National Post:
Tal Bachman defends his PromArt trip
National Post Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Re: Tories Kill Arts Grants For Foreign Travel, Aug. 8.
I would like to respond to the criticisms of, and insinuations about, my involvement in the recently cancelled PromArt program.
In early 2005, my then-manager informed me that my booking agency had received an invitation from the Canadian government for me to visit South Africa as part of a two-pronged diplomatic initiative. The trip would involve both charity work and raising the profile of Canadian arts and culture. Admiring, as I did, the humanitarian efforts of people like Bono and Angelina Jolie, and excited at the opportunity of officially representing Canada abroad, I immediately accepted.
My trip included a number of charity efforts and appearances. The high point of my trip, however, was the time I spent at a large orphanage outside of Johannesburg with which the Canadian consulate was affiliated, in the company of the Liberal-appointed Canadian consul, a Mulroney-appointed senator and a Bloc Quebecois MP. This orphanage houses several hundred children, quite a number of whom are the orphans of AIDS victims, and I felt privileged to be able to meet with them, share stories, sing and play for them and hear them sing in return. I am not sure if my visit there made any difference to the kids, some of whom were terminally ill, but I hope it did.
In accepting the invitation to visit South Africa, I had no expectation of career gain, nor have I experienced any from my trip that I know of. At some risk to my own personal safety, I visited that beautiful and troubled country to try to do something good, and I regret that much of the press coverage, even in my beloved National Post, has left a different impression.
Tal Bachman, Victoria.
© National Post 2008
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