Canada Council celebrates 45 years

IFACCA/Artshub,
30 August 2002, Canada

The Canada Council for the Arts is marking its 45th anniversary this year, and according to its 2001-2002 Annual Report, it seems that there is a great deal to celebrate. During the period of April 1, 2001 and March 31, 2002, the Council has awarded more than $137 million in grants, prizes and payments to Canadian artists and arts organisations in 825 communities. There are now an estimated 120,000 artists in Canada – marking an increase of 33% over the past ten years. As a result of Council funding during the period, Canada’s artistic talent has continued to be recognised around the world, with major international accolades awarded to a variety of artists including: writer Anne Carson, T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry; Playwright and theatre director Robert Lepage, London Evening Standard Award for Best Play of the Year; Violinist James Ehnes, Young Artist of the Year at the MIDEM Music Festival in France and Multimedia artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, 2001 Venice Biennale in Visual Art. 'These honours are by no means the measure of our success, but merely an indication of it,' Canada Council Director Shirley L. Thomson said in her introduction to the report. 'Thousands of Canadian artists, some famous, some still relatively unknown, are producing outstanding new work that embodies the qualities of our nation. Their art is a treasure-trove for us to share and cherish.' During the 2001-2002 period, the Council awarded more than 6,300 grants totalling $123.7 million, as well as $9.7 million in payments to writers under the Public Lending Right program and $3.8 million in endowed prizes and fellowships in the arts, science, social sciences and humanities. The report also notes that the Council’s funding from the federal government was increased by $24.4 million over the previous year, which raised its total support to artists by nearly 17 per cent. The full text of the Annual Report, as well as provincial and territorial profiles and a searchable database of grants awarded in 2001-2002, is available on the Canada Council’s Web site at;www.canadacouncil.ca/council/annualreports/