Theatre Design & Technology - Oct 1966 - 8

Title 4 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
amends the Cooperative Research Act so that it broadens
the base. Earlier, only institutions of higher education
could apply, and it is now broadened to the extent that
individuals can apply.
Title 5 of that Act has to do with strengthening State
Departments of Education, and a great many things are
happening there. An interesting example is the State of
Illinois Artmobile which will come into service, hopefully,
in October of 1966.
There are many other Acts which touch on the arts and
humanities, and it is difficult to talk about them - as a
matter of fact we are preparing right now, and it is in
press, a chart to guide you through this melee of legislation.
I should mention briefly a couple of other laws. Title 7
of the National Defense Education Act, is concerned
with new and experimental uses of all kinds of media
in teaching and learning.
The Higher Education Facilities Act, 1963, as amended,
which provides grants and loans to assist in improvements
in certain undergraduate and graduate facilities, should
also be of interest to some of you.

I have not addressed myself to a couple of these terribly
difficult questions that Dr. Swinney has posed. I have a
couple of thoughts on this line. Let me try.
"What does all this mean?" I think there is taking place
a basic shift in the underlying preoccupations, the basic
value system of Americans, and that this does have
tremendous significance. I think it will continue. I take
an optimistic view, although history might cut my ground
from under me.
All cultures choose among the range of human possibilities to emphasize some and de-emphasize others, but this
value system is not static. It can change. I think this
has happened.
How profound this is I do not know. I think of those
times in ancient China which I have read about in which
grown-up men could assemble on the shores of a lake
at the time they knew the moon was about to rise. A
man would playa flute. They would listen, and then they
would write poems about the moon and the lake, and
then they would take little boats, and using those poems
as sails, they would send them out over the moonlit
lake to be wafted by the Chinese winds. That is an
aesthetic attitude!

The Higher Education Act of 1965, which is providing
materials for educational TV. undergraduate facilities including, significantly, an art center at the University of
West Virginia, which has just been approved.

The Canada Council and the Performing Arts
Ann M. Coffin
I.R. CODE: economics - subsidy

Perhaps I should start by apologizing on behalf of Mr.
Russell. He did not invite me to speak to you today; he
actually invited Mr. Peter Dwyer, Associate Director of the
Canada Council. Mr. Dwyer couldn't make it, unfortunateIy.and he suggested to Mr. Russell that I replace him.
Mr. Russell was too courteous to refuse, but I thought
there was something wistful about the letter in which he
accepted. He wrote to Mr. Dwyer, "A few addresses of
yours that I have had the pleasure of hearing had that
rare combination of wit and bite that was exciting
However, we would be delighted to have Miss Coffin"
Mr. Dwyer has not only been largely responsible for many
of the things I am going to tell you about, but he IS
also probably the most popular after-dinner speaker in
Canada today on the subject of Subsidy and the Arts.
I hope I shall be a useful before-lunch speaker on the
same topiC. I "von t be able to match Mr. D"vyer s "Wit
and bite" but at least I will have an excuse: No one can
expect me to be amusing and profound on the subject
at thiS early hour of the day.
I do not intend, however, to go to the other extreme and
try to dazzle you with figures. Like Mark Twain, I do not
trust statistics. I Will not try. either, to describe all the
operations of the Canada Council, which deals not only
with the Arts, but with the Humanities and Social SCiences as well. In fact, I will try to stick mainly to what
concerns the performing arts, since this is the field in
which you are most Interested.

Mr. Swinney did write to me last week with a few suggestions about the questions he would like me to tackle.
I had already worked out pretty well what I wanted to
say to you, but fortunately, Mr. Swinney and I were thinking along much the same lines. I was a little disturbed,
however when he said why he was making these suggestions. It seems there has been some confusion in the
United States ariSing from "rapid shifts In position"
with regard to subSidy. by which he presumably means
government subsidy. I hope Mr. SWlnne, doesn t expect
me to give advice to Roger Stevens; I an just glad not
to have his problems. In the end, of course. we all have
to find our own solutions, though a little JudiCiOUS borrowing may be a very good thing. In fact, you will see
that the Canada Council has already done some borrowing from earlier American experience, making our own
modifications as we went along.
Since most of you are visiting from the United States,
you are not likely to know a great deal about the Canada
Council. But even some Interested Canadians can forget
some essential facts. It is worth remembering, for example, that the Council is not a Government Department
nor one of those faVOUrite Canadian hybrids, - a Crown
Corporation. In Canada such bodies are responsible to a greater or lesser degree - to a Minister of the Crown
who, in turn, answers to Parliament for thell affairs - again
with appropriate gradations of responSibility. The Canada
Council, on the other hand, has only one responsibility -

I USITT I

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Oct 1966