Close to $50 million in cuts to arts funding in Canada are getting poor reviews from the Yukon's purveyors of culture.

The directors of MusicYukon and the Yukon Arts Centre, a Whitehorse-based performing arts promoter and the Minister of Tourism and Culture have decried the Harper government's cuts, specifically the slashing of ProMart ($4.7 million) and Trade-Routes ($9 million) from the federal budget.

"Basically, they're just not an arts-friendly government, and they don't get it in terms of the value these programs offer," said Mark Smith of Music Yukon.

The programs on the chopping block, said Smith, send Canadian promoters stateside and overseas and bring foreign colleagues here with the goal of garnering attention, and work, for the nation's performing artists.

"I think the biggest damage will be done to the Trade-Routes programs that bring international delegates and buyers into Canadian music events," said Smith. "People like Brent Grulke; he's the artistic director of North America's biggest market place, South by Southwest."

Smith said that over the years, South by Southwest has hosted 37 Canadian acts in its annual music showcase and trade show in Austin, Tex.; several of which have included Yukon artists, such as Hungry Hill, Gordie Tentrees and Stephen Kozmeniuk (of the rock group Boy).

Debbie Peters, founder of Magnum Opus Management (MOM) in Whitehorse, agrees.

"For artists who are looking to tour internationally or to open up new markets for themselves, the Trade-Routes grant is definitely geared towards that, and, from my perspective, a really effective tool to use," said Peters.

She has attended South by Southwest and intends to represent artists in her roster at a similar show case in Seattle this September.

"It's a significant way to get the Canadian brand, the music out there, and I'm disappointed to see that gone."

While Smith, Peters and artists affiliated through them will be directly affected, Al Cushing, executive director of the Yukon Arts Centre, sees something more sinister with the cuts.

"I can only assume the intent of those cuts is not financial, but the government attempting to control which artists are supported and what these artists are saying," said Cushing.

"When that starts to happen in a country, it's time for artists and the general population to stand up and say, 'This is not a good thing,' and the question is, where does it end?"

Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor told the Star she has sent a letter to Canadian Heritage Minister Josee Verner expressing her "grave concern about the cuts.

"Obviously, the Government of Yukon certainly values the contribution of arts and culture, not only to the social but the economic well-being of the territory," Taylor said.

She pointed to the recent increase of more than $600,000 in funding to Yukon arts "aimed at accentuating and integrating with these (cut federal programs), so it's disappointing."

"We've taken great pride in enhancing our programs and will raise this issue when we travel to Quebec at the end of September for a meeting of federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Culture."

After "crunching the numbers" with his Western Canadian Music Awards colleagues, Smith said, the cost to the taxpayer for promoting those specifically from the West worked out to $354 per artist.

"It's a bargain," he said. "It's one of the best, most high- yield programs in the country, and for the Conservatives to drop that is unimaginable."