A short while ago, I posted about the CCA (Canadian Conference of the Arts), which was founded 66 years ago to represent the interests of all Canadian artists and cultural professionals at the federal level. CCA was behind the creation of the Canada Council for the Arts, the federal Act on Status of the Artist, the creation of the Cultural Human Resources Council, to name but a few of its contributions. CCA intervenes regularly on our behalf in front of parliamentary committees and regulatory bodies and it supports cooperative work as in the case of the review of the Copyright Act.
The CCA has recently learned that the federal government has decided to end its decades-long funding to this organization. As a result, the CCA director has been on a road trip in various communities across Canada (including Calgary and Edmonton) to get a sense of how the organization should develop a new funding plan and possibly a new mandate. As part of this process, the CCA is looking for input from artists with regards to which services are most important for the organization to take on. The organization has generated a list of proposed services, and is also looking for artists to contribute to an online survey about these priorities. Please take a moment to fill out the survey:
See the list of proposed services.
The WGA is an organizational member of the CCA, so we will also be giving feedback from the organization’s perspective. But individuals can also hold memberships in the CCA. Here are some benefits of joining the organization:
- 35-50 bulletins per year, distributed by e-mail, presenting thorough and clear-sighted analyses of current events and issues impacting arts and culture in Canada.
- Opportunities to participate in topical teleconferences on important subjects;
- Invitations to play part in special committees and working groups on cultural policy issues;
- Discounted rates for registration in CCA conferences and special events, such as the National Conference, the Chalmers events and symposiums.
You can find more information about joining the CCA here.
In light of the government’s lack of support for the CCA, it seems all the more important for the arts community to step in and make sure we have a voice in arts advocacy at the federal level. Please consider supporting or learning more about this organization.
I attended the recent CCA meeting here in Calgary and met the ED. It is my impression that becoming a member of CCA is a good idea. I am truly concerned about the attitude of the current group in power in Ottawa toward the Arts in general and writing in particular. There is the League of Poets and the Writers Union but both of these organizations have very specific interests. It seems to me to be useful to have a national organization that has a much more “big picture” view of the Arts and the proposed support, or lack there of, by the government. I am planning to join the CCA.
I’m upset with the government’s lack of support for culture. If writing letters helps then my MP, the minister and Mr Harper will all receive a letter from me.
I agree with Bob and Lyn that the present government’s hostility to culture is troubling. But on the question of things we should be campaigning for, it seems to me that one thing that is important to all writers is a change to the income tax act which would allow forward and backward averaging of incomes. A writer can spend two, five or even more years working on one book. Then when the book comes out, he is taxed as if all the income was “earned” in that tax year. Some of us may not earn enough from out books for this to be a major concern, but simple justice demands that the act be changed. (We used to have backward income averaging, until the act was changed some years ago. We need it to be changed again.)