Support The Rooms

Do Not Padlock our Heritage! Open The Rooms.

April 2004

To the Honourable Loyola Sullivan, Minister of Finance,
the Honourable Paul Shelley, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation,
and the Honourable Danny Williams, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador:

I urge you to reconsider your recent decision to defer the opening of The Rooms by one year to 2005. This decision has meant the cancellation of 2004-2005 programming for The Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador and the elimination of approximately half of the gallery staff positions necessary to run programs and operations at the institution. I also ask you to reconsider your recent decision to cut funding for the Art Procurement Program for the 2004-2005 fiscal year.

Supporting The Rooms and its programs (like The Art Procurement Program) makes good economic and social sense. Heres how:

Art Galleries, Museums and Archives are part of the basic infrastructure of any cultural community. They are used by artists, writers, students, scholars, journalists and tourists; they are visited by school groups to enhance curriculum. The province has identified the Newfoundland and Labrador cultural sector as a growth industry. By closing The Rooms this year, the government is forcing this professional sector to do without some of its most basic infrastructure. The Rooms is not a luxury, but is in fact an economic necessity for the cultural sector in the province. Government support for the facility reflects its commitment to the economic development of the province by supporting the fastest growing sector in the Canadian economy (Canadian Conference for the Arts, Ottawa).

Tourism has also been identified as a growth industry in Newfoundland and Labrador. Tourists come to the province to experience the land and our culture. If the Provincial Government does not promote a climate in which creativity can flourish, it is not addressing the basic needs of the tourism industry.

I also ask that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador be aware that a healthy arts and cultural sector is a good economic indicator, attracting business and industry, encouraging the private sector to make a long-term investment in the community. Quality of life of highly paid, highly skilled workers and their families is an important consideration for companies looking to set up shop in new places.

I urge you to reinstate the funds necessary to open The Rooms on schedule and restore staffing to levels sufficient to deliver programs to the entire population of Newfoundland and Labrador.

For more information: www.donotpadlocktherooms.com