NO PLACE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
By Adnews Staff
There's no place for a Canadian public television channel devoted to performing arts. This is the gist of a report released this week by Heritage Minister Michel Dupuy. The report was written by the Group of Experts on Alternative Programming, a committee of arts community leaders chaired by Toronto entertainment lawyer Peter Grant. Noting that this is an era of declining government support, and citing consumer resistance to being forced to pay for channels they don't ask for, the group says the government would be better off backing existing services. Dupuy appointed the group after the government came under fire for supporting the Canadian Radio-telvision and Telecommunciations Commission's decision to licence Bravo, Moses Znaimer's quasi-arts channel. Protestors feared that Bravo would spend too much air time on arts journalism and too little on actual performances. Alternative programing is loosely defined by the CRTC as anything that is currently "underrepresented" on-air. The Group calls the CBC an "essential part part of any strategy to support new Canadian production."