The Canadian Arts Coalition, which bills itself as the largest consortium of artists and artists' organization to ever come to together in Canada, has launched a new Web site at www.votearts2006.ca . The group has praise for the current Liberal government's pre-election commitment to invest $306-million over the next three years in the arts. Now, it is pressing politicians of all stripes to commit to make sure that funding become a reality. The Web site contains lots of resources for voters who believe the health of Canada's cultural community ought to be a priority in this election.
The Web site notes that this additional funding amounts to about $5 per Canadian per year and, even if you see zero value in what any artists does anywhere, the arts coalition appeals to the mercenary in all of us: The $156-million that the Canada Council gets every year to distribute to artists helps to drive about $39-billion in economic activity.