Foreign Minister Addresses Canadian Arts Summit

March 24, 2003

The Honourable Bill Graham, Minister of Foreign Affairs, continued his Dialogue on Foreign Policy this past weekend, speaking in Banff to the 6th Annual Canadian Arts Summit about Canada's place in the world, and specifically, the role of culture in defining that place.

A unique national forum, co-ordinated by The Council for Business and the Arts in Canada (CBAC) in co-operation with The Banff Centre, the Canadian Arts Summit brings together the chief executives, artistic directors and board chairs of Canada's largest art museums, symphony orchestras, theatres, opera and ballet companies - primarily those with budgets over $4 million. Summit participants from 28 performing and visual arts institutions came together for 48 hours to discuss issues of mutual concern.

As world events brought into sharp focus Canada's struggle to differentiate itself as a sovereign nation, the Summit participants discussed with the Minister how culture can help delineate a special place for Canada as a bilingual, multi-cultural, trading nation. To date the bulk of Canada's foreign affairs efforts have been focussed on trade and diplomacy, in stark contrast to the serious investments in culture made by other G8 players such as Britain, France, Germany and Japan. Summit participants urged the Minister to strengthen the cultural aspect of foreign policy to enable Canada to compete effectively on the world stage.

Robert Palmer, an international arts consultant who was responsible for two "European Cities of Culture" - Glasgow and Brussels - and who has worked on five continents, brought into high relief the similarities and differences he sees in arts organizations around the world in his opening address. When Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Composer-in-Residence Patrick Carrabré took the podium on Sunday, describing the success of the New Music Festival, juxtaposed with the WSO's current crippling financial issues, Palmer's challenge to the participants to engage audiences effectively and transmit the real value of the arts took on special poignancy.

As the only forum in Canada specifically for the leaders of the country's largest performing and visual arts organizations, the Canadian Arts Summit participants also discussed a study they had commissioned from IBM Consulting and GPC International that looked at the current position of the arts, and, more particularly, large arts organizations, in Canada. The group reached consensus on a number of ways they might work together over the next year to strengthen the arts.

The Canadian Arts Summit welcomed the continued support of Great-West Life and London Life, who have supported this initiative from the beginning.