this page was last updated
July 12, 2003
Ooh a Letter, We Love Letters!
from artspace director david laRiviere
Excerpts from a letter to the Editrix by David LaRiviere,
Director of Artspace, springing from Petunia’s
piece in JACK #1 re: arts funding.
".... As Canada swings right, the moneyed class has
instilled a great fear into the general population that the poor
are exploiting various agencies that receive public funding.
Within the Arts it has been my experience that this fear has led
many of the same class of people, those who live off the table scraps
of the extreme privileged, to espouse "Corporate" patronage
without much thought given to the ramifications.
Artspace
cannot receive money from a private corporation without justifying
its activities in relation to the interests of the stakeholders
of said Corporation. Period.
The only agency that is available to fund an Artist-run centre
mandated to critique itself and the hand that feeds is Government,
in theory at least.
The theory being that Government represents the interests of the
people, the people constitute a culture, and cultural production
(art of every stripe) constitutes the voice of the people - not
just those who own shares.
Of course it would be awfully naïve of me to suggest that
this is what government is or how it behaves, however, my friends,
it is my firm belief that this is where we have gone incredibly
astray."
to be continued? - JACK
also see wayne’s comments...
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