Councillors on Toronto's Executive Committee confirmed they support a plan to have each person in the city contribute $25 a year to the arts by 2013.
But after hearing from dancer Karen Kain, actor Eric Peterson and other culture leaders, committee members refused to commit the proceeds of a new billboard tax towards the $17.5-million added annual cost of reaching their goal. Budget chief Shelley Carroll predicted "three years of rip-roaring debate" between those who believe the city can't afford not to invest more in the arts and doubters calling for spending restraint. "The fight is now over today," she said.The city spends $18 per person on grants, capital projects and operating support for the arts, up from $14 in 2003, when it approved the plan to increase investment. Montreal spends $33 a person.The city expects to capture $10.4 million a year with the billboard tax, but it is being challenged in court and there will be administrative costs.Councillor Howard Moscoe's motion to have the tax dedicated to culture lost on a tie.Kain, speaking for the National Ballet of Canada and Toronto's other major arts companies, said culture is a big engine of economic growth and investing in it attracts not only tourists to the city but "the best and brightest" from around the world who seek work in the arts.R.H. Thomson said even successful arts companies have been treated here like "poor kids on the back of the bus," despite the respect they bring to Toronto.The award-winning baroque orchestra Tafelmuzik, he said, "play in a dump" with poor acoustics and no air conditioning, while the Tarragon Theatre, whose writers have work produced around the world, has mice and a leaky roof, he said.Carroll said members of the arts community "are the most responsive and least wasteful" among recipients of city funds.Etobicoke Councillor Doug Holyday, however, questioned whether the city will have $17.5 million more a year to spare when it doesn't have enough money for arenas or other things its citizens need. "We have to deal with things realistically here."Che Kothari, of the group Manifesto Community Projects, said art is a powerful tool for engaging young people and more support for young artists can reduce poverty by creating jobs and promote mutual respect and self-worth, particularly in priority neighbourhoods outside the city centre and among non-white youth."As the face of Toronto is changing, so should our arts funding," he said.Toronto has five local arts councils that can distribute grants, but these organizations do not cover North York or some other parts of the city.Lakesha Bambury, a Scarborough youth, told the committee she wanted to match untrained dancers with choreographers so the youth would be inspired to "go for it" and become professional dancers. Bambury said she approached Scarborough Arts Council and received funding support, "so these programs are really needed."Scarborough Councillor Norm Kelly said art is not "a magic pill" for the city's disadvantaged inner suburbs and he would rather see arts programs required in schools "as a vehicle of upward mobility" than have "hit and miss investments" through community art programs.