Aspects of Canadian Cultural Policy by D. Paul Schafer (review)

Books 73 would show that Plato was specifically selective of poets and artists who were under the ban. Murdoch properly opens the work with a careful assessment of this, the most frequently expressed misunderstanding of Plato. The major topics philosophically and critically expanded by the author includePlato’s theoretical approach to art, education, the forms, his metaphysical and dialectical views,the ‘politics’of art, the place of the arts in daily life,the moral foundations of the arts in Greek life, the conflicts between philosophy and the arts, the sciences and the arts, and religion and the arts. To say the essayranges widely is to remark the least it does. Still, the author consistently rewards readers with cogent argument and analysis, even those who may be themselvesexpert on Plato’s philosophical views. The work derives from a careful research of virtually all of Plato’s dialogues, including at least two of the epistles, though readers are spared extensive quotations from them. So many profound issues are broached and pursued that serious teachers of art and artists alike will be rewarded by a diligent reading of the book. Though she neglectsto mention relevant passages in Republic, shedoes remark a fact ofcurrent, topical interest: ‘TheLaws also contains (805) not only the earliest but probably the most uncompromising declaration ever made by a major philosopher of the equality of the sexes. Women can even do philosophy’ (p. 64). Murdoch’s performance in this book suits the action to the word in a highly satisfactory manner. Aspects of Canadian Cultural Policy. D. Paul Schafer. The UnescoPress, Paris, 1976.95 pp., illus. Paper. Reviewed by Paul Heyer* and William Vazan** During the past several years at least a dozen works devoted to Canadian cultural policy have been published.This book’s thrust is toward comprehensiveness and, therefore, will give a nonCanadian audience a feel for the ideas behind government legislation and the allotment of funds in the various cultural sectors. The author begins by presenting a geographical, historical and political surveyof the country, highlighting the relationships and events that might have a bearing on the structure of contemporary cultural policy. Although Schafer acknowledges the multiplicity of contexts referred to as cultural that are tied to various aspects of government funding and control, he subsumes them into three categories for purposes of analysis: the arts, the mass media, and community and citizen initiatives. The section on the arts deals inevitably with the inception and operation of the Canada Council. WhileSchafer makes it appear that the Council is generous to the arts when compared to the situation in other nations, he fails to note some of the problems and conflicts that have arisen from its practices. For example, among visual artists there is frequent dissatisfaction with the relativelysmall slicethey receive when compared to theatre and music. Another problem arises from the actual distribution of visual arts funding. Since Canada has no significant tradition of art critical and historical scholarship, juries are comprised mostly of established artists. They tend to award on the basis of the similarity of candidates’ works to their own aesthetic world view. At the moment, for example, it is well known that contemporary artists who work with photography (but are not photographers) stand little chance when assessed by a jury of university and of art-school painters and sculptors who have vested interests in their own traditions. This preferential situation also affects artists at the other end of the continuumthere has not been a major grant to a printmaker in the last eight years. These tendencies have been compounded by auxiliary arms of the Council such as the Art Bank. an institution formed in 1972to purchase significant contemporary Canadian art and therebyto provide supplementary income for artists. To date the rotating juries of established painters and sculptors have managed to purchase many of each others works or works largely in *Dept. of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada. **6245De Carignan, Montreal, Quebec, HIM 2H9, Canada. their own respective traditions. In making a predominantly quantitative assessmentof the Art Bank Schafer has overlooked the dangers of nepotism and regional bias. The book could have been improved with a few more visual aids...