Losing our national arts treasures? Budget cuts prompt closing of NFB Mediatheque

Granted, at times, I feel uncomfortable discussing Canadian politics. Who am I, transplanted New Yorker that I am, to say, right? But I intend to stay, so there… One of the things that I find fascinating about Canada and Canadians is the on-going and very earnest discussion about what it means to be Canadian, and the importance that cultural product gets in the discussion. So yeah, it seems kind of tragic to see deep budget cuts that go right to heart of the production and distribution of distinctly Canadian content.

I’ll just set aside the time-tested foundation of Keynesian economics that the best way to claw out of a recession is to spend out of it, saving cutbacks and belt tightening for flusher economic times. The NFB is a national treasure right? Right?

If you happened to stick your head out of your window on the morning of April 4, 2012 in Toronto, you might have heard a faint groaning sound rolling across the city. That would be the sound of Toronto’s significant filmmaking and passionate film-going communities reacting to the National Film Board’s budget cut announcement. It’s one thing to know theoretically that the NFB was mandated to cut 10% of its operating budget, a real number of $6.68 million over 3 years. It’s another thing entirely to learn that Toronto loses 33 full and part-time jobs and the NFB Mediatheque as a result of those cuts. CLICK TO READ THE REST.

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