By Pepper Parr
December 27, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
During the 2014 budget deliberations council wasn’t able to find the funding needed to cover the cost of a person to be named as manager of culture for the city.
The first Culture week for Burlington had a great turnout in Civic Square.
Then city manager Jeff Fielding said at the time that while he couldn’t promise anything he would do his very best to find some savings somewhere and crate the position of Manager of Culture for the city.
In 2013 and 2014 the city began to see a different cultural community; the Art Community Collective was formed, the first No Vacancy was put on at the Waterfront to critical acclaim to be followed by a second much larger presentation at the Village Square.
The city held its first Cultural week; the Performing Arts Centre was under stronger management and was making time and space for the smaller community groups – and they weren’t asking for an increase in funding.
The Burlington Art centre underwent a name change and then a change in its leadership.
Angela Paparizo, now the Manager Art and Culture with Trevor Copp whose delegation brought about a shift in city council’s thinking in 2013
Things on the cultural side of the city were getting more attention and more funding.
General Manager Scott Stewart announced to staff that Angela Paparizo was the successful candidate for the position of Manager of Arts and Culture.
The internal announcement went on to say that “Angela brings more than 10 years of experience in Public Administration, a Master’s Degree in History and Bachelor Degree in Journalism. Angela is continuing her education in Cultural Planning with the University of British Columbia.
“As a Cultural Planner for the City, Angela’s work has been focused on the development of the Cultural Action Plan, Public Art Program, Cultural Mapping, Relationship with Cultural Joint Ventures and Support for cultural community through Community Development and Facility Fee Waiver fund.
“Angela’s experience and passion for arts and culture has helped her successfully develop and deliver Culture Days 2014 in collaboration with artists and cultural organizations.
Performing Arts Centre – a key cultural stakeholder – where do they fit into the Cultural Plan and how much input will they have? will they be truly an arm’s length organization?
“While working in various management positions in the past, Angela’s extensive experience in project management including proposal writing and budgeting has helped her strategically plan highly creative and impactful arts and culture programs that inspire public involvement and provide value to the community.
“As a Manager of Arts and Culture, she hopes to continue her rewarding work in advancing collaborative, community-based programs and services, developing cultural opportunities in Burlington and enhancing the quality of life.”
With a new name and a brand that is being developed and some bright people running the show – where will the Art Gallery fit into the Cultural Action Plan.
The challenge now is to put energy and financial resources into the job as it has been outlined. It is a significant step for the city. In the past culture has resided within the Parks and Recreation department where the focus was on sports and recreational activities.
With new, and hopefully more focused management, culture and the arts will have a chance. The trick is to ensure that we get beyond “Elvis on Velvet” and that the community understands it will take time to pull all the stakeholders together and get them singing from the same sheet music.
There is a very delicate balancing act to be done; diplomacy is going to be a key element and the prime stakeholders will have to be brought on side. Avoiding turf wars will be a challenge.
How avoiding a lineup of artists with their hands out gets pulled off will be interesting to watch.
This situation highlights a major flaw in the overall budgeting process. I do believe that a vibrant cultural community is important to the identity of a city. However, the idea that money can be “found” to fund something that Council wasn’t interested in approving directly is wrong. From a budgeting perspective, if the city is able to provide the services that have been specifically approved by council and are able to “save” money then shouldn’t these funds go back into the general “surplus”. City Council needs to be specific about what services/offerings they want to provide. If not, as with the defeat of the request for a new Cultural Manager position, then finding funding from somewhere else is not necessarily in the public interest.
The City establishes a budget based on what they are planning (with some supporting information as to “How”) if the Corporation can do it cheaper then why spend the overage on other items. Council is simply hiding behind what I would call the “Budget baffle”. Make things so complicated that even Council, who are paid to know, can’t decipher the specifics.
This is the kind of Public Financial Management that we need to stop and we need leadership from Council to make it happen. Not sure if there is anyone ready to step up to the post. Too bad for us residents.
What?! No more ‘Elvis on velvet’? And just who is that asthestic prejudice meant to ‘snub’? The poor? the lower middle class? Mountainside, Aldershot? Mall rats? Those second-gen Burlingtonians glued to their TVs for enlightenment & enrichment?
Rather then ‘invent’ a rootless cultural identity, why not work with what is genuinely here?
Seriously. ~ (Ever listened to Elvis sing gospel? Wonderful!)
Granted, mass produced velvet paintings werent ‘made here’, but they do reflect a cultural choice and reverence for dated celebrity idols and ‘things’ (like tall mast ships) that many genuinely LIKE. Consider that ‘Elvis on velvet’ is increasingly more culturally ‘authentic’ then super pumped art celebs like Jeff Koons’ et al (accused yet again of plagarism in Paris(France).
Nothing will ever grow properly without strong roots. Developing the genuine uniqueness of Burlington’s cultural ‘identity’ means embracing what ‘is’ as well as what ‘was’. For better & worse. ~ The challenge ahead is ‘keeping it real.’