Good news for arts spending, as long as Rob Ford doesn’t get elected
Good news is a rare treasure in the arts community in these post-recession days, which is why yesterday’s city hall executive committee vote to stay the course on its long-term funding strategy is almost champagne worthy. The plan calls for a raise in arts spending from $18 per capita to $25 per capita by 2013 . We say almost because it’s an election year. Rocco Rossi and Joe Pantalone have expressed their support for increasing arts spending, but the current mayoral front-runner Rob Ford is unlikely to approve such a plan given his hate-on for bureaucracy. The city council will vote later this month and, according to the Star‘s Martin Knelman, is expected to give the bump a thumbs-up, but there’s no guarantee the money will actually be spent by the incoming mayor’s council, since these are just targets.
When the plan on the table now was originally put in place seven years ago by Rita Davies, the city’s executive director of culture, it proposed a raise from $13 per capita to $25 per capita by 2013. So, in seven of the target’s 10-year time line, the city’s gotten less than half way there. But the disappointment is way worse when we compare to other cities. According to Knelman, Montreal spends $33 per capita on culture and in 2003, San Francisco spent a whopping $86 per capita on culture. Well, at least the HuffPo thinks we’re doing alright.
• Knelman: City Hall moves to raise arts spending [Toronto Star]
“Rocco Rossi and Joe Pantalone have expressed their support for increasing arts spending, but the current mayoral front-runner Rob Ford is unlikely to approve such a plan given his hate-on for bureaucracy.”
So you actually like bureaucracies? And I am sure people paying all these high taxes really care to have it go to the arts then improving other city services. You are completely out of touch with the common folk.
Seems to me that you just gave people more reasons to vote for Rob Ford. Good work.
George Smitherman and his husband Christopher Peloso are certainly fans of the arts. Since Rocco Rossi and Joe Pantalone has stated their intentions, when will Smitherman or Ford? Sohould be interesting.
George Smitherman and his husband Christopher Peloso are often seen at arts related events.
It’s obvious where George’s intentions are when it comes to the arts.
This city is really turning into a “bread and circuses” act. Sure, the arts are important, but not when we are having a crisis with inadequate transit service, deteriorating infrastructure, declining school budgets, community centres, increasing homeless, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, ad naseum.
Let’s clean up the house before we hang up the paintings. It’s time for some hard choices to be made with our priorities.
“Let’s clean up the house before we hang up the paintings. It’s time for some hard choices to be made with our priorities.”
Bingo!
It is good to know that more of my tax money will be going to the arts that I cannot to go see either because I cannot afford it or I am too busy working extra hours in order to afford to pay for it.