2017 is here.
A New Year
Time for change.
Time to push
All that old stuff
Into the recycling bin
The compost pile
Occasionally check it
Make sure it’s working
Turn it into whatever
Might be useful.
This the year.
Exciting events
Will happen in Chaleur.
………………….compost level……………………….
What happened?
I paid for this. I paid.
This is what happens when the rules are not clear. You end up paying for something you don’t get. I am talking about taxes. Ever think about where your taxes go? Do you consider arts funding a waste of your tax dollars? Sometimes I wonder too.
Supposedly artists are being supported by unlimited government grants. Not so. Some of us are really struggling. Sometimes I wonder why we even bother. Maybe there is something to that impression of an artist as a crazy person. Who else but a crazy person would work for the pure joy of art?
How much of the arts money goes to support artists and how much is actually used to further someone’s political career? I have no idea.
Still, we artists struggle on, even here in the Chaleur Region. As an artist I am desperate for a bit of culture. ” How often the past several years have I heard the words
“There is nothing here, no culture, nothing except snowmobiles”?
I’ve thought those thoughts’ perhaps voiced that opinion and have been trying to do something it, especially for those of us who are artists.
For three years I have worked hard at trying to get artists to join me in creating an “artsy Chaleur”. I asked for help from several Gov agencies, not money but moral support and the opportunity to network through their (tax supported) channels. I did my best to have my promotional material translated into both official languages. I guess my best was not good enough. Not only was I was refused their non-monetary help, I was completely ignored.
“What is wrong?” is what I kept asking myself.
Well I guess my search is over. This paper pretty well explains it all. It is the who-is-who of the Gov approved Atlantic Arts. Read it all right here: http://www.aaapnb.ca/english/AGlobalStrategy.pdf
This seems to be a Grand Scheme to reinvent the Maritime provinces as a friendly place for artists.
I did find a few people purporting to represent us who are artists, some even from the Chaleur region . However, I do not recognize any people who are actually artists from the Chaleur region. I suppose some of them might be artists from somewhere. If they were ever Chaleur artists I guess they must have moved away long ago.
Basically what it is all about is reinventing Atlantic culture along the lines of your Exclusive”old boys network”. I would not mind so much if it were not so blatently political. “Not so!” Did I hear the distant protest? “Not so!” What is the inclusive about this statement I read on page 52:
“Some of New Brunswick’s Anglophone and First Nations art- ists were invited,”
Anglophone is, I guess, the box I would be expected to occupy. But I was not invited. Who was?
Hmmmmmm …. Bit of a problem here … For me at least … I am an independent artist … And prefer not to be restricted by the language I was born into. Who knows, given a choice I might have chosen another language entirely, French, Italian, Chinese, Greek, Arabic, Russian … the list of world languages is vey long.
Yes, my language is part of my culture. Still, it is only one part. Art is a whole other world for me. It goes beyond a restricted volume of particular words sanctioned by some official “Academie” gatekeepers.
Getting back to why I was not invited, I am still wondering why. I have been a Chaleur artist for well over fifty years. Is it an ageist thing, do you suppose?
Chaleur Bay - Festival 2015 - Baie des Chaleurs 