Future of audiovisual in Quebec: associations want changes

Five associations representing more than 19,000 Quebec artists and artisans are tired of seeing that public funds intended for audiovisual production “do not percolate adequately to the end of the chain” and are demanding changes.

The Association des réalisateurs et réalisateurtrices du Québec (ARRQ), the Directors Guild of Canada – Conseil du Québec (GCR Québec), the Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec (GMMQ), the Société des auteurs.e.trice.s de radio, télévision et cinéma (SARTEC) and the Union des artistes (UDA) have joined forces to demand fairer funding and better working conditions for their members.

“What we are asking for with one voice is to ensure that public funds that circulate in culture in general, and particularly in audiovisual, are circulated in the most equitable, fair and ethical manner possible,” said the president of the Union des artistes, Tania Kontoyanni, in an interview.

These organizations expressed their grievances in a brief intended for the Working Group on the Future of Audiovisual in Quebec, which was launched by the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe.

“As we have denounced many times, public funds intended for culture do not adequately trickle down to the end of the chain, that is, to artists and creators,” they noted in their report.

Any project that wishes to receive public funding should therefore be carried out once collective agreements with unions or artists’ associations have been signed.

“We absolutely must ensure that this is a prerequisite for obtaining funding,” said Kontoyanni. “It’s the only way for artists and workers in the industry to have a social safety net.”

Creating producers’ associations for each sector would also help strengthen transparency in the industry, according to the associations, who would like this mechanism to be included in the revision of the Act respecting the professional status of artists in the visual arts, cinema, recording, literature, arts and crafts and the stage.

The report of the Working Group on the Future of Audiovisual in Quebec will be tabled next May.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews