The Arts Are a National Defence Strategy
A Saturday rant about the arts, nation building, and national identity with Phil Rickaby
Stageworthy · Stageworthy
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Show Notes
About This Episode:
In this solo Stageworthy episode, host Phil Rickaby takes a deep dive into the idea of “nation-building” — and why Canada keeps getting it wrong. Sparked by post-election rhetoric around pipelines, railways, housing, and AI infrastructure, Phil argues that these are construction projects, not nation-building ones. True nation-building, he suggests, happens through culture — and specifically through the arts.
Drawing on Canadian history, from the Massey Commission to the creation of the Canada Council for the Arts, Phil traces how arts funding was once understood as a form of national defence — a way of protecting Canadian identity from cultural erasure. He contrasts that history with today’s fixation on GDP, ROI, and “bankable” outcomes, and asks what happens to a country when its soul is treated as discretionary.
This episode is part rant, part cultural history lesson, and part call to action — urging Canada to remember that theatres, music, film, and storytelling don’t just entertain us. They define us.
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