Artists calling for more general funding to support organizations and councils

As the arts industry in Manitoba still continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic, many artists are calling for more provincial support for arts organizations and councils.

Mel Marginet is the publisher at Great Plains Press. She says for decades, artists of all disciplines have been learning to do more with less, but it comes at a cost to artists and audiences.

“We saw a real reduction in the amount of artists in Manitoba during COVID. So folks just had to find other jobs and just didn’t come back to the industry,” said Marginet.

“Currently in Manitoba, the Manitoba Arts Council hasn’t received an increase in funding for over 20 years. So we’re kind of at this crux now, where it’s been a generation of time where we’ve just been kind of in this stasis.”

Mel Marginet, publisher at Great Plains Press. (Photo Credit: Joanne Roberts,CityNews)

“You want to make things accessible for people and for all people. From just a variety of income levels and backgrounds so. We don’t want to be publishing books and charging, you know, $60 – $70 for a book. We want those books to be reaching readers and to be reaching kids and people of all ages, that arts aren’t going to become this elite thing that only a few people can afford.”

Daphne Finlayson is an emerging director and producer. She says many arts funds have closed over the years. She says the industry needs more general funding, instead of funding that’s specific to one project.

“Well, mostly my parents and I have this running joke where they ask me, “So how many jobs are you working right now?” And usually it’s between three and five,” said Finlayson.

“I don’t have to sit on all these wonderful projects that I’m working on, and I also get to see what my peers are working on, without money being quite as big of a concern.”

Both Marginet and Finlayson are calling on political parties to prioritize theatre, visual arts and literature.

“It’s the long-term sustained funding that just gives that base of support, that we can have people employed above just poverty wages,” said Marginet.

The PC’s are promising $100-million over four years for its Arts, Culture and Sport in Community Fund. The funding is project-specific. The Liberals and NDP did not return request for comment.