Culture is for those who can afford it.
by joe posts on Apr.10, 2008, under Blogs, Government
I was sad to hear of all the recent changes at the CBC. They’ve changed CBC Radio2 into more of an adult-contemporary radio channel, relegating ‘classical music’ to the mid-day hours when everyone is at work. Then they went and closed the last CBC radio orchestra, saving a grand total of $1 million dollars a year, which should pay for part of a reality TV series, or for the wardrobe for that Don Cherry movie.
What a waste of Canadian talent. There aren’t many venues for skilled musicians left in Canada. But hey, if they want to compete with Avril Lavigne, they shouldn’t have wasted their lives perfecting their musical abilities and just stick with plunking an electric guitar and coming up with a chorus.. then a verse.. then a chorus… None of this crazy “wordless music,” or worse, music that’s not even in English!
CBC’s reasoning is simple – not everybody likes ‘classical music’ so by minimizing it they think they’ll get a bigger audience share and not have to put up with all the stupid people who constantly complain that their tax dollars go to entertainment that they don’t understand or consume. So, instead, our tax dollars will finance styles of entertainment that are already available through commercial channels.
What bugs me about this – I wasn’t a huge CBC Radio 2 listener, though I enjoy classical music – is that these cuts seem to be part of a broader trend in this country. There are similar issues with Bill C-10, a bizarre piece of legislation introduced by Canada’s New Government™ to block tax credits for Canadian films that make some random government staffer uncomfortable. Amazingly, Hollywood and foreign movie producers will not be affected. They can stuff as much sex and violence into their movies as they want and will still receive help from the government. Not knowing how much money a movie will cost because the taxes are subject to change if the material doesn’t meet government standards won’t help Canada’s film industry, which tends to specialize in movies that are, um, a bit on the dark side.
I just wonder what’s next. If we’re getting rid of funding for classical music because people prefer pop, why not get rid of funding for theatre because people prefer movies? And if the government wants to subtly discourage Canadians from producing controversial films, why not just make it efficient, honest and transparent and establish a censorship office to protect our virgin eyes and ears? While we’re at it, let’s replace the National Art Gallery with Bob’s Poster Emporium – all that fruity (sometimes nude!!!) art that my tax dollars are wasted on could be replaced with some nice, safe, popular Hillary Duff posters.
People who can afford it will always have access to quality art and music. The rest of us depended on our meagre arts funding programs to hear or see something not produced by a big corporation for pure profit. Talented Canadian musicians who didn’t play simple pop tunes had a chance at a finding an audience thanks to non-commercial ventures like CBC. But that will be harder now. Now we’re funding content that mimics mainstream culture so that the CBC can compete with commercial television networks that offer the same thing without costing taxpayers. Does that make sense?
Related Links:
CBC’s Talking Points (from the CBC blog)
