that it is high time to act in order to redefine the best way to shine and protect local culture, its artists and artisans,” we mention in the letter.