The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

commentary Is Everything Truly Equal? by Mary Ann Anderson What do we mean when we speak of cultural diversity and racial equality in the arts'.' How do we. as an arts community, ensure a truly equitable exchange and partnership between other cultural communities? What do we really mean when we talk about "an" and the "arts community." and do our definitions need some serious re-évaluai ion? These were jusi some of the questions that were tackled by a group of arts professionals who came to meet with Ms. Koko Amartetfio. the Canada Council's new Racial Equality Coordinator, in early August. Although the turnout to the Vancouver Cultural Alliance-sponsored ' event was unfortunately modest, the size of the group did allow for a more intimate and frank discussion of the Council's current strategies for dealing with the question of racial equality in their practices and The Canada Council's relatively recent interest in ensuring access to its programs by all racial communities is seen by some as a truly visionary step toward providing official recognition of a rapidly changing arts sector--one that is no longer neatly defined by the traditional categories we have used to describe "art" in our society. And in many ways, our current so-called "mainstream" art forms have been largely created by the Canada Council and other major funding bodies--after all. artists have for many years "played the game" necessary to qualify themselves for financial support under one or another of the Council's programs. A n d for some of them, this may have meant defining their work in such a way as to be acceptable to the funding powers that be. For artists and arts groups of other racial communities, the Council's already challenging bureaucracy has proved to be almost impenetrable. Faced with unfamiliar application procedures, and rigid and complex funding criteria, many of these groups have gone unrecognized in official circles, and as such, have not been seen as part of the "mainstream" of Canadian cultural production. Witness the native theatre group, wishing to produce a performance piece in the forest, to be performed by professionally trained apprenticeship actors, who cannot get funding because the actors are not deemed professional by the Council's definition (that is. trained in a post-secondary institution) and because they are not performing in a Council-sanctioned facility: or the Asian classical music group which cannot get funding because the Council's definition of classical music only includes Western classical music. For groups such as these producing valid and professional artwork, this lack of recognition and support has divided ihem from the For many of those artists and arts groups which have been excluded, the Council's move towards racial equality and community access is long overdue--and some feel it is simply a reactive effort for the Council to redeem itself in the face of growing criticism and calls for action. For these groups there has never been any question as to the validity and professionalism of their art. and they have seen Canada Council program's inherent restrictions as nothing more than elitist and highly inequitable. They don't categorize current cultural production into the "mainstream" and "everything else", and as a result, simply want to ensure that access to funding sources be guaranteed to artists and arts groups of all racial commu- Culture and the Constitutional Deal by Brenda Berck So, what is a provincial culture and why do we need to know about it? W e l l , the Constitutional package of August 28th states that "provinces should have exclusive jurisdiction over cultural matters within the provinces." In my article in the summer issue of Arts Access. I referred to the reasons why I believe in national cultural exchange, and why I feel that the existing system of "concurrent jurisdiction" is a good thing. With the announcement of the Constitutional package, and its reference to "exclusive jurisdiction," 1 worry about the implications of what appears to be a narrowing of our cultural horizons. "Appears to be" is the operative phrase, both in the previous sentence and in other discussions on the subject, for I have not yet found anyone who can state clearly the meaning of the sentence, "provinces should have exclusive jurisdiction over cultural matters within the provinces." Part of the problem is that the media are far more interested in other aspects of the constitutional package--the sections on the Senate, for example, or Native issues. The Globe and Mail of September 1. 1992. outlined the entire constitutional package. In that same issue, an article appeared about the deal's section on culture, in which Ontario Premier Bob Rae is reported to have said that the proposed agreement would have little impact on the balance of cultural powers between Ottawa and the provinces, and an unnamed legal source is quoted as saying that "it does not mean what you or I would think it means." The Canadian Conference of the Arts claimed on C B C Radio's Arts Report that it is satisfied that the proposed agreement leet the C C A ' s concerns, a t that is somewhat comforting if ! actually knows what the C C A ' s c D "Provinces should have exclusive jurisdiction over cultural matters within With the Canada Council since December of 1991. M s . Amarteifio is fulfilling a two-year contract to lay the foundation for some of the recommendations outlined in the Council's recently released report. Recommendations of the Advisory Committee to the Canada Conned for Racial Equality in the Arts. Since coming on board with the Council. K o k u has spent a good deal of her time meeting with a variety of groups and communities across Canada, listening to their concerns, outlining the Council's current racial equality/cultural diversity activities, and most importantly, providing a "face" to an all-too-often faceless institution. As Koko herself explains, it is this one-on-one contact and exchange between groups and individuals which provides the cornerstone for the educational challenge ahead of her. A good deal of Koko's job is just that-- education--of the so-called "mainstream" arts community, as well as her colleagues at Canada Council, to a different way of thinking about what we mean when we say "art"--a definition that includes a variety of communities and cultural traditions, not just those of a ·Western" Euro-based tradition that current!) makes up the majority of our publicly-funded the provinces." <t> As she explained to those assembled, the Canada Council is currently in the process of evaluating how it deals with the issue of cultural diversity through its programs, .is well as how the structure of the Council itself reflects these issues. Part of Ms. Amarteifio's task at the present time invohes considering the ways in which the Council can facilitate access to its all cultural communities. To do (his. the Council is now looking at such things as its ns strategies; the structure and is of art forms or ology thai the and how these For those who attended the V C A workshop. Koko Amarteifio's visit brought a number of vital issues currently facing the arts community lo the forefront. The Canada Council's current activities, regardless of the motivation or the timing, clearly symbolizes the changes underway in how we will define the Canadian arts community in the future. A community thai is dh erse, equally supported, officially recognized and united will truly reflect the changing face of Canada. Mil -on is the Cultural islam at the North She Shealso works as a I don't really believe that changing our cultural boundaries in Canada from national lo provincial--and perhaps in the future, regional or municipal--will result in the cultural rigidities we now see in places like what was once Yugoslavia. Still, the troubles in eastern Europe, which are apparently based on the significance attached to cultural differences, give one pause. Meanwhile, I will continue to seek clarification of what constitutes "provincial culture." Arts organizations which may not share my concern about provincial culture might nonetheless wish to ask their elected representatives what the financial implications are of giving exclusive jurisdiction for some yet-to-be-determined cultural matters to a province that has a none-too-impressive track record with regards to arts funding (according to 1987 Statistics Canada figures. B . C . ranks seventh out of ten in its per capita financial Brenda Berck is the North Shore Arts Commission's Cultural Development Officer. A , . . A « . . . F.n 1992 3