Isabella Gagliardi, writing in Tandem, interviews Antonio D'Alfonso, Julie Roorda and Karen Shenfeld about the Ontario Arts Council's decision to withhold funding this year from Guernica Editions.“This is about how we live in a society where culture is not funded enough,” Antonio D’Alfonso says, discussing the OAC's current grant criteria.
“Personally I feel that this is part of a larger trend," adds Guernica author Julie Roorda. "It seems to me that the kind of simplistic business model is being inappropriately applied not just across the arts but to education and health care as well. That model works for some businesses, but I think it’s very damaging to apply it to these other institutions like the arts that are based on values that are different from commercial values, which are just about making money."
"[At Guernica] there has always been a gap between commercial writing and literary writing," says Karen Shenfeld, reacting to the a"serious concerns about... impact and viability" expressed by the OAC. "I believe that alone should bespeak of Guernica’s viability."
The full article is available at http://www.tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=9355
