Arts Advocacy B.C., a group incorporated as a nonprofit in December 2009, says it has received a disappointing response from NDP and Liberal MLAs to questions regarding arts funding.

In November, the organization sent a letter to all 84 MLAs asking them whether they are satisfied with B.C.’s standing on arts and culture funding in comparison with other provinces and what portion of gaming revenue they believe should go to charities. (A 1999 memorandum of agreement between the province and the B.C. Association of Charitable Gaming sets the percentage at 30 percent, but it has never achieved that level.)

A follow-up letter was recently sent to the MLAs, according to the AABC’s executive director Tom Durrie, but as of January 11, only nine responses had been received, none of them from Minister for Sport, Community, and Cultural Development Stephanie Cadieux. “The one person who actually answered the two questions was [independent MLA for Delta South] Vicki Huntington,” said Durrie. In her response, Huntington said: “I would like to see the charitable portion [of gaming revenues] rise to 50 percent.”

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The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra has resigned from the province’s biggest arts lobby group over a petition regarding a rezoning application for an expanded Edgewater Casino.

Amir Ali Alibhai, executive director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, confirmed Wednesday that the VSO had pulled out of the organization.

He said it was over the alliance’s support of a petition by the B.C. Association for Charitable Gaming to the City of Vancouver. The petition asks council not to approve rezoning a site next to BC Place for a new Edgewater Casino.

Alibhai’s organization, along with other non-profit and charitable groups, are taking the action as part of an effort to push the provincial government to allocate more gambling money to charities.

See also: Vancouver Symphony Orchestra withdraws from Alliance for Arts and Culture

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Make local support for the arts an issue in B.C.’s 2011 civic election too.

Provincial NDP arts-and-culture critic, Spencer Chandra Herbert, gave that advice to Cowichan Valley Arts Council members Monday.

“Arts groups in B.C. don’t speak in a unified voice. B.C.’s last in Canada in per-capita funding for the arts,” he said. “We have to aim to do better.”

“There are huge pressures on city council and on the city of Vancouver to get this thing signed, sealed and delivered so that Edgewater Casinos can break ground and get their mega-casino built in three years,” Susan Marsden, president of the British Columbia Association for Charitable Gaming, told reporters on Thursday outside City Hall.

“And we’re saying to the city of Vancouver that we want the timetable for this whole process to be governed by the interests of the people of British Columbia and the interests of Vancouverites – not by the timetable of a casino.”

Arts groups say the province has failed to live up to a 1999 agreement that 33 per cent of gambling revenues would go to charitable groups, and that charitable grants now account for only 10 per cent.

It’s an initiative that’s being welcomed by queer arts groups who’ve felt the touch of the recent cuts to arts funding.

In the last budget, the BC Liberal-led government reduced the BC Arts Council’s funding by almost 50 percent, cutting its distribution amount to BC arts groups from about $14 million to $7.9 million.

As of early September, the government said its arts contributions were $16 million for the current fiscal year.

The Creativity Counts initiative is recruiting community arts champions in each riding to take the case for public investment to their local MLAs. Collectively, the organizations represent thousands of artists and community arts groups.

Amir Ali Alibhai, executive director of the Greater Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture, said Victoria expanded gambling on the understanding that 33 per cent of profits would be plowed back into important social and community services. With the recent cuts to gambling grants to arts and community groups, that figure has been slashed to about 10 per cent.

Alibhai is calling for Premier Gordon Campbell’s provincial government to increase funding to at least 20 per cent of all gambling revenues.

Organizers will also be calling on politicians to make funds for non-profits a condition for zoning changes that would be required for the construction of a proposed new Vegas-style casino next to BC Place.

Arts groups say the provincial government has failed to keep promises that it would steer 33 per cent of gambling profits to community projects and instead has slashed that allotment to 10 per cent.

The groups are expected to make their pitch Friday at the B.C. Association for Charitable Gaming Symposium at River Rock Casino in Richmond.

The project is being backed by the Assembly of B.C. Arts Councils. the B.C. Touring Council, Vancouver’s Alliance for Arts and Culture, and Victoria’s ProArt Alliance.

The idea is to have delegations of people representing arts groups and their audiences, business partners, volunteers, and donors to stress to MLAs the benefits of a thriving cultural sector.

The initiative comes in response to B.C.’s consistent ranking among the bottom of all the provinces when it comes to per-capita arts funding. The B.C. Liberals have also made major cuts to gaming grants to arts groups and have cut core funding.

“The two main things I would like you to consider are the restoration of all Gaming monies to the non-profit sector, without any strings attached, and a tripling of the province’s investment in the cultural sector,” Bill Horne states in his submission to the legislature’s select standing committee on finance and government services.

Horne is a vice president of CARFAC B.C., a visual artists’ advocacy group.

The Vancouver-born artist’s submission includes portraits that he created of people in various trades and occupations who support the arts.

Representing the Fort St. John Community Arts Council, Tara O’Donnell noted that the province is 13th in Canada when compared to the other provinces and territories pertaining to per capita arts funding at only $6.54 per person. The B.C. Arts Council recently had its budget slashed by $20 million and at this time has no access to provincial gaming funds. O’Donnell is calling for the budget to be restored to 2008 levels so they can continue to provide adequate services to the region.

A strategy session held at the Scotiabank Dance Centre in Vancouver on September 27 attracted more than 30 participants with various roles in the arts community.

The participants rallied to discuss ways to coordinate advocacy efforts across the province. Among the key issues were funding cutbacks, relations with the provincial government, and the needs of artists and organizations in rural B.C.

Nanaimo MLA Leonard Krog and Nanaimo-North Cowichan MLA Doug Routley will join Spencer Chandra Herbert, New Democrat tourism, culture and arts critic at roundtable meetings planned for Nanaimo on Oct. 29.

The group has invited local artists and arts, culture and heritage organizations to learn what challenges and effects recent budget decisions have had on their livelihoods and program offerings.

Last week the committee was in the Central Okanagan with a stop in Lake Country.

The presenters concerns were largely specific to their own interests however, a common theme that was touched on by most was the need for sustained funding from the province to non-profit organizations.

Ballet Kelowna’s Alison Moore told the committee that provincial funding cuts to the arts and the restructuring of how grant money is delivered has made it difficult for organizations like hers to secure the funds they need. Furthermore, she says that contributions from community clubs are down due in part to provincial cuts to their own funding. In its budget this year Ballet Kelowna was forced to trim $90,000 from its previous year’s budget resulting in less performances.

Don’t get upset – get active! And DO SOMETHING about it!

Come to the meeting on MONDAY, SEPT 27th at 7 PM
At the SCOTIABANK DANCE CENTRE

Q. The Chair of the BC Arts Council recently resigned. What was your reaction?

Jane Danzo’s resignation broke the logjam we’ve been stuck in for a year, so I was hugely relieved. She was a government appointee and she knows the premier personally, so her public stand against the Arts ministry was fairly explosive. It certainly won her the admiration of thousands of British Columbians concerned about arts and culture. Her letter of resignation protested two things: the government’s unreasonably devastating cuts to the BC Arts Council, and its political interference in BC arts and culture. It’s worth mentioning here that on both points, BC is quite unique in Canada. No other province has made arts cuts like these, and many provinces have in fact increased funding. And compared to other provinces, the BC Arts Council has only ever had a weak version of a proper “arm’s-length” relationship with government. Some have jokingly called it “wrist’s-length.” When the government eroded the last of the Council’s independence, Danzo of course had little choice but to quit in protest. About two weeks after her resignation, undoubtedly partly the result of her resignation, the government reversed its cuts somewhat by re-allocating $7 million back into the Council. This is an inadequate amount, but at least it will help the Council save a number of organizations from collapse. The Council must now pressure government for a proper arm’s-length relationship, and they need to get it in writing.