No Problems For Canada Council’s Budget While U.S. Arts Budget Faces Attacks

When the White House released the federal budget it is clear that it will radically reshape the US's cultural infrastructure. And while the National Endowment for the Arts in the US are having a bad day the Canada Council for the Arts are having a breeze.

The Council is certain that the budget would continue with last year's five-year plan to double its allocation by 2021. Even the communications department did not plan on releasing a press release according to The Globe and Mail.

Recently, the Council is in the process to replace 140 grant categories with six broad ones, covering such areas as projects, professional development, organizations, and travel. The reorganization favors project grants over operating grants and should be able to support the less well-established artist, encouraging diversity among beneficiaries.

The private sector does a good job of funding the arts in the United States. Foundations in U.S. hand out 13 times more money than Canadian ones, giving about 13 per cent in the art category versus about 8 percent in Canada.

According to The Washington Post, President Donald Trump's budget proposal proposed the abolishment of 19 independent cultural agencies like the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to name a few. The proposed budget would cut the NEH's $148 million budget, the NEA's $148 million budget, the CPB's $445 million budget, $230 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the cuts will also affect the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art.

This will have a deep impact on the cultural economy and for decades cultural and art leaders have fought battles to maintain federal funding. Federal dollars are used to local and private funding that supports a complex network of arts organizations, leverage state, educational entities, museums, libraries and public broadcasting affiliates.

Many organizations such as PEN are organizing a petition calling for the preservation of the NEA and NEH.

TagsWhite House, White House Federal Budget, US's Cultural Infrastructure, National Endowment for the Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, Federal Budgets in several projects, President Donald Trump Budget Proposal Postponed