The Arts of the Deal

To be a cultural worker in Canada is to be a filler of forms. If the American cultural scene is structured by entrepreneurialism and private foundations, our creative endeavours are highly dependent on direct government support. Canadian artists have a high degree of freedom, but their activities are fostered through subsidies and state regulations, especially with respect to Canadian content requirements. This is both a gift and a curse.

I often wonder what else could be accomplished in this country if its vast intelligence and creative energies could be redirected from the political lobbying necessary just to keep the lights on at our cultural institutions. Consider graduates of Canadian film schools, who often labour in unrelated fields to pay their rent and student loans, struggling for years to secure project funding. By comparison, Denmark, a northern middle power like Canada but with a population of less than 6 million, has free tuition. There, as the New...