Ever wonder how so many Canadian bands can afford to travel across the continent to our little festival known as South by Southwest? Every year the tally increases, with SXSW 08 hitting upward of 100 Canucks. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but gas is expensive these days, not to mention days’ worth of food for an entire band – or community, if you’re talking Broken Social Scene. One of the joys of Canadian life is its socialist policies, not the least of which is the PromArt program, a $4.7 million (that’s Canadian dollars, equal to about $4.5 million) program that promotes Canadian culture abroad.
However, it’s seems that America’s least-favorite administration of all time isn’t the only asshole on the continent.
Canada’s PromArt program doesn’t only divvy out funds to rock bands to make it to SXSW. It also funded CBC news broadcaster Avi Lewis, who the Conservative Canadian government calls “a general radical,” as well as less-controversial entities the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and a former (Canadian) Supreme Court justice. Who needs culture when you’ve got cold? The Conservatives have decided that these little cultural organizations, as of March 1, 2009, will be on their own.
But slashing social programs is nothing new to those in these parts. What is especially disheartening is the reasoning behind the cuts. The money “went to groups that would raise the eyebrows of any typical Canadian,” a government official told Canwest News Service whilst singling out one of the best post-rock instrumental groups to come out of Canada – okay, maybe the only one, but they’re great – Holy Fuck (repeatedly written as Holy F— in Canadian publications), who received a whopping $3,000 from the fund for a weeklong tour of the UK and who, it should be understood, are in the process of breaking through internationally big-time following a stint with M.I.A. (again, incredible), further heightening the Canadian image.
“The funding choices made were inappropriate … because they were ideological in some cases or the money was going to fringe arts groups that, in many cases, would be best unrepresentative and at worst offensive,” said the prime minister’s press secretary, Kory Teneycke, via CBC News.
So we ask you: What’s in a name? Surely the Canadian government has found nothing offensive in the lyricless music of Holy Fuck, but the Juno-nominated band has been axed due to one little four-letter word. Surely that would never happen in the land of the free. Right?
As for SXSW 09, we’ll see if any effect is felt. The Canada Council for the Arts, which puts on a showcase every year, is intact, as far as we know, and the PromArt program was a source of lump-sum grants, like Holy Fuck’s UK excursion. Hopefully that Great White music will continue to flow.
This article appears in August 22 • 2008.