51st Art Matters Forum

Kitchener, Monday, June 14, 2010

Good afternoon,

First of all, I would like to say how pleased I am that Art Matters is joining with the Magnetic North Festival for today's public forum. For a community, a festival is always a unique, intense time where, exactly like a stage performance, everyone has a specific role to play to make the event the best it can be. Professionals, artists, technicians, merchants, volunteers and spectators join together in a sort of collective mission, with exceptional rejuvenating energy. The city becomes an open-air forum. It is a unifying time, when the community wants to show the world what it is capable of, and to showcase its community's creativity and capacity for achievement.

And this goes to the very heart of the theme for our 51st Art Matters forum:  "Creating art, creating communities." This experience of rallying together around a festival can be seen in Calgary at the High Performance Rodeo, the Festival de cinéma de Rouyn-Noranda, or in Sackville, New Brunswick. For example, in that community, things were stagnating, and community spirit, social life and vitality were gradually giving way to apathy and boredom. In 2007, Brian Doncaster, a land owner in the region, had purchased a huge barn and the surrounding land. Because he was used to accompanying his daughter to numerous bluegrass country music concerts throughout the Maritimes, he suddenly got the idea to transform the barn into a concert and festival venue, rather than just using it for storage. The project won over the whole community, who worked hard to restore the barn, set up a stage, redo the floors, install seating, and much more. Today, they can seat 300 people, the fields can also be used for camping, and the Bluegrass Festival that was just cancelled in Memramcook was able to find a new venue for its concerts. We are not talking about a museum designed by a famous architect, or a concert hall that cost millions of dollars, but rather about a cultural project in a village, which has mobilized and energized the community. This recent, dynamic project, building on a spontaneous initiative, is a good example of what Beatriz Garcia, a researcher at the University of Glasgow, calls the "regeneration" of a community. That regeneration can transform communities everywhere, in rural areas, urban areas, in the north, in the west, but always tied directly with civic responsibility and the desire to create harmonious living spaces.

The British government department responsible for social exclusion recently released a report on the major role of the arts, sports and leisure. Many communities have discovered that fostering citizens' active participation in a cultural or sports activity helps to reduce crime and to improve levels of education and thus employment, and that people ultimately enjoy a better living environment.

“Culture is the right tool for urban revival because it flourishes in the new urban reality of the 21st century. The arts are no longer just about going to the symphony, the ballet, or a Broadway musical. They are more active, more accessible, and more polyglot,” note the authors Mark Stern and Susan Seifert, who both head up the Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) at the University of Pennsylvania.

When a city invests in culture, it often does so to enhance its image, to give itself an economic and social boost, and/or to attract tourists. But we must never forget that these cultural projects have to be rooted first and foremost in the community. A cultural institution or event parachuted into a city, without community support, would have a very uncertain future, and often a very big price tag.

We need to support and participate in festivals, to be sure, but we also need to promote arts education and make creativity accessible throughout the year. These temporary cultural activities are an even greater success when the community has access to a rich and diversified cultural life all year long. In your region, for example, the Musagetes Foundation has adopted the mission of integrating artistic creativity into modern life, because we can restore a sense of meaning and shared belonging.

Members of the business community, like those who created Musagetes, invest in culture because they have seen that culture, just like education, is the driving force of our communities. As you know, when a new business decides to locate to a city, its shareholders and management assess the quality of the work force, but also the quality of education and the vitality of sports and cultural organizations.

More than ever, culture and education are closely linked within a dynamic movement to energize our communities affected by the ups and downs of the economy. As I have been saying for some time now, the word culture has taken on a different meaning in Canada. The 50 Arts Matters forums we have held throughout the country have confirmed their evolution of the very concept of culture. The idea of an elitist culture, of arts reserved for a minority, is gradually giving way to a broader, more inclusive concept of creativity for all, with all. Economic leaders are confirming that change and are now including culture in their studies, conferences and investments.

Investing in the unifying and constructive vitality of culture is a promising path for us all. When I see the efforts the Kitchener-Waterloo community is making to build a genuine cultural linkage, I can see that by investing in creativity, you are choosing long-term social and economic development.

This conviction that creativity is a key resource for Canada has inspired my wife and me for many years, and has continued to guide our thoughts and actions at Rideau Hall. Little by little, each at our own level, we are showing that we are concerned, and that creativity is an essential resource for our country’s development. We take care of health, education, and the environment; in the same way, we need to take care of our culture.

That fight was ours before Rideau Hall, it continued to inspire us during the Governor’s General’s term of office, and it will continue to guide our actions tomorrow. My wife and I have every intention of continuing that commitment to culture, the culture of social cohesion, the culture to live together in harmony and to foster social innovation. But we all have to do our part. For we are not taking this journey alone: a number of partners and individuals from the artistic and business communities have already expressed their desire to accompany us as we pursue that commitment. The invitation is broad, and is addressed to everyone who, as we do, believes that the arts and creativity help to strengthen civic participation and facilitate the dialogue and vitality of Canadian society.

In 2005, I agreed to accompany my wife on this unexpected journey, in the certain knowledge that what creates Canada are the women and men who create and innovate in Canada, and it is with that same, strengthened conviction that I will now resume my journey as a creator and a citizen.

And now I want to hear about your own experiences, and how the theme of our discussion, "Creating art, creating communities," is inspiring you. 

You have the floor!