A call to all lovers of the arts,

For those of you prepared to defend Canadian culture against the funding cuts recently implemented by the government, a meeting is taking place on Wednesday September 3rd at the Theatre Centre, 1087 Queen Street West (SE corner of Queen and Dovercourt).

Who should come? Everyone concerned about the Federal Government’s blatant contempt for arts and culture.
Who will be speaking? Representatives from the Government, visual arts, film, video, and performing arts.
What will we be doing? Formulating a strategy on how to get our voices heard in the next election.
Why is this important? Because the wave of cuts and policy changes are radically changing Canadian society.

Since taking power in 2006, the Conservative Government has eliminated over $34 million from Cultural and Heritage Granting Programs. The programs affected were designed to assist artists, arts institutions and not-for-profit charitable organizations in the creation, development, promotion and dissemination of Canadian art both nationally and internationally.

The most recent cuts are:
- The PromArt Program, 4.7 million (administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs)
- Trade Routes, 9 million, Department of Canadian Heritage
- Stabilization Projects and Capacity Building, of the Canadian Arts and Heritage Sustainability Program
- Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund, 1.5 million
- National Training Program in the Film and Video Sector, 2.5 million
- $300,000 to the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada for programs archiving important film, television and musical recordings.

With the anticipation of more cuts to be announced next week, we are inviting members of the arts and the broader community, MPs and the media to attend a town hall meeting.
This meeting will focus on the importance of investing in our culture, and why the programs that got cut are extremely important in sustaining a strong and vibrant Canadian culture. We intend to discuss these funding cuts, the ideological and inappropriate comments made by government about the politics of recipients and to brainstorm a plan of action.

This meeting is co-organized by Fuse Magazine and Sara Graham.