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Ottawa literary scene faces funding cuts
Several literary events in Ottawa are facing financial shortfalls next year, due to 2009 budget cuts that have been proposed by senior City of Ottawa staff.
The Ottawa International Writers Festival, the Ottawa Book Awards, Bywords, and the Tree Reading Series are among the 286 arts groups, festivals, and individuals slated to lose some or all of their funding in the city’s draft budget, which was presented early this month. Overall, the budget calls for a 43% cut to Ottawa’s arts, culture, and heritage funding, from $13.3-million this year to $6.1-million in 2009.
The decision appears to renege on a 2006 proposal for an increase of $2.5-million in arts funding over the following four years. That move came after a fiery public debate over proposed arts cuts in 2004.
“For most of us, the current budget deliberations at City Hall seem like a bad case of déjà vu,” wrote Sean Wilson, director of the Ottawa International Writers Festival, in a message to members of the event’s Facebook group. Wilson later told Q&Q Omni, “They figured that rather than expanding fewer roads, ‘Let’s just kill the culture and make sure that Ottawa lives up to its reputation as the city that fun forgot.’”
“I just find it extraordinarily brutal,” says Peter Honeywell, executive director of the Council for the Arts in Ottawa. “This is not the first time we’ve gone through this, and there has to be a solution.” The council has launched a “stop the cuts” campaign with the tagline “My Ottawa still includes culture,” encouraging people to lobby their city councilors.
Cultural groups held a press conference Tuesday morning at City Hall, where supporters made an economic case for the arts. A protest at the city council chambers is planned for Dec. 1.
According to a 2007 report in the Ottawa Business Journal, Ottawa’s arts and festivals sector was a $40-million industry that year. Wilson notes that Ottawa festivals collectively receive $6-million in city funding and then leverage a further $21-million in funding from other sources. The Journal also reported that Ottawa has consistently ranked last in arts funding per capita compared with other major municipalities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
City council will vote on the draft budget on Dec. 4, and Wilson seems hopeful, if not quite optimistic, that the cuts will die on the council floor. “It’s pretty clear that the city councilors don’t back [the budget cuts] – this has been proposed by city staff,” he says. If the cuts do go through, though, Wilson says the fest will be completely shut down and that he will likely leave the city. “I’m appalled at this, not because of my job – I love the festival and I want to keep doing it – but for the city. It’s crazy to have a city with no culture.”
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