by / par Inga Petri
Historic Overview updated
2011/08/27 2:28:21 PM in Updates/Mises à jour by Inga Petri
In July we posted the first draft of this Historic Overview. Since then we have received additional input through in-depth interviews and added context on the role and evolution of government programs and funding.
OVERVIEW_HISTORY_PRESENTING_CANADA_Draft_2 (Word file)
OVERVIEW_HISTORY_PRESENTING_CANADA_Draft_2 (PDF file)
Much of the performing arts landscape does not fit neatly into simple boxes: We are looking for any added input and perspective in terms of the evolution of festivals and multi-disciplinary or inter-disciplinary presenters.
Please share your knowledge and add your comments and observations below.
I have read the updated document with great interest. All the comments I will make are in the interest of clarification. The bulk of them are addressed to the section on multi-disciplinary presenters (hereafter MDPs). Where they are addressed elsewhere, I have indicated the section at the beginning of the comment.
• I believe that the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils showcase of performing artists pre-dates the first Contact Ontario event by about four years.
• The establishments of the Réseau Indépendent des diffeuseurs des événements artistiques unis (RIDEAU) and the Canadian Arts Presenting Association/L’Association canadienne des organismes artistiques (CAPACOA) bear mentioning, since it is due to these two organizations that presenters acquired a more cogent lobbying voice, especially at the federal level. The two organizations bear major responsibility for the introduction of the Tomorrow Starts Today programs in 2001.
• It is important to note that in English Canada in the ’70s and into the early ’80s, the bulk of the professionally-staffed MDP organizations outside the major metropolitan centres were part of post-secondary educational institutions. In Ontario and Alberta, specifically, there existed very strong collaborative networks among those provinces’ colleges and universities. When the funding cuts of the mid-’80s—and into the early ’90s—occurred, these networks virtually disappeared, and quickly; very few university presenting organizations remain. At this point, municipal governments seized on the opportunity for increased community service and started to erect arts centres. Of course, under the fiscal discipline of municipal government, the financial mandate was, largely, that of break-even programming, which greatly affected presenters’ artistic risk-taking capabilities.
• The federal presenter funding model—at least in English Canada—was changed with the announcement of the Tomorrow Starts Today programs, a result of more than two years’ lobbying by CAPACOA and RIDEAU in Ottawa. These programs essentially supplanted the Cultural Initiatives Program, which funded, for the most part, individual events. Provincial funding for presenters was already happening—the two most generous programs were in Québec and Alberta—but the Tomorrow Starts Today program package, for the first time, put ongoing federal support into the hands of presenters. Commensurate with this funding was a policy shift in terms of presenters’ work and how it would be evaluated. Presenters were no longer in the show-booking business. They were now in the artist employment business, the marketing business, the community development business—in the best cases, assuming the roles of social architects in their communities. MDP organizations who used the new program as a means to do what they were doing before, only more of it, quickly found themselves to be deemed unsuccessful under the criteria of the new program.
•(for the Theatre section) In 2002, the Magnetic North Theatre Festival was established, following meetings between representatives of CAPACOA and the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT). This festival was created to provide a launching pad for English-language Canadian theatre to tour in Canada.
These are the comments I have at present. I’m sure further review of the document will trigger some more in the future
Thank you for the additional information and putting some of these efforts into context for us, Peter. Much appreciated. We plan to issue a revised document next months, reflecting these and any additional insights from the lived experience in the field.
Almost certainly, the first theatrical performance, on land, in North America took place in Samuel de Champlain’s settlement of Port Royal, on November 14, 1606, at the founding meeting of L’Ordre Du Bon-Temps, or in English, the Order of Good Cheer. At that time, it was believed that that “land sickness” (now known as scurvy) was caused by idleness, so Champlain organized the Order to include not just food, but also entertainment The play, written by the settlement’s chief steward, Marc Lescarbot, was called “Le Theatre de Neptune en la Nouvell-France.” It told the story of sailors travelling to the New World, only to encounter Neptune, god of the sea. This may not have been art for art’s sake, but was an amateur theatrical performance encouraged (read funded) by the governing body for the health and well being of the people.
Thanks @pefeldman and Al Fowler for you input.
I just found out that presenters and festivals first came up on the radar of Statistics Canada in 1997, when Canada’s Standard Industrial Classification (last revised in 1980) was replaced with the North American Industry Classification System, following the 1994 free-trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States. This NAICS included (and still includes) industry codes for “Promoters (Presenters) of Performing Arts, Sports and Similar Events” (“Promoteurs (diffuseurs) d’événements artistiques et sportifs et d’événements similaires”, http://stds.statcan.gc.ca/naics-scian/1997/ts-rt-eng.asp?criteria=71). This system has significant limitations and gaps which prevent it from generating relevant statistics for the presenting field (see the upcoming Arts Research Monitor for more details), but it nonetheless has some value from a policy perspective.
Hi All,
The first OSAC Showcase – then called “Seminar of the Arts” took place in 1975 in Estevan, SK. We will scan and forward the 25th Anniversary history of OSAC the covers the period of 1968 – 1993 which will outline the early days of OSAC if you would like.
Having spent considerable time recently with awesome aboriginal artists I have come to think, that the Historical overview would be well served to acknowledge the presence of performing arts on the land that is now Canada from earliest times. What do you think?