Analysis: The Municipality Doesn’t Care About Arts And Culture
By John Swartz
Monday afternoon’s council meeting has one item which is becoming a bigger issue than the mandarins at City Hall probably wanted.
There are two issues. One is a refusal to schedule a deputation for the board of the Orillia Museum of Art and History to make their case for renewal of their lease of the Sir Sam Steele Memorial Building. The other issue is the lease itself.
It’s Your Spurn
Orillia council delegated processing deputation requests to staff during the previous council. Among the arguments offered by staff was to be able to weed out requests staff determined were not the municipality’s business, or were already dealt with by council. The argument also went was staff needed to be able to weed out frivolous, or vexatious requests.
Finding the exact report justifying changing rules on deputations is difficult because the word deputation appears in every council agenda, and every council preview report, but memory is clear staff wanted to dispense with a range of deputations and offered nebulous interpretations of what would be declined.
What was clear in memory of what was wanted was the ability to prevent a range of cases where people could address council on a range of issues people thought their voice should be heard. This was pointed out at the time.
Most recently, the Canadian Federation of University Women were turned down to speak to council because they wanted some action beyond council’s previous endorsement of a resolution from the Town of Bracebridge regarding intimate partner violence. The CFUW wanted something more of their council than we agree, in the form of a declaration an emergency exists.
Anyone with an ounce of thoughtfulness would agree they, and anyone, should have the right to address council on matters they think are important. The CFUW eventually got their deputation.
Of late, the Orillia Museum of Art and History wanted a deputation to discuss the lease being foisted upon them by City staff. It is a lease that would handicap OMAH substantially. Staff rejected the deputation. One wonders what in the world could justify denying OMAH the right to address council on a matter that could jeopardize the existence of the museum.
Mayor Don McIsaac’s letter to the OMAH board contains some unfortunate language characterizing them as antagonistic because they pointed out some maintenance issues for which the City is responsible have not been addressed.
So here’s the real problem. This City’s administration does not give two hoots about arts or culture and hasn’t since the culture department was disbanded and the director, Craig Metcalf, unceremoniously walked out the door. Sure they pay lip service to the portfolio, but why is it not one senior administration official ever attends a cultural event? Why is it only three councillors can be counted on to be seen at cultural events?
There was a time when a former CAO would regularly attend events, and he still does.
The arts community put in a lot of effort, got council to back a study, and presented the findings arts and culture accounted for 20% of all economic activity in this City back in the early 00’s. This was a revelation to many, especially councillors, but they at least had the foresight to understand, even if they didn’t understand the issue, arts and culture ought to be given more heft at City Hall.
The Lease Specifics
OMAH currently pays the City $1 per year to occupy the Sir Sam building and the City is responsible for maintenance. The lease is expiring and they want a new 20-year lease under the same terms. Staff say no other cultural organization has that kind of deal, and gets full run of the building. So what.
OMAH raised and spent more than $1 million to renovate a dilapidated building which no one other than what was the Sir Sam Steele Art Gallery at the time wanted to use or occupy. Even the then economic development board had left years earlier. Then they raised more than $2 million to finish the reno job and bring back into use a truly dilapidated and for decades totally unused 2nd and third floor.
Those renos also included a new roof and an elevator. Since 2013 when the reno was finished, that building and the staff operating the museum have made a center of gravity downtown that is remarkable.
Staff say they should pay $245,000 annually in rent. And they say OMAH should also become responsible for maintenance. The mayor’s letter pointed out the City spent $500K on maintenance since 2018 (over 8 years) and grants OMAH $180,000 annually for its operating budget.
OMAH is the steward of this community’s history. Heck, they are the stewards of the City’s public art policy. They have more than 23,000 artefacts to care for. They have very successful art programming for children the City could not hope to replicate in quality, thereby saving money for Parks and Rec to try and reinvent the wheel.
Sometimes there is so much going on at OMAH it’s difficult to keep track of it all. They have developed an annual landscape art show that attracts entries from across the country. The annual Women’s Day art show is one of their biggest events. They have a pretty nice collection of Gordon Lightfoot’s possessions, some of which is on display as a permanent exhibit.
Their exhibit openings are affairs. The exhibits they mount are interesting and attract submissions for exhibits from sources outside of the community.
They are a force in Orillia that needs to be maintained. There has never been a time in human history that art has not been paid for by the princes,, kings, popes, bishops and billionaires, or the communities where art resides.
Oh sure, what about the music industry and movies? That’s’ art, isn’t it? Doesn’t that pay for itself? Sure, aside from the myriad of tax breaks producers get, and the grants available to artists to develop and create new works. That capitalistic model of art creation only exists in the United States and nowhere else on earth and becasue of that we have a warped view of art in general; that it should generate profits.
A good deal of that music will be forgotten about in time (especially if the tech industry makes old tech obsolete at the current pace), except for the Beatles output and a few others. The movie industry lost hundreds of original masters and print to a fire for want of spending a little money on a decent fire system. There’s a reason why the Smithsonian keeps copies of significant art pieces (though if current immoral philosophy holds, that may have a time limit).
Never leave the truly important and final decisions up to the bean counters; they know not of the quality and value of their ‘decisions’, only the quantity and short-term cost. They will gladly tell you how many beans are in a basket, but if you want to stump them, ask how many are rotten.
The City’s position assumes, if OMAH vacates, there will be another occupier of the building. Good luck with that, there were no occupiers when OMAH took over the place. Has anyone ever noticed what happens to buildings after prolonged periods of no use? Well, you spend $3 million bringing it back to life.
We are nothing without our history and art. This treatment of OMAH should be objectionable even to those who can’t draw a straight line without a ruler. If we don’t value our history and our art, we no values. There is a groundswell of support which formed during the last week, and many plan to attend today’s council meeting.
Council meetings are open to the public or can be watched on the City’s Youtube channel.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)
