"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Tuesday 10 June 2014

Markham Can't Afford It

I meant to mention a news item from Markham last week.

The Arts Council was having to contemplate shutting down for lack of funding. Encouragement in art was  what they were about.

The annual budget was $120,000.  It sounded like the municipality had cut  back. Markham has four regional councillors ,they probably have several times higher population.

The  news story provided a list of  Arts  Council budgets in the GTA

Etobicoke was  highest at a little over $300,000.

Etobicoke, Ford's Nation,  probably has  at least ten times the  population of Aurora.

This year we doled out  more than half a million dollars  to the Culture Centre Board. People we know nothing about.

We  provide  them a  newly renovated  building  to generate revenue with no overheads except payroll.

The  governing body is self-selected. Like the Farmers Market

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You've inflated the number - again. The cost of building maintenance shouldn't be included because it would have to be paid however the place was being put to use.

Anonymous said...

That is going to have to be the problem of an in-coming Council facing the budget. We cannot afford such largesse. One of the new candidates wants increased ' meaningful ' funding for the Arts. Oh, yeah, and to send an Auroran artist to France.

Anonymous said...

I thought you opposed funding for the arboretum?

Anonymous said...

Strange seasonal ? change. A staff member who traditionally wanders about all winter in shirt sleeves appears in a jacket just as summer kicks in. Could this be due to the fact that he was required to answer questions from council this evening ? Or was it due to excessive air-conditioning ?

Anonymous said...

Oh my....So much for Markham's "quality of life".

Anonymous said...

Unless you know something I do not, we are stuck with the status quo, a microcosm of the provincial elections. The current bunch are quite willing to forego a fully paid tennis bubble on otherwise unusable land in favour of some pie-in-the-sky all-year sport facility to cost an enormous amount.

Anonymous said...

For the record... Arts Council does not equal Culture Centre.

Yes, Markham has a larger population than Aurora. Markham also has a major theatre.

Perhaps if you researched what the "Arts Council" does as opposed to the Culture Centre, you may have an argument. But until, I am on the fence.

Anonymous said...

Toronto's festival of the arts, Luminato, has been told that it " has to justify its existence " this year because of the huge costs it keeps incurring.