My friend Sam, the brain behind Gutter Press, passed this over to me a long time ago and I finally blew the dust of it. I guess I figured that a time when Ontario is on the brink of totally dismantling public funding for the arts is probably a good time to review this thing. I don’t know who these people are, or what they are up to now, but whatever it is, it is probably more interesting than what typically passes as arts reporting in this country. The Happy Artocract Data Series part one takes on the Ontario Arts Council, a granting body that gives money to Ontario artists to pursue their art. Through a series of graphs based on the principle that “any dollar that does not reach an individual or organization, directly, for the single purpose of creating art, is an expense” they attack the OAC and make the claim that from 1963 to 1992 it has spent $71,599, 647 on expenses and staff salaries and $53,048,000 on grants to individual artists. I am not prepared to comment on the accuracy of their information, but at the very least, interested parties should have a look at the extensive number of graphs and charts they bring to bear on their argument. So write to these guys and ask for this interesting if dated activist investigation. And while you’re at it, tell ’em us down here in pencil-land are waiting not only for part two, but for someone to give us a big juicy grant.
newsletter / The Happy Artocrat Data Series part One / publisher: Mirror/Mirror / main creator: George Young? / free / Independent Arts Investigations, 3977 Bloor Street West, Etobicoke, ON, M9B 1M2