Billyann Balay
Director of Granting Programs
Ontario Arts Council
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151 Bloor Street West 5th floor
Toronto, ON  M5S 1T6

Dear Billyann,

On behalf of the Canadian League of Composers, please accept our thanks for the OAC’s continued support of Ontario’s composers and ensembles. At our national meetings, the OACmusic office, and David Parsons in particular, is often held up as a shining example to other councils for the knowledge, efficiency, and dedication you bring to fulfilling the OAC’s mission and goals.

The Canadian League of Composers (CLC) was formed so that it may speak as a single voice for composers across the country. In recent years the CLC has flourished into a visible, active and national network currently representing nearly 400 professional composers. Roughly 130 members work in Ontario, and we are proud that a great many of our members are considered to be at the emerging level.

We are writing to draw your attention to the recently announced restrictions in the spring edition of Arts Connect, specifically that “as of September 2011, OAC project grant recipients must submit their final report on their previous grant prior to applying again to that grant program. This will help to ensure that a growing pool of artists has access to OAC’s project programs. The policy change will be consistent across all OAC programs.”

While we applaud your goal of supporting emerging artists, we would like to respectfully express our surprise and strong opposition to the proposed restrictions outlined above. In particular, we are concerned that there are serious unintended consequences to the proposed policy changes that will substantially undermine music composition in Ontario.

The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to describe the implications of the restrictions of the proposed change on the ground, and to propose some recommendations that we believe will serve the purpose of allowing greater access to programs, without undermining the capacity of composers to pursue excellence in their work.

Areas of Concern

A bias against large-scale works
The proposed restrictions will immediately create a culture of hastily written music. Many Ontario composers, both emerging and established, are trying to build significant works that withstand the tests of time. Often these are very detailed compositions for symphony orchestras or large ensembles that generally take from eight months to a year to compose or even longer. The pieces get better when there is time to go back and rework, and then rework again. In the case of opera and other large-scale music theatre projects, the time-frame is even longer considering the need for planning and fundraising. Under the suggested restrictions, very few composers would be able to afford to undertake a project that would remove them from the granting program for such a long period of time.

It is suggested in the newsletter that one goal of the proposed restriction is to allow more artists to access the program since composers working on larger-scale pieces would absent themselves from the subsequent deadline. However, the financial reality is that most composers cannot afford to skip even one application round. By consequence, rather than abstaining from the application round, the same pool of composers would be compelled to submit a hastily written, poorer quality piece to meet the deadline. Emerging artists would compete against the same candidates, while the level of excellence and overall quality of music in Ontario is likely to decline.

Long-term planning becomes impossible

The inflexibility imposed by the new restrictions will also affect both composers’ and ensembles’ ability to plan future seasons. Ontario’s composers, both emerging and established, need to be able to plan their writing schedule at least one, if not two seasons in advance to coincide with the advance planning of orchestras, choirs and ensembles.

Under the proposed restrictions an emerging composer with a proposal from an orchestra would have to plan all his/her pieces around the arbitrary start and end dates a year in advance and hope that the grant is successful. If it is unsuccessful they will have blocked off that time and refused other proposals unnecessarily.

Moreover, larger ensembles, orchestras and opera companies rely upon OAC commissioning grants as leverage to help fundraise for the commissioning and production budgets required to produce ambitious, world-class new work. The proposed restrictions severely compromise timelines, access to composers, and the ability to hire the best artists, which are fundamental to making new works successful.

The restrictions amount to a 50% cut to composers

The most serious consequence to the proposed restrictions is that for those who cannot meet the short-term deadlines, it amounts to a 50% cut to both emerging and established composers who have built a career based on the excellence of their work. This is a major shift in OAC policy that did not receive adequate public scrutiny and review. Moreover, such a decision seriously undermines a fundamental goal of the 2008-2013 Strategic Plan, which aims to create an environment where the “lives, careers, and work of individual artists can truly flourish”. 

Suggested Remedial Measures

The CLC greatly appreciates the effort to see greater support to emerging talent. We at the CLC are certainly in agreement that it is troubling that more emerging composers are not successful in the OAC commissioning program. Although the program is open to emerging composers and juries are often favourable towards young talent, it can be difficult without specific support to develop a competitive portfolio or name recognition. Emerging composers have also recently lost the CBC Young Composers Competition, which in the past has helped to identify upcoming talent. To address this issue, without compromising the ability of composers to sustain their careers over the long-term, the League would like to put forward the following recommendations:

Initiate an Emerging Composer category within the OAC commissioning program, much like that which exists within visual arts.

Such a category could mandate that at least 3 out of 15 successful awards are designated for emerging composers. This would certainly be within our mandate to advocate for the work of composers at all levels. Such a competition would support accessibility to the program without seriously punishing the excellence of mid-career composers, and make the category workable for both creators and ensembles.

Offer composers in the classical category a window of up to two years from the announcement of the results to complete their projects, while still being able to apply to the program.

This will offer the flexibility not only to plan writing schedules in advance, but also the necessary time to complete works as required. In this context, Ontario composers will not shy away from creating large-scale and substantial works. In addition, we suggest that special accommodations be continued for opera or theatre works, due to the years required for development and fundraising. There is currently an effective provision for this in the commission guidelines and we hope that it can remain.

We are very grateful to David Parsons for his offer to meet with Ontario members of the League to discuss this possibility further. We have wide consultation in the community in both official languages, and are happy to provide ideas from them as to how to move forward in sustainable way.

In closing, we certainly understand that the OAC would like to be consistent in its mandate across all its programs. However, it is important to recognize that each practice must be supported according to its fundamental needs, and that a one-size-fits-all ruling can be detrimental to the OAC’s fundamental mission and goals.

We very much appreciate your attention to our requests, and welcome a further conversation at your convenience. The elected Ontario councillors to our National Council are Robert Lemay, Gayle Young, Brian Current and James Rolfe. Myself, and each of them, are available to your office, or David Parsons, should you require any additional feedback from the community. We respectfully request a reply in timely manner, and look forward to continuing our important relationship.

Forward in music!

Yours sincerely,

Jennifer Butler

President, Canadian League of Composers