The arts community is pushing back after Premier Tim Houston said a new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is not a priority for his government given the challenges around healthcare and housing.
Visual Arts Nova Scotia, an artist-run advocacy organization, says there is much value in investing in the sector.
“I’m really disappointed and, in fact, actually pretty mad,” says Executive Director Therese Cruz.
On Monday, Houston told reporters during a meeting of Cabinet there are no plans to resume the project to create a new home for the art gallery, which was put on pause two years ago due to ballooning costs.
Houston says that pause will not change, at least not until issues like housing and healthcare improve.
“There are tremendous demands on the public purse,” says Houston. “We need to stay focused on investments in Nova Scotia through healthcare, through education, through housing, through supporting people in their times of need.”
Cruz says the premier’s words have delivered a second blow to the province after it was recently announced the museum’s Yarmouth branch would not be reopening this summer.
The main gallery at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia just opened its doors again after months of maintenance.
“If we continue to go in this direction of not prioritizing arts we’re also going to be losing the fabric of society, which is arts and culture,” says Cruz.
She also warns a lack of investment in the sector can be damaging to local artists.
“This is taking away another opportunity for them to make it a reason to stay and have that retention of talent within our province, which we should be treasuring, honouring, and keeping,” says Cruz.
Artist Debbie Mosher of the Expressions of Colour Art Studio says the province needs to consider the craft as offering more than just entertainment.
She says it’s healing.
“This is totally health in the sense that when people come here, whatever ailment you have — mentally, physically or whatever — you’re in another world when you’re painting or when you’re making music, or when you’re in drama or writing poetry or whatever it is, whatever art you’re in,” Mosher says.
She says Houston’s words are discouraging, but not surprising.
“They don’t think outside the box,” she says
“And that’s what art actually does. It gives you that creativity element to kind of think of solutions outside the box. It’s the very first thing that gets cut when the dollars have to be shifted in different directions.”
Aggrey Agwata is an artist from Kenya who moved to Nova Scotia in 2019.
He says artwork allows communities to express themselves and helps to lift up diverse voices.
“When we practice art we are very close to our cultures and we’re close to the current culture we’re living in so we can observe what’s going on in a better lens when we appreciate art,” he explains.
“I look at this as an area where diversity should be appreciated even more. How more can you talk about diversity if you don’t fund the art spaces that talk about this.”
Agwata says art also offers a response to the different issues community members experience.
“Listening to these voices is empowering them, and letting them empower themselves,” he says. “Sometimes when people author their own narrative or when they tell their own story they’re prone to tell it how it’s supposed to be.”
In a statement, the AGNS says it’s working with government to determine the best path forward.
“The AGNS is in need for an improved facility to overcome the current infrastructure challenges, as highlighted in ongoing studies,” the statement says. “Facility improvements are essential for the AGNS to deliver on its program.”
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