A war of words has erupted between councillors Heather Deal and Suzanne Anton over a proposed arm’s-length arts council for the city. Anton, council’s only NPA rep, maintains that an arts council is neither necessary nor desired by the community.

“We did a lot of public consultation over the last two years, coming up with the new cultural plan for the city of Vancouver, and”¦there was no demand for an arts council,” she said. “In fact, it was only mentioned by a small number of people, and it was never discussed in any serious way. So it seems very disrespectful of that process to suddenly say, ”˜Okay, we’re going to have an arts council.’”¦What problem are we fixing? There’s no discussion of why we’re going down this road. It’s just: ”˜Let’s have an arts council.’”

Deal, in response, labelled Anton as being out of touch with the arts community. “I guess Councillor Anton doesn’t have the same contacts in the community that I do, because I hear nothing but a cry for this, and I have since I got elected to council over three years ago for the first time,” she said. On December 10, Deal successfully put forward a motion to council requesting that city staff research different arts-council models. The report will be delivered March 3, said Deal. “In terms of it [an arts council] being expensive and unnecessary, what we’re doing is research to find out if in fact it is the right move,” she added. “And if it is, then we’ll talk about why.”

Although some in the arts community have spoken up in favour of an arm’s-length arts council—including the Cultch’s executive director Heather Redfern, who told the Straight in October that she was supportive of the idea—others say the jury is still out.

Donna Spencer, artistic producer of the Firehall Arts Centre, said she had some reservations. “I caution people when they get really excited about them [arts councils], because of my experience with the B.C. Arts Council,” she said. “The funds stayed very stagnant for years, and there was no increase because it was an arm’s-length council and there wasn’t an endowment or something set up specifically for the council to have the resources it needed.”¦Does Vancouver need one? If it’s going to be a costly endeavour, I think they should be cautious about that at this point.”

Amir Ali Alibhai, executive director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, said he had heard mixed views on the matter. “It’s actually a pretty hot issue,” he said. “By and large, and I don’t want to generalize”¦the larger organizations tend to like the idea of things being the way they are, and smaller and emerging organizations feel that it’s a good idea to move to another model.”

Deal insisted that in-depth community consultations will follow the staff report.