In these times of reopening borders, with theatres and concert halls in many countries welcoming audiences, we want to raise the question of the mobility of Canadian artists.
The Canada Council for the Arts’ programs for international outreach have been frozen. Even in the case in which grants which have been awarded, artists cannot use Canadian government funds to leave the country to fulfill projects.
The continued restriction on touring projects and international travel jeopardizes decades of development by artists, agents, and artists’ administrators who work daily for Canada’s artistic influence abroad. Our ability to share artistic work and to compete for attention on the world stage is being compromised.
Canada has worked tirelessly to position our creative work on the international stage. The current measures of the Canadian Government need to be updated with urgency, particularly as our touring projects are currently engaged for autumn 2021. We need to bring administrative and logistical attention to this situation immediately to facilitate these planned appearances.
We ask the Minister to reconsider the current restrictive measures and to allow artists to pursue their projects outside of Canada’s borders. These opportunities are needed for artists’ survival.
