Neworld Theatre coartistic directors Marcus Youssef and Adrienne Wong spell out the economic and spiritual benefits of the arts. William W. Ting photo.

As we enter a landmark arts season, severe provincial cutbacks are reminding people that culture is crucial

There’s an anecdote about Winston Churchill making the rounds lately. The story goes that during World War II, the British prime minister was asked by fellow politicians to shut down theatres and cultural institutions in order to save money. “What are we fighting for then?’’ his response is said to have been.

As we enter a new arts season, the province’s artists are facing severe budget shortfalls by way of cancelled gambling grants, decreased B.C. Arts Council support, and the prospect of an 89-percent cut in the province’s core arts-and-culture spending in the next two years. In response, the cultural community has been galvanized into action. But, as the Alliance for Arts and Culture’s executive director, Amir Ali Alibhai, points out, support from the general public is crucial if the province’s cultural sector is to survive: “We need to remind audiences that the reason they can have access to the work is because of the very generous core support provided by various levels of government.”¦We need to start that dialogue with the public, so that it’s not easy to see the arts as a frill or a luxury.”

To that end, the Straight asked a cross section of local people to channel their inner Churchill, and explain why the arts matter so much.

Jay Hirabayashi (executive director of Kokoro Dance):
“I think that most people take the arts for granted without really realizing how much it contributes to their quality of life. I think that everything—the clothes people wear, radio, television, newspapers—is coloured and influenced by the arts. And if there wasn’t that creative stream of artists feeding what we see all around us, it would indeed be like the grey square that we [protesters against the province’s cutbacks to arts funding] have adopted as the symbol of life without art.”

Jim Green (cultural and developmental consultant):
“Why do people go to Venice, Italy? Do they go there because they’re looking for a better Wal-Mart? They go there because the whole city is dripping in culture. Thirty-three percent of the economy of London, England, is based on arts and culture. When it comes to Vancouver, a lot of people who are not progressive in their thinking about tourism use the concept of the three Ms: mountains, moose, and Mounties.”¦But it’s not who we are. You can live in Vancouver and never see a moose in your life, but you can also go see Robert Lepage or you can go see Stan Douglas’s work or go to the Vancouver Opera. That is the calling card of cities.”

Barbara-Jo McIntosh (director of the board of the Cultch, and owner of Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks bookstore):
“What nurtures me is live performances of music and theatre.”¦It’s wonderful to watch a good movie and it’s wonderful to see a good TV program or something funny on YouTube or listen to a good record, but there’s nothing like being in the room where something live is being produced right in front of you, and you get to feel every aspect of it. I think it does integrate into your soul and make you a better person.”

Gregor Robertson (mayor of Vancouver):
“The arts are at the core of Vancouver’s identity and spirit. Beyond that, arts and culture are a huge economic driver here.”¦Particularly right now, with the 2010 Games coming, the world coming to Vancouver, it’s critical for our cultural sector to be ready and poised to break through on the world stage. That was part of our [Olympic] bid, and there’s an expectation that our artists will shine alongside our athletes. The cuts will make that much more challenging. They may undermine the work of many great organizations that are supporting artists and preparing to make a big splash in 2010.”

Adrienne Wong (artistic producer with Neworld Theatre):
“From a personal point of view, art helps me to figure out my wider philosophy about who I am and where I fit into society—as well as giving me an opportunity to see, even if only briefly, what it might be like to be someone else. And so in some ways, not to sound totally cheesy, practising art has become very spiritual for me. It serves the purpose that the church would have served, or schoolteachers would have served, when I was younger. It’s about just being aware of what it is to be an individual inside of a larger community, and the responsibilities of that.”

Marcus Youssef (artistic producer with Neworld Theatre):
“What happens in that moment in Grade 7 when the teacher says, ”˜Okay, we’re going to do improv?’ The bad kids suddenly become good, acting out suddenly becomes a good thing, and there’s a way of engaging and an excitement about people being together that doesn’t exist in the same way as when we’re doing a math class or we’re doing other things like that.”¦Arts and culture is a real, living, breathing industry which, like sport and education and medicine and social service, grows the economy, provides for families, pays taxes, and is an integral part of the majority of our lives.”

Yulanda Faris (arts philanthropist, chair of the Vancouver Opera Foundation, honorary chair of Judith Marcuse Dance Projects, and past president of the Vancouver Opera Association board):
“I think of how we teach in the very early years. We use song, we use dance, movement, storytelling, we read to our children. All the elements of what I consider the arts are the most effective methods of teaching. Studies prove that children that do not get that stimulation do not develop as well.”¦If it matters when you’re a child, it doesn’t matter any less when you’re an adult. It’s how you form a civil society.”

Dominic Lopes (philosophy professor and associate dean of arts at UBC):
“There’s no question that the arts bring tourists to town, that they generate all kinds of spinoffs.”¦We also get things from the arts personally; it’s consolation, for instance. [Henri] Matisse thought of the arts as providing a safe space for us from the trials and tribulations of life. At the same time, the arts provoke us. They challenge our basic assumptions.”¦But really, at the end of the day, the fact is that we couldn’t imagine our lives without the arts.”¦Anthropologists have found ornamentation in archaeological sites going back hundreds of thousands of years. The earliest paintings in Chauvet are 30,000 to 40,000 years old, and we have musical instruments that are that old. So the minute that we had minds that were sophisticated enough to make art, we used them to make art.”

Lukas McCormick (16-year-old member of the Cultch’s Youth Panel):
“Personally, life would be rather boring without the arts. There are so many opportunities for so many people to work and have fun doing it. I think it would be a tragedy without it. I’ve found the youth panel is an amazing opportunity just to get out there and have a chance to try all sorts of things.”

Cyrena Huang (Vancouver Academy of Music cello teacher):
“As a self-employed cello teacher, the funding cuts don't directly affect me. What they do affect is society’s attitude towards art, especially that of future generations. I don't want to live in a city without art. A city without art is a city devoid of humanity, and I don't care how pretty the mountains are.”