July 31, 2007 RE: Alberta’s New Cultural Policy

Dear Minister Goudreau,

During your early July meeting with stakeholders in Calgary’s arts community, you encouraged the attendees to provide your office with feedback on the development of Alberta’s new cultural policy. As the head of a municipal agency that was created in 2005 to carry out Calgary’s civic arts policy (and the main author of that policy) I am pleased to be able to contribute to a similar process at the provincial level.

First, I want to formally thank you and the staff in your department, on behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of Calgary Arts Development, for taking the initiative to develop a provincial cultural policy. Calgary’s experience with its new civic arts policy has been nothing but positive. In arts and culture, a strong policy is particularly important because these are both areas in which government investment and activity sometimes takes several years to make a difference. For any government in Canada, this means it is often difficult to prioritize arts and cultural spending when faced with real and urgent pressures in other areas. It is our hope that a new provincial cultural policy will enable the Province to maintain a steadfast and increasing commitment to this sector over the coming years. It is truly important that you do, and we are pleased to see you take this step.

I would like to preface my own remarks with a reference to the attached set of documents that was produced during a discussion session on July 25 in Calgary. We decided to hold a community discussion to ensure that when writing this letter, we were more aware of the current concerns of the people we serve. Nearly 50 members of the Calgary community, most working in the arts or serving on the boards of arts organizations, responded to an open invitation from Calgary Arts Development and the Calgary Professional Arts Alliance to meet to provide their thoughts on the proposed provincial policy. We continue to be impressed with the energy and passion of Calgary’s arts community.

The creation of a new cultural policy is an invitation to use one’s imagination. It is a time for thinking about the future, and an opportunity to make clear that Alberta is a place where who you are doesn't matter; where everyone is welcome and, in fact, expected to contribute to the vitality—economic, social, environmental and cultural—of this great province. Alberta’s culture can become a rallying point for all Albertans, a source of inspiration for our daily lives as a local touchstone of uniqueness in an increasingly homogenized world. Our objective in creating this policy should be no less than to enable every Albertan to live up to their own potential to make a positive difference to the world around them. A great policy will help us understand the culture we have established to date, and will enhance the formation of new aspects of culture, reinforcing those that promote the best of the human story.

Given the tremendous potential of a cultural policy to make a real difference to what it means to be an Albertan in the future, there is much to say on the topic. Indeed, your consultation document covers much ground, and I am sure that Albertans have provided you with a great response to each of the areas.

In this letter, therefore, I would like to provide thoughts on some general themes that I hope will be of assistance even though they may not fit the categories of the consultation document:

• Definition of culture: a cultural policy should be an enabling framework, and as such a broad definition of culture is welcome. However, the policy should be quickly followed up with an implementation plan that gets down to specifics, including a legislative agenda and the generous provision of resources for implementation. To our knowledge, the Province has not yet made its implementation plans known, so we are unable to comment on this important aspect of the cultural policy development.
• The role of individuals and artists: the policy is currently missing any reference to the important role of individuals as creators, carriers and amplifiers of culture. In this regard, artists, particularly professional artists, are fundamentally important to the future of culture in Alberta. Therefore, we strongly suggest that the policy take a position that recognizes the status of the artist, with the objective of making Alberta a welcoming environment in which the work of artists is valued and celebrated.
• The promotion of connections: Barcelona, Spain’s cultural policy calls culture “the motor of the knowledge city.” To get this motor running, they identify four important connections: across artistic disciplines, across sectors (arts/health/business/education/sports/etc), across geographies, and throughout the value chain (from creation through to promotion and diffusion). The policy does make some reference to provincial/municipal connections, but really does not go far enough to realize the tremendous potential there is to encourage and facilitate connections. At Calgary Arts Development, we have realized (in a short period of time) major benefits from explicitly setting out to work with Tourism Calgary and Calgary Economic Development. We are breaking down silos, and the provincial cultural policy has the opportunity to do the same, particularly with respect to integrating and further developing a framework in which the provincial government and its agencies facilitate and enhance work at the municipal level. Calgary Arts Development stands ready and eager to provide a studied Calgary view and on-the-ground action to realize the objectives of this policy in our city.
• Challenges of implementation: As the consultation document points out, implementation of the policy will have its share of challenges. To draw from our experience in Calgary, the provision of sufficient resources is crucial to achieving the desired policy objectives, especially if there is to be increased collaboration. A second critical success factor is the true empowerment of arm’s length agencies. When tightly linked to the government, an agency has challenges advocating for its first-hand knowledge of the environment they operate within. Especially in the arts, which challenges the status quo, there is a need for the space that an arms length agency can provide. Finally, the implementation plan should explicitly include the ability to facilitate the real and different aspirations of major urban centres and smaller communities and rural areas. Different programs and modes of working will be required.

In conclusion, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for providing this venue for public dialogue about the future of culture in Alberta. Calgary Arts Development is ready, willing and able to serve as a partner in any further work you may conduct on this policy. We would very much like to share with you our plans and aspirations as Canada’s first municipal arts development authority.

I am enclosing two documents: the verbatim output from our community dialogue session, and a report created as the result of 11 community engagement sessions held in 2006 and 2007 as we developed our long term strategy for arts spaces in Calgary. I hope that you will find this letter and these documents helpful as you finalize your work.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Rock, PhD President & CEO