Building a Year Round Economy, A Case for The Arts
Updated: Oct 7
I attended the mayor’s debate on Monday night. It was an informative evening and I would encourage everyone to listen to it over on County FM. There was one question of the evening, however, that I was throughly disappointed in the answers of all three candidates and some of the short sightedness it displayed and I want to talk about it. County Arts submitted a single question to all the candidates across all wards and seats, with three options to answer it;
“If Municipal investment in local arts-mandated organizations is tripled, reaching $150,000 in 2027, it would project to $3,750,000 in total generated revenue and leveraged sector funding, following the Ontario Arts Council's verified 25-to-1 financial leverage baseline for funded cultural organizations. If elected, to what extent will you be willing to advocate for increased municipal investment in arts and culture as an economic development strategy to support local job creation, attract high-spending visitors, and grow the local economy?”
All three candidates said some version of “in times of austerity we must cut the extras” and would not support a funding increase, despite the clear economic payoff that doing so could bring being laid out in the question. I would like to take the time today to provide my own answer to this question and speak about arts and the economy in general.
Prince Edward County is home to the largest population of professional, working artists in the province. We are sixth in the entire country.
When you look around these days it would be hard to deny the positive impact this abundent, hard working sector of our community has brought. On almost any given weekend in the spring, summer and fall months you can find more than a dozen live music options to pull up a seat and enjoy - this number can get as high as 25+ on summer weekends. We have multiple recurring art, music and film festivals that draw visitors each year to the area, and endless number of art and craft fairs that feature dozens of local artisans, a studio tour that has brought visitors for 30 years to all corners of the county, and multiple recording studios located across the county as well as a burgeoning music scene with both large and mid level bands increasingly choosing Prince Edward County as the tour spot between Toronto and Montreal. I could go on and on about the endless amount of talent and creatively that give PEC a unique draw. When you look to events being made to expand the shoulder and quieter parts of our seasons, they are often being spearheaded by local arts and culture organizations. They are one the largest driving forces behind the expansion of our season outside of peak summer.
Many small, rural towns in Ontario have beautiful beaches, campgrounds, restaurants and wineries. Prince Edward County has the added attraction of a strong arts community - which in terms of economic value - cannot be overlooked or underestimated in creating a unique experience and giving people a reason to visit here while providing many employment opportunities already.
I would support expanding the our arts funding in Prince Edward County as part of an overall goal in the creation of a stronger year round economy. An increase in funding would mean we can not only support the exisiting artist community, but start to expand outwards from visual arts and performance arts into the further reaches of the world like music production, film and literary arts. These are ideas that are already taking root in the community.
Through conversations with music producers, folks from Visit The County and people with economic development backgrounds over the last two months I have been exploring the possibility of building and expanding these industries and firmly believe that are a creative, viable option for working with what we already have to build something greater.
Building the arts in a way that is not just connected to tourism, but instead brings increased year round employment opportunities should be a no-brainer in an area that promotes themselves as a vibrant art community as much as we do. We have the people and talent necessary to dream big in this sector and a drive and willingness to see it happen.
Working towards promotion and building the county as a sought after recording destination may seem like an out there idea if you haven’t spent the last three years taking an “if you build it they will come” approach to voluenteering your time to create a bigger indie music scene here. I have seen first hand that is it is a highly achievable goal, and one that we have been quite successful in. Over the last year I have watched more than a dozen local musicians record albums that are fully produced, engineered and mastered right here in The County. The studio musicians on the albums are almost all local as well. Between these albums the studios hidden around the county are busy with people coming here to record.
I’m sure many of you remember the days of The Boat House Studio’s in Bath being a household name because The Hip recorded there, and there is no reason that we in the county cannot build to a similar level over the next five to ten years. Drawing in regional, national and (eventually) interantional talent wanting to record here would brings in a different kind of visitor that stays longer, eats in our restaurants more, shops in our small businesses while building a connection to the area that naturally grows our reputation and builds further reach.
In terms of film, this is another part of the art industry that has the possibility of being be a solid job creator here in PEC. One that I know there is a conversation already started around this idea in conjunction with the Bay of Qunite region. With this brings the need for housing during filming, the hiring of local stylists, set dressers, tour and courier companies for moving people around locations and restaurants to feed the crew. Rentals fees for locations, and a sustained increase in visitors that are not simply here for a quick weekend visit but often times working and living here for months on end. Given the huge number of small business that would benefit from the increased services required by film crews it would be well worth out time to explore this option as well. Arts funding does not just support expanded jobs and tourisms, but contributes positively to the mental health and well being of our community through programs like the Department of Illuminations Art Kitchen and Quintissimo - a free local music program for kids.
These are the reasons that I firmly stand behind the idea of expanding our arts funding even in times of austerity and concerns over debt. There has been a lot of talk around how we build a stronger year round economy, not just in this election for most of my life here - that we need more job, that we need new industry, etc is a constant conversation but I have yet to hear much in the way of concrete ideas, what industries we need to expand or how to do this in a sustainable way.
Today I am bringing you not just an idea, but a plan. One that works with the people and industries we already have here, builds on our already strong arts reputation and works in conjunction alongside our already established small business and tourism industries. It by no means the full solution, but one of many steps we can take. Art is so often a part of our world that’s positive impact is seen everywhere, while being taken for granted that it will always be there to enrich our life. It is also an already important part of our economic base. The County is lucky to have such a vibrant community of creatives. With support, hard work and innovative outside the box thinking I truly believe we can build this part of The County this into something bigger with a positive economic impact for everyone.
Further Art's Funding Background Information via County Art's
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