In yesterday’s Toronto Star’s op-ed section, Martin Knelman argues that Toronto is finally getting the funds it needs to compete with Montreal as Canada’s seat of cultural avant-garde. He even ups the urban-rivalry ante by writing that “Toronto’s cultural all-stars [by which Knelman means the AGO, Luminato and the ROM, all of which have received millions from politicians of late] are upstaging Montreal’s, which is the equivalent of the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup by beating the Canadiens in overtime.”
Millions or no, I have to say that from where I sit, Toronto still has a long ways to go before it snatches Montreal’s cultural crown. In terms of cultural access, Hogtown is way behind La Belle Ville, even more so than our beleaguered pucksters are lagging the Habs.
Why? Because $75 million-plus in funds that our big-name TO institutions and fests are receiving isn’t tied to creating equitable admission fees.
Check this: Admission to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MTL’s most ROM-like venue) is free for the permanent collection, and fee’d only for temporary shows. The ROM? Still $20 for both.
Over at the Musee d’art Contemporain de Montreal (MTL’s more AGO-like institution) the comparison is just as dramatic: Where the new AGO will have a more reasonable admission policy than the ROM ($18, with free entrance on Wednesday evenings) it still pales to that of the MACM, which charges just $8 for an adult admission and still has their own free entrance scheme—also, coincidentally, on Wednesday evenings.
Similarly, Luminato is still far from totally affordable. As far as I could see on their website, half the events are free, while the other half range in price up from $10 to $125.
Luminato just released a list of “community outreach” events today, which is of course better than nothing, but there are still issues. As Kate Hammer reports in today’s Globe and Mail, the access programs that the AGO and the ROM do have are often confusing for intended users. While the existence of these programs sounds great to donors and access advocates, it’s clear that they have a long way to go before they can deliver culture in a way that actually provides access to all Torontonians.
“Vive le Toronto artistique,” Knelman suggests, and that will work for some in our city.
Yet for the many who can’t afford it, Toronto culture might as well be on life support. Oui ou non?
– – – – – – –
This post is from Spacing’s Arts editor Leah Sandals and originally appeared on Spacing Toronto
4 comments
At least the investment is coming and the ambitious projects are being realized. I don’t see why more funding couldn’t be found in the future to lower admission.
The ROM is also half price on Fridays from 4:30 to 9:30. But for now, Montreal is ahead in terms of making the fine arts financially accessible. It’s still very possible for practically anyone in the city to visit those improved institutions and events.
(Also, see the Spacing Toronto posting for some interesting comments.)
Among the comments posted in the Spacing Toronto site following that entry, there is one thing that bothers me. Matt C. wrote this: (…) when in the last 30 years has Montreal been Canada’s cultural centre? If a city has the national ballet and opera companies, the largest museums in the country, the national broadcaster, arguably the world’s most important film festival and (to use to old-but-true cliche) probably the biggest theatre scene in the English-speaking world other than New York and London…is it really competing with anybody else in Canada? I know Montreal definitely still has the lead in modern dance, but that’s gotta be it.(…)
Well, since when the national broadcaster was solely located in Toronto? Last time I checked, the french side of the CBC was headrquartered here in Montreal. Maybe it doesn’t count because it’s french? Also, if Toronto is the biggest english theatre scene in the world after London and NY, Montreal is certainly the second biggest french theatre scene after Paris. But maybe that still doesn’t count because it’s french…
And I could go on… Montreal has the most prestigious orchestra, the biggest jazz and comedy festival in the world, etc. Les Grands ballets canadiens are in Montreal, so is the Cirque du Soleil (of which every single show is produced right here and then packed in boxes and send to Vegas or Tokyo). Then there is the Toronto film Festival, certainly the most important one in the world after Cannes. But what about the rest of the year? There are far more foreign films being shown all-year long in Montreal’s cinemas than in Toronto’s.
Bottom line: both cities are important cultural centres.
I gotta agree with Martin… you took the thoughts right out of my head. That comment about Montreal not being the cultural center anytime in the last 30 years is so shortsighted and ignorant.
Indeed, just because you have a few national arts groups (Ballets, opera) HQ’d in a city does not a cultural capital make; it is an overall culture of creativity from both the high and low end in my opinion that makes a city a cultural center. While Toronto is a formidable cultural capital it has certainly only been in the last 15 years or so that its role as metropolis has truly started to take shape and solidify. I mean, the instant Toronto surpassed Montreal in terms of population or as a financial/business center does not equate to it also becoming a cultural capital.
The unfortunate thing for Montreal though, is that now that corporate Canada is so centered in TO, Montreal has lost a lucrative segment of corporate and private patrons.