What I remember, though, from that meeting was a woman saying that the President’s Day Competitions would not grow the arts in any way. She said that it was just the paying out of money to people, nothing more. She felt the government was going down the wrong track.
At the time I disagreed with her. In every field within the arts, money is an issue. An artist, be the person a painter, a writer, a singer or a poet, either has to hustle incessantly or they must have a day job. The constant fight to survive is the biggest barrier to producing good art. I knew from my personal experience as a writer that money for an artist means time, time to devote to your art, and that can only be a good thing. It’s what would allow our artists to up their game, to gain in professionalism, to educate themselves, and to have sustainable success inside and outside our borders. At the time I believed in the President’s Day Competitions and I was hopeful that it was the beginning of everything. I think now I was wrong.
