In 2002, Decima Research studied the attitudes of Canadians towards public funding of the arts and found that 85% of Canadians were in favour of government arts funding. An even higher percentage of politicians voice support for the arts; no one wants to say the arts do not deserve public funding. In spite of this level of public support, only 1.8% of our federal budget goes to culture (looking at Statistics Canada figures for the 2001 2002 fiscal year), and when you realize that the bulk of that modest funding goes to public broadcasting, national parks and national historic sites (and their staff and administration/regulatory agencies) you can correctly deduce that Canadian artists and arts organizations are not supported enough.

The lack of funding for the arts has always bothered me. Believing strongly in the axiom that actions speak louder than words, I assess governments and school board art support on the basis of the percentile of their annual budget spent on the arts. In spite of the lip service to the arts on the part of virtually all politicians and school board trustees, the arts remain a low budgetary priority for most Canadian governments and school boards.

I got very involved in collaborative initiatives. I co-founded the BC Touring Council and the Alliance for Arts and Culture in Vancouver and I undertook many public protests and wrote many, many letters to the editor. During that time, I never, ever sat down and asked myself, Why are the arts important to me? Instead, I fought the good fight with the tools provided by agencies and individuals I respected. I learned the most about the arts in Canada from the Ottawa-based Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) where I have been a member since 1976. For several years I was on the CCA board and executive committee. Being associated with them was like being in a distance education class. Their conferences and board meetings were my classes; their newsletter and publications were like my textbooks. My homework was completed through the assistance of various consumer research firms, the former statistics analysis office of the Canada Council and Statistics Canada.

I spent a week in Ottawa every two months for several years courtesy of the CCA, learning about government funding programs and the practices of crown corporations. I even undertook learning about tax and copyrights laws (as they concern artists) as part of my practicum. I was always working on strengthening my argument for arts support and believing my colleagues and I would succeed in earning the arts their financial due.

During my career, I saw the primary argument for support of the arts change. I began with the quality of life argument, moved through the financial multiplier effect argument and then spent a decade championing the arts based on the benefits to learning. The end result of all my time spent as a student and advocate of the arts is this: I no longer hope for appropriate arts funding. I feel resigned to the fact that the creative arts in Canada have become consumer focused—shaped more by the marketplace and mediocrity than on growth in artistry. It was a sad day when I realized not even I would vote for a government based on its arts policies.

All my hope now rests on our education system. The only way things will change is when enough people demand that they change. In terms of my hopes for the arts, that will take a revolution. Too many contemporary educators are focused on the core curriculum. They see art as a separate subject. Enlightened educators see art as a process of instruction, not a subject area. Movements like discipline-based instruction and the Learning Through the Arts (LTTA) program give me hope that societal attitudes to the arts can change. The revolution I feel we need is to see the LTTA program in every single Canadian school. That would indeed be a revolution.

The LTTA program was created and developed by The Royal Conservatory of Music in 1994. It was introduced to community-based artists and teachers in the Toronto District School Board. The Conservatory s early childhood educator, Angela Elster, guided the developing initiative and went on to become LTTA's first executive director. Today, LTTA is one of the largest public school initiatives in the world—currently operating in 300 schools across Canada.

The LTTA organization can prove that schools following their program can achieve higher academic results for their students. They encourage teachers to make learning and teaching participatory, active, and connected to the personal interests and learning style of each student. LTTA knows that their program is highly effective in helping students achieve their academic, social and personal development goals. Teachers, like students, learn best through direct, hands-on experience. When they introduce the program to a school, they begin with a three-year pilot program that allows teachers the time to gain confidence they need to apply new skills to all subject areas. You can learn more about LTTA by visiting the website of the Royal Conservatory (www.rcmusic.ca) and the website of the program itself (www.ltta.ca).

When all students are taught the LTTA way, future generations of Canadians will bring arts funding to a higher percentage of government and education budgets. That s the revolution we need: a revolution in the way we teach, a revolution centred on the many values of the arts.