Artists who reach out to elementary and high school students will get their first pay increase in 23 years; it is durable.
The Ministers of Education and Culture, Jean-François Roberge and Nathalie Roy, announced on Monday in Longueuil, in Montérégie, that this fee will increase from $ 325 to $ 515 per day in 2025-2026, an increase of nearly 60 %.
The $ 325 value, established in 1999, has not changed since.
It is absolutely necessary that the government focus on this problemacknowledged Minister Roy, saying he learned of this stagnation in one of the briefs submitted to him on the sidelines of the revision of the Artist Status Act.
It’s up to them [nos artistes et nos artisans professionnels] what is the announcement about today. They accentuate our culture, highlight it and make us deviate from unexpected deviation, but always make us reflect and move forward. […] They sow the seeds that will be called upon to grow and develop our artistic sequence.argument of the Minister.
More actors
The number of artistic activities in schools will increase by 20% over the next three years, Jean-François Roberge promised. Not only are artists better paid, but they are more present in our schools along with teachers, for students.
More artists will come, so more students will get to know Quebec artists, listen to them, talk to them and they also create, also dance, sing, sculpt and do all kinds of activities. artistic. . When there are artists at school, students participatehe continued.
These are artists working in all fields of performing arts, visual arts or literature. School visits are part of the School Culture program.
The Ministry of Education has a directory of 1,400 registered artists to which all school service centers have access. The directory reopens every three years to allow new artists, who meet ministry standards, to subsequently register.
Talents, discovery and academic success
These artists meet young people in schools to share their experience with them and encourage them to practice art. so that students can discover talents, discover hobbies, give themselves a taste of going to school in the morningargued Minister Roberge.
She and her colleague Nathalie Roy stressed the importance of these meetings for both promoting Quebec culture and developing a taste for art among young people, which can be a powerful vector of motivation and, ultimately, success.
” Early in the morning, when you’re a teenager, you may not feel like going to school, but when you know there’s a passionate teacher, when you know there’s an artist waiting for us, who will let us out. in our habits, who is going to make us suffer a little, we want to study there. “
He himself was a former teacher, Jean-François Roberge did not deter the anecdote. I remember being brought to school, when I was teaching, dancers of “gumboots“. I remember doing workshops using water boots to create rhythm with the students.he recalled.
The interaction between young people and culture is not as extraordinary as what it can do for a child, for a young person. It allows them to see themselves in the eyes of others, to understand each other and feel unity. Art feels good and art is also united. It is a universal language, added Minister Roy.
Fees for artists and writers will be indexed at 2% per year to reach $ 545 per day in 2025-2026.
The amounts needed for these increases come from a $ 50 million envelope announced in 2021 to promote culture in schools.
Source: Radio-Canada
