Faith & Spirit Quote by Karen Kain

Karen Kain’s line lands like a dancer’s perfect balance: effortless on the surface, doing serious work underneath. “Even if” is the key pivot. It pre-emptively disarms cynicism about self-interest, the suspicion that anyone tied to an arts institution is just guarding their own funding stream. Kain, a revered figure in Canadian ballet, knows the genre’s politics as well as its technique. By insisting she’d “be praying for it” regardless of personal involvement, she reframes advocacy as civic duty rather than professional lobbying.

“Praying” is a strategic word choice, too: intimate, slightly melodramatic, and pointedly non-technical. She doesn’t say “advocating,” “supporting,” or “campaigning.” Prayer suggests something precarious, vulnerable to forces outside the studio: budgets, elections, cultural fashions, the national mood. It implies the Canada Council isn’t a nice-to-have arts perk; it’s a fragile public trust that can be quietly starved. The phrase also carries a whiff of ritual - the repeated, sometimes desperate hope that the people holding the purse strings will keep believing art matters.

Contextually, this reads as a veteran’s message to a country that periodically questions why it funds culture at all. Kain’s authority isn’t bureaucratic; it’s embodied. She’s arguing that national arts infrastructure isn’t about elites getting grants, it’s about whether a society wants institutions sturdy enough for talent to grow, take risks, and stay home. The subtext: without the Canada Council, the stage doesn’t just dim - it narrows.