This letter was originally composed as a response to the Campbell River City Council threatening to remove funding from the Campbell River Art Gallery in October 2023. This letter was written too late to be included with a number of other letters from Campbell River residence and members of the arts community addressed to city council. All the same, I sent the letter off to all stakeholders and then decided to release it as an open letter on my blog in a hope to continue to bring light to the issue. As such, some alterations to the original letter were made in order to capitalize of the formatting potential offered by presenting it as a blog post. The changes are minimal, however, with the heart and the bulk of the letter remaining mostly identical to the first draft placed forward.
Dear Campbell River City Council,
It recently came to my attention that the future of the Campbell River Art Gallery is in jeopardy. I am offering this open letter as my contribution to the campaign that was initiated by the Campbell River Art Gallery (referred to as CRAG here on in throughout this letter). I remorsefully admit this letter has been composed late and by the time it reaches its intended readers it will be tardier still, however, I have decided to write and send it off all the same, as I hope to address matters which likely will be long standing outside of this instance in time; what has taken place, at least from my perspective, is a trend in the defunding of public institutions by local municipalities across North America. In composing this address to you, I hope that you may hold some space for a perspective that sees the role which public institutions play as paramount to the wholistic success and health of our communities and the individuals that call them home.
I first learned of the difficult financial position that CRAG has found itself in when I had come to meet my friend and former co-worker, the artist, Nadine Berteau for an impromptu coffee date, after being a few weeks out of touch. Nadine had spent the last few months working in the CRAG’s public make-art studio project, The Hive, and upon my inquiry into how her current gig was going she proceeded to inform me that the Campbell River City Council was looking to remove the CRAG’s funding. I felt shock as soon as she told me. I asked her to repeat what she’d said and as she reiterated, I felt myself grow stiff and chilled. How could this be? I don’t remember if I’d asked her out loud or if it was simply my facial expression of shock which prompted her to let me know about a letter writing campaign that was taking place to help the city’s council understand the significance and importance that CRAG has to Campbell River’s residence, and to a lesser degree those distanced further out in outlying communities. The idea that a corner stone public institution such as CRAG would face the possibility of dissolution from lack of a city council’s support seemed inconceivable to me. Particularly so when an organization had been so well established, the CRAG having been in operation from before my birth in 1991. Indeed, when Nadine told me this disturbing news, I felt as though I was watching a pillar of the Campbell River community irreparably crumble before my eyes. While change is always expected, those public places that are venerated by so many, to me, always seemed sacrosanct and safe despite what other worldly pressures and concerns were imposed upon us as Vancouver Island communities.
It brings to reason that our times of economic hardship and the issues of food security, housing security, public health and safety are crisis which have arisen across Canada, though it certainly seems reasonable to suggest these issues have not been caused by the CRAG. As such, would it also not seems a reasonable assessment that Campbell River would also struggling with these same issues which most communities across Canada are, and that the community’s struggle with these crisis is certainly not to be blamed on the CRAG? Frankly, I find the opposite to be true, the CRAG has made meaningful attempts to offer support to the community in relation to these issues while still staying safely within the boundaries of what a public art galleries scope usually is. Therefore, I found myself shocked upon doing some further research into the issue when returning home from my time with my friend; the articles I was able to access left me feeling afraid, disgusted and shocked. As reported by the Campbell River Mirrior newspaper, I found the comments made by city council and the allegations of the gallery being a “bad neighbour” seemed inane and ridiculous. Also, I found the city council’s commitment to undermining the democratic practice of freedom of expression deeply problematic and disturbing.
To find out that my assumption that a public gallery such as CRAG was universally beloved and venerated was, indeed, not true was a deep blow to my spirit and created a deep sense of anxiety; I couldn’t help but question that if we, as communities, are not able to maintain a significant and necessary public institution, such as a CRAG, then we were indeed experiencing a slow death walk toward being a hollowed out communities with missing pieces of culture and available public resources that service the general public. Indeed, across Canada, this is becoming a common fear and unfortunate reoccurrence. While other examples, such as the loss of the public gallery for the Quathet region, offer direct parallels to CRAG’s struggle, the extent of this trend that focuses on defunding public institutions that serve the general population is far reaching and continues to expand beyond fine art: a recent and famous example is the recent outcry of Canadian authors, such as Margaret Atwood, for the protection of libraries; or another example, the more disconcerting trend of medical clinics attempting to establish a paid model for their patients in the prairies. I can’t help but pose the question to the Campbell River City Council, when this funding is cut and this institution is gone, what will you remove from us next?
While it is undeniable that Campbell River is riding alongside many local Canadian municipalities in defunding organizations that cater to the needs of the general public, shamelessly, I ask there to be pause and to consider if this is truly an action that best serves the greater population of the people you were elected to serve. The CRAG for me, as a young, queer man who had been transplanted to the north Vancouver Island at the age of 17 was a life raft that buoyed me through many difficult years. Without the CRAG I am certain that I would have succumb to the many pressures which youth often face and aren’t so lucky to escape unscathed. Even now, while my life is very different and I am certainly not living under the thumb of societal pressures which youth often face, a lifetime later the CRAG still offers me significant value as a place to visit, heal, learn, create, listen, connect, to make friends and community build. Though I now live outside the boundaries of Campbell River, I frequently return to this town of my youth to visit the gallery exclusively. Knowing that the CRAG would not be available for me to visit would directly impact my choice to visit Campbell River.
Lastly, as a professional artist, author and individual who works at another publicly funded art gallery, I want to take a moment to point out the quality with which the CRAG operates: having spent much time traveling across Canada and in other gallery spaces, I attest that the CRAG is unarguably one of the most tough, powerful, fearless and exemplary galleries across Canada. The CRAG brings artists of national significance and international renowned to a rural coastal town that may otherwise go unnoticed and missed by Vancouver Islanders, let alone the rest of Canada. The CRAG is a public institution that, despite what appears to be the current climate with city council, the townspeople should be incredibly proud of. Those who are arts literate will concur; CRAG is an incredibly respected gallery that makes meaningful contributions to Canada’s cultural landscape. To allow the loss of this organization would be the greatest of tragedies for the people of Campbell River, for all of us that continue to visit it despite having moved out of the city’s district, and to, indeed, all Canadians. As such, I implore the Campbell River City Council to not only reconsider not cutting the funding but to do just the opposite, please give the CRAG more funds to continue the important work they do.
With warmest regards and hope for reconsideration around allocation of funds,
Spencer Sheehan Kalina
