More than words: Artists applaud backtrack on removing culture from department name

Local artists are applauding the Newfoundland and Labrador government for putting the word culture back in the name of a department.

Last week, the Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development was renamed Tourism, Industry and Innovation.

However, after backlash from the arts community, Minister Christopher Mitchelmore announced Monday the word culture would be put back, effective immediately.

One of those who spoke out against the change was actor and filmmaker Ruth Lawrence, who believes the effort to get culture reinstated in the departmental name may have actually galvanized the local arts community to get government's attention. 

"I really looked at it and said 'what's the positive that can come out of it?'" she told the St. John's Morning Show. "The positive is they now know how important it is, not just to artists but to the population."

Tone deaf

Lawrence said while she welcomes government's willingness to listen to the people and fix its mistake, she feels the fact that culture was removed at all shows a certain degree of tone-deafness.

"There was a lot of people in that room when that decision was being made, and the fact that culture was dropped didn't get flagged, didn't get checked before it got released," she said. 

"So I think that's why it so quickly turned around. It certainly concerned me, so I'm sure it concerned them."

Rick mercer agrees

Comedian Rick Mercer said government was smart to quickly act to put the word back in, as not doing so would have further galvanized the arts community to protest.

"I say hats off to them,"  he told the Corner Brook Morning Show.

"Sometimes governments are slow to realize they've made a giant mistake. Sometimes they just double down. I think they did make a mistake and they maybe didn't realize how passionate people were about it."