Hello all. I am a freelance journalist working out of New York, and I'm looking into the possible trend of performance artists -- particularly young contemporary choreographers -- leaving the U.S. to establish themselves in other countries (i.e. Canada), with more solid funding for the arts. Do you know anyone opting for this route? Have you considered it yourself? Is there any substance to this trend, or are these individuals few and far between? I appreciate any reactions. Thanks.

"more solid funding for the arts." Canada? You must be joking. It's been slash and cut for years here.

Is it still greater, or even much greater, in Canada than the US, Noreen? The US National Endowment for the Arts distributed a miserly $115m.

The NEA website declaims: "A great nation deserves great art." It might add: "...as long as the total cost is less than that of one fighter aircraft."

Here's food for thought:

Estonia spends more on the arts as a percentage of national budget than any other country I know - 3.5% of the Government budget goes to the Ministry of Culture, which does cover some other areas apart from the Arts. Nevertheless, from this spend the National Opera is 75% state funded and similar figures apply for the relatively high numbers of theatres and world-class music groups.

For comparison, US Govt. expenditure is around $4000 billion, I believe (had to use old data scaled up). If 3.5% went to the NEA that would generate $140 billion....yes, that is billion, not million, compared with $115m.

Two instances of US dance artists travelling toEurope because of better funding:

Mark Morris took up residence for 3 years at La Monnaie theatre in Brussels in the late 1980s. The major works that his company still perform: "The Cracked Nut", "L'Allegro etc". Dido and Aeneas" were all paid for by the Belgian tax-payer and it's a fair guess that they would not have been creatd on the same cale in the US.

For the past 20 years, William Forsythe has chosen to work under the German arts funding system that enabled him to make cutting edge work on medium/large ensembles. Funding has got tougher in Germany and his Ballett Frankfurt is no more, but we now have the smaller Forsythe Company, still based in Germany.

<small>[ 06 April 2005, 10:51 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

I don't know enough about the funding base for the Arts in Canada, but I CAN tell you that jobs for dancers are few and far between. Many of the graduating dancers we know are looking for opportunities in the US - a challenging feat in the post 9/11 immigration climate. That being said, it does APPEAR that some US dancers are getting positions here in Canada...which of course drives the Canadian dancers and their parents a bit loopy.

There is also some inconsistency across provinces in terms of funding (at the provincial level). Some do provide funding opportunities for students - of course one has to apply and I'm sure the process is a competitive one - other provinces, such as the one I live in, have no such opportunities for students.

As for the professional companies, ticket prices are going up as is the intensity of requests for donations. Soon I will have to pay for my season tickets to NBOC...likely at the same time that the first University payment is due for my daughter.