Artists protest in Quebec for more sustainable funding

Artists and cultural workers, who are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet, gathered Saturday afternoon in several municipalities across Quebec to demand an increase in funding from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).

Nearly a hundred of them gathered around 3 p.m. in front of the offices of the Minister of Culture and Communications in Montreal to put forward their demands. 

Holding placards reading “A Quebec without culture, a Quebec without a future” or “I want to die on stage, not see the stage die”, they made themselves heard in the city centre to explain that their situation is no longer viable.

“I am one of the privileged people who manage to make a living from their profession and yet I have a hard time keeping my head above water,” said Pierre-Alexis St-Georges, an actor. “Life is getting more and more expensive and with things happening like in the United States, we just can’t get by.”

Currently, an artist’s average income is $17,000 per year if they live in Montreal and $13,000 per year if they live elsewhere in the province, according to Clément de Gaulejac, an artist and illustrator who is a member of the Grande mobilisation des artistes du Québec (GMAQ).

“In a world where it was possible to live inexpensively, we were getting by more or less, but today, with inflation, access to housing, artists are literally no longer getting by,” he testified in an interview. “The industry is literally collapsing, and it’s not just us who are saying it, it’s the entire industry.”

On Saturday, the GMAQ held its fourth mobilization since the group was created in the spring of 2024. Simultaneous demonstrations were also organized in front of the Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts and in front of the Méduse in Quebec City. Other mobilizations were also planned in Rouyn-Noranda, Saint-Jean-Port-Joli in Chaudière-Appalaches, and Sainte-Rose-du-Nord in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.

Cultural workers from all backgrounds — theatre, dance, circus, music, visual arts and literature — want to put pressure on the Legault government before the provincial budget is tabled in a few weeks.

 Despite several meetings with Culture Minister Mathieu Lacombe, they fear that the current funding of $160 million — which includes $60 million in emergency funding set up during the pandemic — will be reduced. The GMAQ artists are therefore demanding that the CALQ’s permanent budget be doubled, from $100 million to $200 million.

“There is no need to look much further for solutions; there is a need for additional budget to finance culture in Quebec, which is in complete crisis. Organizations are closing one after the other, artists are giving up their practices,” explained De Gaulejac.

For Solidarity MP Manon Massé, was present at the Montreal mobilization.

“I think that artists, the cultural community, are sending a very strong signal to the Quebec government: we are no longer able to survive. And that, in a Quebec weakened by tariffs coming from the south, weakened by insecurity, is a Quebec that is abandoning its culture,” she said.

Another look at art

In the longer term, the GMAQ would like to obtain the creation of a social safety net for artists, who generally live from their art only with the subsidies obtained to carry out their projects. In addition to giving life to their art, these subsidies, which are not so easy to obtain, also allow them to pay their rent or their groceries.

Doris Bouffard, a sculptor and painter for forty years, can testify to this. She has already made several requests for grants that she has not obtained.

“I realize that most sculptors (…) have always had other jobs. It’s quite exceptional for someone to be able to make a living from it. You have to do a lot of projects, give classes, but even that is not enough,” she said.

“Even if we find a grant, it lasts six months and after that, we have to find another source of income,” recalled Sarah A. Tremblay, a visual arts worker and also a member of the GMAQ.

With their mobilizations, the volunteer movement hopes above all to be able to change the perception that some people have of artists. 

“We want to fight against the idea that we have perceived among the people who govern us that art is like a “hobby” that we do at the taxpayer’s expense,” explained De Gaulejac.

“People consume culture, whether it’s books, music or something else, but it seems like people forget who created the culture and how that person lives. We’re trying to change the way society looks at it,” added Tremblay.

The office of the Minister of Culture and Communications indicated by email that it did not wish to respond.