You may have seen the image of a Quat’Sous at half-mast, tagged and boarded up, on the verge of being converted into soulless condos. The fake news imagined by artists Francis-William Rhéaume and Sharon Ibgui seeks to open our eyes to the “dangers of creating without a soul” and of “living without a heart”. If this image is striking, it is because it opens the door to a dystopian future that is easy to imagine while the performing arts community demonstrates for its survival in real post-pandemic life.
2024 is not a year like any other for the performing arts, which are still finding their audiences. Cultural organizations hope to return to a certain normalcy when funds dedicated to Mission Support will be granted this summer. The last time this four-year funding was granted was in 2017. There will be miracles to be done to find a balance between the appetites of large institutions and the next generation who are jostling at the gate.
Welded in a common front whose vigor says a lot about their state of mind, artists and artisans use a vocabulary of survival which shakes with, as figurehead, a culture dressed all in black, like the heroine of Truffaut. They say they have only calculated the essentials to overcome the inflationary turmoil and regain a foothold in a dematerialized world, which makes them invisible. With the exception of a few white elephants, they speak the truth; anyone who creates in Quebec knows the secret of multiplying loaves. And its limits.
This is the moment that Ottawa and Quebec have chosen to signal the return of the lean days. The Canada Council for the Arts slipped under the radar of the Freeland budget. He did not inherit any new money to offer to artists, who have never been so numerous to knock on his door. Of the 6,750 applications for its Explore and Create program, only 16.6% were accepted. Never seen.
In Quebec, the discomfiture is equally great. During the study of credits on Tuesday, the Minister of Culture strived to defend rigorous and inventive management of the meager resources he inherited. His good faith will not be enough to change water into wine. The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec will have to deal with a budget of 160.5 million. This is less than during the last financial year (161.2 million).
With inflation weighing heavily, the cultural community hoped for 100 million more. Promising projects will die in the bud. Young shoots will wither before they have tasted the heat of the sun. Because it must be said again, the ax falls later and later in the so-called “normal” cycle of creation. In light of these significantly out of sync figures, it seems imperative to readjust it.
Of course, it is important to diversify and vitalize the income of cultural organizations. Yes, we need more philanthropy and more flexible partnerships with the private sector. Yes, we need more natural connections with other environments, first and foremost with the school and community environments. Yes, we need stronger networks, optimized resource sharing, common supporting strategies. And yes, we need more varied and more invested audiences.
All of this is vital: creators, producers and broadcasters have a duty to seriously address these pressing tasks. The fact remains that no national culture could survive in an environment as small as ours without predictable and coherent state support. While the environment is crying out for its fragility, backing down or even stalling on public funding is a sign of blindness which, if it persists, could turn into non-assistance to a treasure in danger.
Much is being made these days about the future of French. We must rejoice at this increased interest in our common language. As attachment to a language cannot occur without culture, it is, to say the least, paradoxical that we have so much difficulty understanding to what extent these two battles are closely knit.
There are pilgrim’s sticks to grab. We cannot tear ourselves up about our language under close surveillance without worrying at the same time about seeing its cultural flame flickering in our imaginations. With what the federal government does – and above all does not do – to protect French and the vitality of Quebec creation, the repatriation of full powers in matters of culture seems an obligatory step for an under-subsidized and underestimated cultural environment like ours.
It is also fascinating to note how the fate of culture sounds like a pure abstraction in public debate, even among the most seasoned observers. This same culture, however, is based on concrete and loved faces, voices, places and words. “Without artists, no identity, without identity, no nation,” recalls Christian Lapointe.
The author, director, actor and teacher is right. Our culture speaks about us like no other. What will we dream of — and in what language — if we allow this window into our soul to darken to the point of withering away?