Open Letter to Le Devoir
Dominic Trudel and Julie-Anne Richard
The former is the Executive Director of the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM). He signs this text on behalf of the Common Front for Arts and Letters. The latter is the Executive Director of the Association professionnelle des diffuseurs de spectacles – RIDEAU.
The last such exercise was in 2017. An eternity in a post-pandemic context. We would like to say that such spontaneous mobilization surprises us, but it does not. Last winter, while drafting their grant applications, hundreds of organizations spent dozens of hours rigorously reflecting on and measuring their financial needs to continue their activities, grow them, and ensure fair remuneration for their staff and artists.
Our associations and groups, for their part, were busy producing studies in anticipation of the budget; they quantified and prioritized needs, demonstrated the economic benefits generated by this sector, arguing that the latter, exhausted by the pandemic, was near its breaking point, and that financial catch-up was necessary. We had high hopes of being heard.
Then, reality struck: a meager addition of $4.8 million for 2024-2025 to CALQ’s mission support program, and around $8 million for the subsequent three years. Once the initial shock wore off, anger set in, because, with the end of certain measures and the reduction of funds for others, a reality emerged: the funds available to CALQ for all its programs decreased from $161 million last year to $160 million this year.
Moreover, a deeper analysis reveals that the money available specifically to support the operations of cultural organizations, for its part, decreases from $97 million in 2023-2024 to $90.9 million in 2024-2025; a reduction in funding largely attributable to the end of a $22 million two-year measure granted to CALQ in the Plan to Consolidate, Showcase, and Propel the Cultural Sector. This measure, implemented in 2021, helped organizations address the labor shortage and counter inflation by injecting $11 million per year to support the organizations’ mission. Withdrawing this funding inevitably leads to a significant setback. That’s $6.1 million less to face these same challenges.
During his visit to Paris last week, the Minister, more nuanced than the day after the budget announcement, seemed to concede that the available funds were insufficient. He now says, “actively working with CALQ to find a way to improve financial support for cultural organizations from within the ministry’s budget envelopes.” We expect more from this government, which nonetheless constantly reiterates that culture, a driver of our identity, is a priority. We expect him to adopt a genuine development stance towards Quebec’s arts and letters and to implement a financial catch-up worthy of the name.
The stakes are clear, the needs extensively quantified and detailed. We no longer have the luxury of time. Our organizations and those who will join us, united in this Common Front for Arts and Letters, will not fail to remind him of this in the coming months.
* The Common Front for Arts and Letters brings together the Professional Association of Performing Arts Presenters (RIDEAU), En Piste (national circus arts association), the Quebec Crafts Council (CMAQ), the Quebec Music Council (CQM), the Quebec Theatre Council (CQT), the Quebec Musicians’ Guild (GMMQ), the Peer Grouping of Independent Research and Experimentation Arts (REPAIRE), the Association of Visual Artists (RAAV), the Association of Self-Managed Artist Centers of Quebec (RCAAQ), the Quebec Dance Association (RQD), the Quebec Museums Society (SMQ), Associated Theatres (TAI), and the Union of Quebec Writers (UNEQ).