UPDATE: Markham weighs $70k injection to boost local arts
Cash-strapped Markham is not in a position to give handouts.

YorkRegion.ca
Amanda Persico
June 10, 2014

Even if the cash is needed to help boost the city’s soul through arts and culture.

During yesterday’s general committee meeting, the Markham Arts Council made a presentation, during they made a request for $70,000 in operational funding to finish off 2014.

“This is about survival at this point,” said Diane Hallquist, an arts council director.

The arts council also asked to be included in the city’s annual budget for $150,000 in operational funding for the next three years, as well as a deferred payment of the city’s $59,000 loan for five years.

Yesterday’s request for $70,000 would be in addition to the already-allocated $19,000 granted from the city earlier this year. The funds would be used to re-hire two staff members and to continue with planned programming until the end of the year.

The $150,000 would cover operating costs, such as one full-time and one part-time employee, insurance for events, Internet and bookkeeping services.

With city funding, the arts council would still be one of the lowest funded and understaffed arts councils in Ontario. Most other arts councils provincewide have on average of five to nine employees. Municipal funding for local arts councils range from about $153,000 in Waterloo to about $442,000 in Etobicoke, which has a 30-year history and its own foundation.

The council hosts various annual events, such a Markham at the Movies, International Festival of Authors, YorkSlam, Arts Exposed and a local one of a kind show. The council also supports several other groups, including the Markham Creative Photography Group, Markham Teen Arts Council, Markham Group of Artists, Writers Community of York Region, PechaKucha Nights in partnership with Varley Art Gallery and Markham Public Library’s One Book One Markham program.

The arts council facilitates the majority of the behind-the-scenes administration roles for each event and sub-group, including filing taxes, bookkeeping for fundraising events, insurance coverage and signing contracts with organizations, such as the Toronto International Film Festival.

“Those are committees with volunteers,” former arts council executive director Helen Argiro said after the meeting. “Markham Arts Council works in the background. The council is a facilitator that helps artists be in the forefront.”

But the city has a deficit of about $1.8 million and the $70,000 request would only add to it, city treasurer Joel Lustig said.

The deficit comes as a result of costs associated with ice storm clean up and recovery efforts, as well as higher-than-expected winter maintenance costs.

While the city is trying to mitigate the deficit by asking each department to curb spending discretionary funds, councillors agreed while arts and culture is a worthy cause running a larger deficit needs justification.

“The arts connects what we have here – a diverse community,” Councillor Carolina Moretti said. “It is the thread that connects us all as one. It’s an election year. It would be great to say yes and sign over $70,000, but I have to be fiscally responsible.”

Morretti put forward a motion, calling for city staff to report back in the fall, looking at a number of initiatives to move forward the relationship between the city and the arts council, including a funding comparison from other municipalities and their arts councils, sustainable funding options for the arts council and possible 2014 funding options.

This deferral puts the annual International Festival of Authors event in Markham in jeopardy, Argiro said.

Argiro was laid off from the arts council, along with the council’s art administrator who was laid off at the beginning of the year.

The arts council has been working on securing an author’s workshop during this year’s festival, which has been rated as one of the best touring festivals in Ontario.

“That’s all in limbo, now,” Argiro said. “We always assumed (the city) would be there. There are a lot of writers in Markham and a lot of emerging writers, too.”

Part of the motion approved by general committee this morning also encourages the arts council to meet with city staff to come up with interim funding solutions to be approved by council prior to the summer break.

“We just have to wait,” Argiro said.

While the future of the arts council is uncertain, the city does support and invest in the arts.

The city spends about $2 million a year on support for the arts, Mayor Frank Scarpitti said. That includes funding for the Varley Art Gallery, Flato Markham Theatre and the Markham Museum.

“Those are city-owned facilities, of course the city would pay for operating them,” she said. “As a homeowner, you pay the electricity bill and the Internet and cable bill. That’s like Toronto saying ‘We have the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) and the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario), we’re done. That means no International Festival of Authors, no Luminato, no Nuit Blanche.”

But some councillors asked how the situation reached this point, with the arts council coming cap in hand, asking for 11th-hour funding.

It’s been a game of ping-pong since 2011, Argiro said, where the arts council was told to go to city staff, then  back to council for support.

“This information isn’t new,” Argiro said. “Throwing a few thousand dollars doesn’t allow us to plan for the future. Throwing us a crumb will not solve the problem.”

The staff report is to also look into programing and if there is a duplication of efforts from the city’s culture department and the arts council.

The council’s art administrator was laid off at the beginning of the year and the executive director was laid off in March.

The arts council has garnered more than 650 signatures as well as signatures from Canadian literary treasures, such as Margaret Atwood and Vincent Lam.

Atwood even tweeted the petition out to her more than 22,000 followers last week.

“The community gets it,” Argiro said. “They already know what we do. They know we need funding from the city. We don’t want to fight. We just want to be treated fairly.”

SIDEBAR

Markham's mounting debt
Earlier this year, Markham approved a $426.6 million budget that includes $187.5 million for operations and $119.9 million for capital costs.

But now the city is running a $1.8-million deficit as a result from costs associated with the  December ice storm and increased winter maintenance costs.

Municipalities are regulated under the Municipal Act to plan for balanced budgets and to include financial provisions to ensure debts are paid off within a year.

But municipalities can incur debt for municipal purposes, such as capital works and sudden expenses incurred during the year, so long as there’s a plan to repay the debt.

When it comes to long-term financial projects, such as large-scale infrastructure, the province also outlines a formula for how much principal and interest can be paid each year.

Calls to the city were not immediately returned.