An exemplary actress during the pandemic, the culture has reinvented itself many times, in addition to putting itself at half mast whenever necessary. She is still paying dearly for this effort undertaken on behalf of the collective. While inflationary pressure is wreaking havoc, the labor shortage is growing and government aid is coming to an end, here it is staggering, its flagship touched in the heart.
With one voice, 16 Montreal festivals say they anticipate a 2023-2024 season of all dangers. From Mutek to the Festival TransAmériques via the Festival du nouveau cinema or the biennial Momenta, these experienced leaders find themselves simultaneously backed into the same wall. Such an alignment of the planets should alarm Ottawa, Quebec and Montreal. Don’t these giants form an essential part of the DNA of the metropolis, which displays more than its share of badly healed pandemic wounds?
These festivals are aware that they have received a lot of help. But the pandemic yesterday and inflation today are ruinous. Their managements lack resources and time to reorganize. In their joint letter, they take up the proposal of the Network of Regional Councils of Culture of Quebec (RCRCQ) to extend for the next four years the investments in culture in order to support its revival in dry breakdown.
Festivals and councils are not the only ones to fear the worst. Foreshadowing the turbulent present, the Competence Culture sector committee had called last year for structural measures to stem the bleeding of its workforce. From 2019 to 2021, 19,000 people left the cultural sector. Compensating with volunteers has limits, which have been reached by quite a few players. Going further could even be dangerous. The failures of Montreal Pride provided a clear example of this last summer.
In a report published last May, economists from AppEco concluded that if the impossibility of offering stable and decently paid jobs were to continue, the cultural sector might not regain its relative importance within the Quebec economy. It would be catastrophic. The workforce in the cultural sector, 180,000 artists and workers strong in Quebec, contributes close to 3% of the GDP and generates more than $11 billion in direct economic spinoffs.
Government aid still appears to be an essential breather at this point. The CAQ government is also active on the status of the artist front, and that’s good. But for the environment to regain its full breath, it will have to diversify its income and adapt its offers. The post-pandemic world has changed a lot; the one before will not come back. Culture must continue to evolve. It is also ripe, 10 years after the Bourgie report, to renew its complicated relationship with philanthropy.
Montreal festivals are calling for a summit to unite all concerned. The idea is excellent, but the whole cultural community would be ripe for such an exercise for the benefit of all Quebecers.
Beyond the economic factors that militate in this direction, we should not neglect the intangible contribution of creation: scientific research grants culture gains in health and quality of life, as well as positive effects on the social cohesion. In a polarized world like ours, that would not be a luxury.