Moulton takes helm of Edmonton Arts Council

Edmonton – ed

“Generally, funding organizations aren’t good at embracing these things because they’re very sectoral — these are the theatre grants, these are the visual arts grants,” says Paul Moulton, who starts his job in May.

“I think young artists especially aren’t stuck in those traditional modes. They’re very interested in seeing how far you can stretch the disciplines and seeing what works together.”

This is one of the objectives of the board for the arts council, created in 1996 with Moulton as the first chair to advise the city on cultural planning and to implement policy.

It will provide $13.5 million this year, mostly from city funding, to local artists, organizations, festivals, events and public art.

It also runs the not-for-profit Tix on the Square outlet at Churchill Square.

Moulton, 60, has a background in the technical side of theatre, but has held numerous administrative positions, including facilities manager for St. Albert’s Servus Place and the Winspear Centre.

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Theatre runs in the family. His wife Betty is a professor in the University of Alberta drama department, and their son Jeff is an actor in Toronto.

Moulton spent the last four years as executive director of St. Albert’s Arts and Heritage Foundation as well as chairing the CKUA board.

He’ll take over this spring from John Mahon, who’s retiring after running the council for the last 15 years.

“Probably the reason why I was selected is I have spent a lot of my career developing what I think is an effective management style for arts. Friends in the private sector say their biggest challenge is getting staff enthusiastic about their work,” Moulton says.

“We don’t have that problem — people are driven to be in this (field) … My job is to get the obstacles out of your way so you can do your job.”

Moulton hopes to reach out to multicultural groups and encourage artists to take risks, saying this is how interesting new material is created.

There are already good examples of this creativity at the Fringe Festival and in Alberta Ballet’s shows using music by Elton John and Joni Mitchell, but Moulton would like to see even more happen.

He’s also interested in raising the council’s profile with a wider audience so people better understand the cultural and economic value of the artistic sector.

“There’s always room to push our message into the broader community (about) who we are, what we do, why it’s important, what it does for the community to have a broader base in the arts.”

However, Moulton, who will oversee a staff of 25 from his office in the Prince of Wales Armoury, doesn’t expect heading one of Edmonton’s most important arts organizations will push him into the spotlight.

“Probably because I started backstage, I feel the applause is for me too, but I’m not out in front of the audience,” he says.

“That’s been my (approach) for most of my working life — quietly getting things done and quietly pleased that they are done.”