Michael Wheeler - Thought #12 - Operating Funding is Broken

Hi this is Michael Wheeler and this is my final thought.  I think for the arts to really thrive in Canada we need to radically reshape the way that Arts Councils work. Operating funding works on a system where the older the company is, the more money they have. If you started a company in the 70s you have good money, 80s still pretty good, 90s getting rough, and by the time you get to the 00s you're not even talking about real money any more. This has a real effective on what is the professional work that is made in the country. It's the work that's made by those companies that have the real money from the 70s and 80s and quite often those companies have the oldest ideas. So we're funding professionally the oldest ideas and I think that's bad for art and that's bad for innovation.