(On Akimbo)

And consider this:

“Why weren’t these surplus monies given to the arts councils?”

perhaps to

“end the backroom deals” conducted by “the community review and peer assessment”

If you think the government is corrupted by back-room deals, what would it need to do to prove otherwise? Could such a test be passed by ‘community review and a peer assessment’ organizations? The whole point of ‘peer review’ is to build bias into the system in order to favour applicants (this is why it’s an important part of the judiciary – so that in ancient (and contemporary) times, the burden of proof for a criminal charge had to overcome the bias of a jury of peers. And why O.J. Simpson got away with murder: because a jury of his peers decided that burden of proof had not been met, a decision that had to stand because of the nature of the process).

Perhaps the gov thinks

‘enough is enough’ , ie. they perhaps think there are giving enough already.

But then again, there’s always next year. Perhaps Clive Robertson and Vera Frankel should begin a whitepaper to outline why the monies are needed, and what could be done with them. The older I get the more I become sensitive to arguments about responsibility. I ask the following rhetorically: Why should artists assume they are owed a living by society?

I recently heard something like this said by a right-wing pundit: ‘that people shouldn’t assume they are owed a living by society’. I don’t agree, but am not sure at this point what an appropriate counter-argument could be. The right-wingers would have everyone be responsible and manage their money carefully and aim to be self-sufficient. The Amish are probably an ideal here: they’re so excellent at managing money that they refuse all government assistance. They don’t need it. They’re also so self-sufficient they can afford to turn their backs on contemporary society.

I for one don’t appreciate the idea that because some people are fuck-ups and waste money on drugs or MFA degrees that means they should be condemned to poverty and social exclusion. I hate the idea of punishment in all its forms, and this attitude of letting fuck-ups suffer as homeless or whatever I don’t want to support.

That being said, it is a red flag for artists to demand more money. “Why are they not self-sufficient?” This is certainly a valid question concerning how many artists have turned they’re backs to soceity. If you want to be like the Amish, then figure out how to get by without government funds.

We’ve had year after year of being told artists are important for society, but where is the evidence for that? I see grants being used for projects that are more attuned to ‘personal development’ than that of society. This then raises the question of fairness and responsibility: why should artists get grant money to pay the rent while x & y have to work shitty/boring/whatever jobs?

Whenever I talk with artists about applying for grants, they’re always stressed about how to do their write-ups for whatever project which is just a front for them to get three months of rent and grocery money.

Let’s just be honest and ask that the Provincial Government to create a ‘creative subsidy’ so that individuals who are creative can afford regular ‘sabbaticals’. We might as well lobby Richard Florida (since everyone in a Moores suit cares what he thinks) to include a chapter in his next book (to be on indie music) on the need to have time off – weeks, months, or years, during which one is free to stay up all night, or lay around stoned for 48 hours, or spend afternoons at the library. In some of the later texts of Richard Rorty, he wrote about academics’ need to write up their own grants in order to get time off to unwind, recharge, and read. The sabbatical is cherished part of a creative life, and if you want to lobby for more funding, this is what you want to lobby for – a subsidy for the creative to take time off.

So, getting back to this poster: the Ontario Government helped out institutions who are now better positioned to support the creatives within the community. Boo-hoo. They want the backroom deals to favour them directly, not the only market for their type of art. Whan whan.