 A Sun News TV segment mocked dancer Margie Gillis as host Krista Erickson complained of bullying at the hands of the arts community |
Sun News TV host Krista Erickson took to the air yesterday and complained of being bullied by the arts community following her heated interview with internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer, Margie Gillis.
Erickson also said she believed the arts community bullies Conservative politicians into funding artistic projects that they do not believe in—showing a complete lack of understanding of the workings of the arm’s-length Canada Council for the Arts.
The comments came during a segment in which the host, aided by acting national director of the Canadian Taxpayers Association Derek Fildebrandt, picked a winner for the “Sunnies” award—the news network’s answer to the Governor General’s Arts Awards.
The winner of the Sunnies, selected by Fildebrandt and Erickson, was a viewer who sent in a video mocking Gillis’s dancing, in which he waved his arms around while wearing a pair of yellow oven mitts.
During the course of the segment, the following exchange between Erickson and Fildebrandt took place:
Krista Erickson: ...Craig Williams, you know him as oven mitts, friends. So this is his interpretation of the Margie Gillis interpretive dance. She is of course, the iconic interpretive dancer, there she is, who we had a very combative interview with. She is the recipient of $1.2 million in grants from the taxpayers over the last 13 years to subsidize this interpretive dance work that she does, as well as her school of dance.
Derek Fildebrandt: Oh, but she needs more, Krista.
KE: Well, whatever you do don’t ask her to justify the $1.2 million in taxpayers’ money that she has received, because you—
DF: That was good TV.
KE: Well, thank you my friend, but it comes with some consequence, and that is you will face the wrath of the arts community. Since that interview I have been inundated with hundreds of emails, phone calls, extremely hostile, threatening, calling me four-letter words that I cannot repeat. And they come from around the world. I’m hearing from people with the Julliard School of Dance. So there you go, I’m delighted to hear that the Julliard School of Dance is watching the Sun News Network, I didn’t even know they could get a signal there.
At the end of the segment, the following exchange also took place:
KE: What have you learned on our journey of enlightenment here on funding to the arts?
DF: I’ve learned you don’t want to be Krista Erickson if you’re taking on the art subsidy community. You know, this is an issue that actually gets people really heated up on both sides, but it’s not a discussion that we’ve really had adequately in Canada. It’s kind of boiled up here and there, but we haven’t had a sustained discussion about this. Sun has done a great job in focusing discussion on an important issue. We’re facing a massive deficit right now that is structural and we need to cut. And one of the very juiciest parts of the budget to be cutting is subsidies to any form of business, that includes the arts. So, you know, hats off to Sun for really shining the light on this.
KE: Well, we appreciate that. And I do want to share with you, I guess, my most salient point in terms of my observations and what I’ve learned from this journey of enlightenment, and I hearken back to something that you said to me at the very outset of our coverage on this issue. I said to you, you know, we know how a lot of Conservatives feel about funding to the arts. And not all the arts, but some things for instance, abstract art that is not mainstream, that is not commercially viable and so on. Why do they do it if they don’t believe in it?
And you said to me, “Krista, because they are bullied into funding it.” And you know something? I actually, I really believe that that is the case. Because I have now been the subject of that bullying, just for asking the questions, "Why do you deserve $1.2 million in taxpayers’ money?" And now I’m being mercilessly bullied, and so I mean, your analysis is bang on. Why are politicians doing this when they don’t believe in a lot of it? It’s because they’re facing the same bullying I have faced over the last two weeks and it’s just not worth it to raise the ire of these folks.
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Comments
Above all, she does not understand Canada. What she thinks she understands she holds in contempt.
Our identity lies in our arts. It distinguishes us from all other nations. In French and in English, we are defined by how we sing and make music and dance and write and imagine and share. We are not defined by inanimate objects.
Krista Erickson has revealed herself: she is the Sarah Palin of media in our great country. Ms Erickson is as poorly-spoken, as ill-informed and as unwelcome as her model. One works for Fox, the other for Sun.
Beyond that? No apparent difference. Pitiful.
Stop focussing on this woman and on yourself, artists! Boycott products of Quebecor, write to the CRTC with copies to your MP, the Minister of Heritage, and Quebecor itself.
If the notion that Conservatives only want to fund "what they believe in" doesn't strike some serious fear into the hearts of the electorate, I don't know what will.
http://afewtastefulsnaps.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/sun-media-owner-happy-...
Why doesn't she mention that ? What a hypocrite! As a tax payer I'd much rather subsidize dance than her hatred on the air.
What about the billions of subsidies Big oil gets from Canada despite its record profits ? How about she tries to bully them on her program instead ?
Right, Krista, what are the odds that they'd have the internet in New York!?
Also, writing article after article about them here and in other publications is exactly what they want! They don't care if it's all negative, they just want publicity, and publicity is exactly what the Straight is giving them.
"why should tax payers support something that is not profitable?" - what, you mean such as education, healthcare, police, firefighters, welfare, community centres, and hundreds of other "non-profitable" tax-supported ventures? You're right, where is the sense in supporting those. Bimbo.
(wait, don't Canadian broadcasters - including the Sun News - also receive tax payer money? hypocrisy runs deeo).
For shame Sun News.
"The amount of money that the arts community makes is very little." --Margie Gillis.
So let's spread it out a little. I know plenty of stage performers and musicians that would love a piece of that pie. I love the arts, and I approve of arts funding, but who decides the merit of one thing over another?
There are lots of struggling artists--but I don't agree that all artists would be fine if their work was worthwhile because I think that sentiment implies that anyone with a skill will be fully capable in society, which we all know is not the case.
The foundation's mission statement is:
"To manifest in dance a personal vision of the human condition, to have compassion for our weaknesses and vulnerability, to celebrate and encourage our capacity for hope, creation, wisdom, our power for healing, inspiration, truth and generosity."
Are there no other artists pursuing such a vague goal that could use a little dough? Actually, come to think of it, this was pretty much the philosophy behind that meditation class I went to. Can they get some money too?
Question how the funds are distributed, not why, is my main point.
And just as an aside: In my field (science), government grants are distributed based on merit and need. If we would apply this to arts I think interpretive dance would be last in line.
these arts activist types are morally bankrupt. they demand we fund their pet projects as if they have some intrinsic validity. if they had intrinsic validity, then they would survive without external funding
health care, infrastructure, defense and education should funded by government, not "interpretative dance"
if you are an advocate of such forms of artistic expression, then fund it with your own resources
The only supporters are secular liberals in the big cities and their puppets in the mainstream media.
Take a look at who has been receiving grants, what their track records are, how they meet the grant application requirements etc. Then, if you really want to know why they are getting that money and how they are spending it, attend a couple of AGM's (Annual general meetings). They are free. They are posted on arts organization websites. And you will be privy to the yearly financial reports of these organizations, including their revenue, their grant awards, and a detailed breakdown of their costs.
If you truly want to understand why and how the arts in Canada are funded, go look it up for god's sake, and don't sit here on this forum posturing and going on about how you are the one who is just looking for an open dialogue.
As I recall Sun Media sought special treatment from the Government to jump the queue with respect to licensing and channel selection.
The channel is a train wreck of idiocy and tea-party-like nonsense. An appeal to ignorance and pettiness.
health care, infrastructure, defense and education DO have intrinsic value, as they allow our society to function. every canadian political party that i am aware of would be committing suicide if it espoused some kind of laissez-faire system in these areas.
the arts, while important to some, is not necessary for basic societal functionality. i respect your choice to engage in artistic expression, i simply would like to see that you use your own resources and the resources of like-minded people to fund such endeavours.
governments should not be funding the arts. patrons of the arts should fund the arts.
Want to really hurt them?........[click]