Cowichan could take a page from Cobalt, Ont. and link the arts to the economy, the NDP’s heritage and culture critic said in Duncan last week.

MP Charlie Angus (Timmons-James Bay) visited the Cowichan Valley Arts Council’s office with valley MP Jean Crowder.

Angus was adamant local artists, like it or not, must squeak loudly to get federal-funding grease.

He told how Cobalt’s historic but derelict Classic Theatre was restored, using government and community cash, to become a major economic driver for the former mine town.

“The arts creates more jobs than the auto sector but government officials see the arts as a local handout,” said Angus, voted by the Toronto Star as one of Canada’s most effective MPs.

To make leaders in Ottawa and Victoria listen, local artists must demand a federal arts policy that cuts grant red-tape by having proposals juried by artists, Angus suggested

He recommended federal funding for an arts infrastructure program that could tour shows and tie Canadian culture together.

Angus also suggested school arts-mentoring programs.

He wants Canadian copyright law rewritten too so artists aren’t hampered by corporate agendas.

For example, Angus cited a ban on filming the Niagara Falls because Disney owns the copyright to the famous falls.

“Artists don’t like to be political but you’ve got to do it.”

Political lobbying to boost the arts is standard in Quebec as it gives francophone folks a distinct identity, he noted.

“Government doesn’t have to sustain the arts, but at least support the infrastructure,” Angus said, calling federal disregard for the arts “shortsighted.”

A cure might happen if artists display the arts as an economic engine fueled by creative projects, not bureaucracy.

“Government likes cutting ribbons,” said Angus.

“Arts finding is project driven but right now you spend more time writing the grant application.”

He, Crowder and local artists rejected one woman’s belief many artists are freeloading on government grants.

“That’s a myth,” Angus said.

“I don’t know anyone in this room that’s living high on the hog through arts grants,” Crowder said.

Grants are tough to get and most artists have day jobs, Crowder noted.

Artist Jeffrey Birkin chastised Cowichan’s Economic Development Commission for giving short shrift to the arts as part of the valley’s economy.

CVAC’s Misha Koslovsky wants the arts council to make arts funding an issue in future elections.

If not, Angus predicted status quo would rule.

“The difference between an artist and a large pizza is that the large pizza can feed a family of four.”