It's high time the government reviewed the way it distributes arts funding and to whom.
The Canadian arts community act as if they are entitled to government hand-outs so they can produce self-indulgent drek that cannot command an audience that justifies its expense.
Case in point - Ellen (aka Elle) Flanders, the notorious grupenfuhrer of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (al-QuAIA) is allegedly a filmmaker. I am unaware of any social benefit from any Elle Flanders film. For that matter, I have never even seen or heard of any of her "films".
The following us what Ellen Flanders received in our tax dollars from The Canada Council for the Arts:
1998: $1500
2001: $9000
2002: $24,500
2004: $58,000
2006: $2000
2007: $59,500
The Canada Council site only provides grants search results for 10 years from 1998-2008.
In that period, Elle Flanders has taken at least $154,500 of our tax dollars.
How about her al-QuAIA cohort, John Greyson. I wonder if any of our tax dollars subsidized this waste?
2000: $60,000
2001: $2000 (plus $18,000 shared with David Wall)
2002: $2500
2003: $55,000
2004: $30,000 (shared with David Wall)
2007: $11,500
2008: $1500
So in the same period, John Greyson has cost us at least (in addition to his salary as an instructor at York University), $180,500
That's $335,000 between the two of these luminaries. And that's not including what they get from other tax-subsidized sources.
Some people might call that absurd. I call it masochism.
It's about time the grants process was reviewed so that there is a limit on the number of grants one individual can receive. Government should not be in the business of giving money, in perpetuity, to self-described "artists" who produce things no one wants to see.
EYE ON A CRAZY PLANET
Zero Degrees of Separation (2005)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454990/
Wow? You gotta be kidding? Something tells me you're not.I've seen those stupid ads on T.V. where the guy screams at you about all the money you are missing out on just cause you don't drop a stamped envolope in the mail! Reading about this stupidity confirms that this (----) is for real! God,it makes you sick and Canada has such a good reputation compared to our stupidity here in the good old U.S. of A.?
ReplyDeleteExcellent report!
ReplyDeleteRafeef Ziadah of Palestine House, who has led many of the anti-Israel protests in the Toronto area, received a Canada Council Arts Grant to produce a spoken-word CD (something about being an angry Arabic-speaking "Palestinian").
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RafeefZiadah
http://www.rafeefziadah.ca/
You make a valid point regarding the same artists getting all the public money year after year. That is an issue for arts funding all over the world, because the council reps become friendly with the artists and want to protect those careers that they have helped establish. It is certainly something that interested members of the public should keep a closer eye on.
ReplyDeleteBut are you suggesting that these particular individuals dont deserve funding because they oppose Israel? Arguing for more variety of voices is commendable; but arguing against the freedom to oppose immoral policies is contradictory.
Elle Flanders doesn't oppose Israel because she is anti-Semitic, she does it because she is opposed to violence and bullying. Calling her a grupenfuhrer doesn't reflect well on you as an individual.
If she is opposed to "violence and bullying", then why do you suppose she has no criticism to offer about the over 10,000 rockets Hamas has launched into Israel? Or their commitment to Israel's destruction?
ReplyDeleteSelf-defense is an inalienable right she only seems to accord to some.
For a group that heaps the most absurd insults and calumnies on Israel and its supporters, it is remarkable to observe how sensitive the anti-Israel bigots are when they get a mild taste of their own medicine.
Grupenfuhrer literally translated means group leader, so it is an accurate description of her role in al-QuAIA. The ultimate result of her efforts, if successful, would provide, at least indirectly, support to Hamas resulting in the deaths of many Jews in Israel. Therefore the description is not inappropriate.