Making Culture: English-Canadian Institutions and the Arts Before the Massey Commission

David E. Smith is a professor of Political Studies at the University of
Saskatchewan and author of Jimmy Gardiner: Relentless Liberal.

Few titles are as self-explanatory as this one, and few works on the
subject more exhaustive. Tippett analyzes English-Canadian culture from
several perspectives: the professionalization of culture, the patronage
(private and public) associated with it, the external (British and
American) influences on it, and the emergence in Canada of a
“coordinated”—that is, national (or, more accurately,
half-national)—artistic life by the end of World War II. On this last
topic, the author argues that a philistine federal government finally
acted on behalf of culture in part because the country’s enhanced
wartime and postwar international reputation demanded a response.

Because their concern is to build the case for a cultural life before
Massey, the chapters too often read like compilations of lists of
benefactors and recipients. This attempt at completeness has many
virtues, but scintillating discourse is not one of them. Moreover, the
effect is frustrating. Those who know something of some of the
individuals and places mentioned here learn little that is new; those
who begin their reading in greater ignorance will be disappointed at the
cursory discussion many subjects receive. This criticism may be
inevitable given the encyclopedic enterprise Tippett has undertaken. In
her defence, she might respond that the wealth of material demands an
economical approach, one that supports her thesis that English-Canadian
culture preceded and did not follow the creation of the Canada Council.