On March 28th 1957, parliament passed the Canada Council act, making today the Canada Council for the Arts’ 50th anniversary. As granting bodies are something I have a continuing interest in I met with the Senior Communications Manager Donna Balkan when she was in town for the Governor General’s Awards. The forty minute interview will be of most interest to folks with some kind of engagement with institutionalized cultural funding bodies — I found out how graphic novels became eligible for grants, what phone calls stress their staff the most, and that technological changes may banish the ghost of vanity press and make self-publishers eligible for funding.
