Vancouver is the fourth and final city, after Toronto, Montréal and Ottawa, to host a Wrecking Ball event this year, transforming current politics and headlines into topical theatre by acclaimed playwrights. While Wrecking Ball has a long tradition in Toronto, this is only its second year as a national even.

This year’s Vancouver Wrecking Ball commissioned four theatre pieces and three short videos to deal with the question: What would a world without art be like? The aim was to protest the BC arts cuts. Writers had just a few days for casting and only a few hours for rehearsing.

The tone of the night was set by host Denis Simpson’s incessant jokes and puns, and by the Carnival Band’s circus-like presence on stage. As Denis Simpson handed out cookies in the shape of Premier Gordon Campbell’s head to prominent guests, Catherine Shaw, founder of Studio 58, smashed her cookie on the podium, and a wave of hollers, applause and laughter immediately surged from the crowd. In fact, the audience remained boisterous throughout the whole night—but the performers’ grey dress code made me wonder how does something so serious as the importance of art in our lives becomes a series of laughable jokes.

Most of the pieces dealt with the theme through humour and farce, as was best exemplified by Jeff Gladstone’s piece “Special Presentation by Ms Dwendolyn Fung Ding.” Ms Fung Ding, played by Tara Travis, is about to tell the audience how to make art without funding when she mysteriously disappears. Detective Sally Bunk, played by Tallulah Winkelman, is given back a bit of “Fung Ding” in the form of a hand before she and the bouffon-coroner, played by Bruce Horak, announce the death of Ms Fung Ding. The over-the-top camp of the script highlighted both the ridiculousness of the funding cuts and the high-strung reactions of the local arts community.

Leacock Medal for Humour winner Mark Leiren–Young’s piece “Arts Puppies” portrayed Kevin Krueger, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Arts, speaking to the audience in defence of the funding cuts. Through clever witticisms he introduced some sticky issues, including the ethics behind using revenue from gambling to fund artist organizations and the provincial government’s gross investment in the 2010 Olympics. It was especially hilarious when he claimed that money put into the arts takes money away from health care in such a way that the money put into museums comes from widows and orphans, money put towards music is taken away from puppies, and worst of all, money put towards theatre takes a crutch away from real-life Tiny Tims.

Throughout the night it was evident that the problem of decreasing governmental support for the arts is not clear-cut. A sign was held up in the middle of the show that read: My family lives off the arts. In a BC arts cuts PSA video, a pregnant actress says she wants her unborn child to have all the opportunities she had, while an actor expresses his concern for his son.

Yet art is not important solely because one is a parent. By appealing to the emotions of the public, artists resort to a sentimentalism that sidesteps the important question of why art is valuable. It is a difficult question to answer and in the absence of a clear and concise definition it becomes easier to resort to humour and trite sentimentalism, which can set a low standard for artists.

One of the few pieces that came close to addressing the real importance of art was written by Carmen Aguirre titled “The Duende Is Here.” Dressed in a blue mechanic’s jumpsuit, a stirring monologue was is delivered by a reincarnated Federico Garcia Lorca, a Spanish playwright killed in the 1930s by Franco’s fascist government. The text describes something called duende—Spanish for elf—which is a metaphor for the indescribable and indispensable quality of art. Lorca describes it coming from the ground, from the roots, from the soles of your feet. And this is something no philosopher can explain. Nor can any psychologist or scientist give us the insight into the human condition that art can. This is where the true value of art lies and what gives art its inherently political force.

The event brought a lot of like-minded people together and helped Vancouver artists to identify the community they belong to and are fighting for. However, the community’s aim must go beyond identifying itself and towards appealing to the wider public. In order for this to be done successfully a strong attempt must be made to articulate the vitality of art to non-artists. A wrecking ball is made to break walls, not go around them.

Check out stopbcartscuts.ca, allianceforarts.com or Creativity Counts for more information on the cuts and what local artists are doing in response to the funding cuts.