May 27, 2024
SHARE
CANADALAND
#992 Culture Collapse
Hot Docs, Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Just for Laughs, just the latest cultural institutions to join a long list of Canadian arts groups facing existential threats. Why is this all happening now?
Jesse Brown
Host & Publisher
Bruce Thorson
Senior Producer
Tristan Capacchione
Audio Editor & Technical Producer
Caleb Thompson
Audio Editor
Karyn Pugliese
Editor-in-Chief

Based on recent headlines, you might think that we are in the midst of a total cultural collapse in this country. Film festivals, comedy festivals, symphonies, cinemas, theater companies, arts magazines all closing down or telling us that they’re about to. Corporate sponsors are pulling out. Leadership teams are crumbling. People are quitting en masse or getting laid off. There’s been a lot of dirty laundry aired in public from within these organizations, open letters and accusations about mismanagement and workplace inequity within these arts organizations. It all sounds miserably dire. So just what is going on and why is it all happening now?

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

Featured guests:

Jesse Wente, Amy Blackmore & Dan Seligman

For more information:

Sponsors: CAMH, Squarespace, Betterhelp, Douglas

For a limited time, get 6 months of exclusive supporter benefits for just $2/month. Go to canadaland.com/join to become a supporter today.

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

More from this series
“   …the City of Pickering has witnessed a growing infiltration of alt right individuals, ideologies, and influences that have created an atmosphere of uncertainty, fear, and intimidation over our Council, our staff, our residents, and indeed the broader community.” - Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe
March 31, 2025
“ Look inside yourself, Rosemary. I mean, you start from a prior of conflict and Ill will.” - Prime Minister Mark Carney
March 24, 2025
“We cannot treat libraries as organs of propaganda, and whether it's for progressive values or for conservative values, we should not be treating libraries as simply the PR department for the kind of ideology that we believe in, and trying to ban everything else.” - Ira Wells, author of “On Book Banning”
March 17, 2025
We take a dumpster dive to look at all the legislation that got thrown out when Trudeau prorogued Parliament. Jesse tests the theory that one person’s trash is another’s treasure.
March 10, 2025
The CBC: Defund or UnF*ck? The choice is yours as we open up the phone lines to hear what you have to say about the possible futures of the CBC.
March 3, 2025
How to tell real populism from bullshit trolling.
February 24, 2025
Russian propaganda or Canadian censorship? What happened when Russians at War came to TIFF?
February 17, 2025
What does Gavin McInnes, founder of registered terrorist entity the Proud Boys, have in common with Jonathan Goldstein, creator of the heartbreaking and hilarious podcast Heavyweight?
February 10, 2025
all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
CANADALAND