CORNWALL Ontario – This has been a very interesting week. I am now a member of the board of TAG (The Art Gallery) here in Cornwall.
During the municipal election a lot of noise was made about having an Arts Centre in our fair city. As an artist myself, and as a supporter of the arts I think it’s important for many to realize that TAG has essentially been a form of an Arts Centre.
While in its current incarnation it has its supporters and detractors it is a big enough space with high walls. It can be used for multiple mediums of art from visual to live installments.
It also in my opinion should be a gauge for public support of the arts as major considerations are being asked of the tax payer from one councilor wanting a staffer just for the Arts and others who want a big spanking centre built like we did with the Benson Centre.
I think that with the fresh board, with hopefully a renewed vision, it will be time for our regional Arts Community to come together and fully embrace and exploit the opportunities that lie within those four walls.
I myself am excited as I will be offering two seminars to members of TAG eventually, and it will be fun to practice and share my own art locally.
Art should never just be about public dollars and bureaucrats. Art is a living thing and what we make of it, and then the public decides what they like or don’t like.
And maybe from the seeds planted at TAG our community may one day have a larger Arts Centre….
First of let me congratulate Jamie for being on the TAG board of directors.
I’m not one to typically support “arts & culture.” But I do believe that a level playing field should be available to all. The arts / culture and sports should be funded on an even field. By that I mean it should be proportionate to the number of people using the facilities. Sports seems to get more funding. But that is because there are more people using sports facilities than arts facilities. For that matter all programs should be rated the same way. But in this day and age that isn’t going to happen. One of my pet peeves is that the OPP officers have a clause in their contract where they will be the highest paid police officers in the province. To me this is just wrong. As well, it pushes our taxes higher and higher.
Didn’t the last director of the United Way get canned for missing the goal by such a large margin? I bet they don’t turf the Barstool Prophetess.
Wow!….I think there is a lot of donor fatigue out there. I do some volunteer work at a national health charity. While the goal is up for the 2015 campaign the projections are not as generous. There are a lot of charities, etc asking for money. Add to that that a lot of them run lotteries as well. Joe Average taxpayer can only donate so much. I know we put limits on what we donate. Everyone has their hand out, but you can only donate what you can afford.
Jamie you would be a great contribution to the arts community since you know a lot about it. I love art as well but in my kind of art and love it. There should be support for this as well. Years ago back in the later 50’s and 60’s children were taught art by Mrs. Kathleen Dancause at the Armories Centre and I was one of the students for a short while. I lost interest but some others kept it up. Art and music develop the brain for creativity.