But they’re working with Cowichan Valley Regional District to look at options and strategies on keeping the local arts scene alive.

“Now is the time we have to act and everything we do is collaborative. We simply are back at square one,” CVAC president Judy Brayden said.

CVAC is grappling with the loss of its government gaming funding, which is typically $20,000 and covered rent.

“We really only need $1,500 (per month) to sustain this gallery. But we don’t have that,” Brayden said.

…Over the past year, we have faced almost daily announcements of cuts to funding for the arts. And now the HST will be applied to dance and music lessons, among other things. This hurts. It seems we can’t do anything about it — it feels that way, anyway. So my hat goes off to Jane Danzo, who resigned last month as the chair of BC Arts Council. She gave up her non-volunteer position in order to have an effective voice to the government, re: funding for the arts. BC Arts Council operates under the provincial Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, you see. Well, good for her; that was not an easy decision.

Wendy Young hopes that will change now that the province has announced the BC Arts Council will receive seven million dollars to hand out to arts organizations across BC.

During cash-strapped times, it might be tempting to make the arts less of a priority.

But the Liberal government is also defending the cuts, saying it has poured half a billion dollars into the arts and culture sector since first being elected in 2001.

Newly acclaimed Cranbrook and District Arts Council (CDAC) President Sioux Browning said the cuts are coming at the expense of artists that don’t make a living wage as it is and now their lives will become even harder.

“I’m a huge fan of the Olympics and I love amateur sport too and I thought the cultural Olympiad was fantastic and I fully supported it. But that said I worry about actual working artists because they can’t get any support.”

Browning said money from the new three-year, $30 million Sports and Arts Legacy Fund is supposed to go to young and emerging artists for artistic works that support the spirit of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

• Rod Brind’Amour and Trevor Linden are born;
• The voting age in Canada is lowered from 21 to 18;
• The Beatles and the Supremes broke up;
• The Vancouver Canucks joined the NHL;
• In Washington DC, 100,000 people demonstrated against the Vietnam War; and the Campbell River Community Arts Council is formed.

If you guessed 1970, you’d be right. On Aug. 31, 2010, the Arts Council will celebrate it’s 40th Anniversary. The community is invited to drop by the Sybil Andrews Cottage in Willow Point between 2-5 p.m. on Aug. 31 to help the Council celebrate.

Doti Niedermayer, executive director of the Whistler Arts Council (WAC), envisions the new site opening up a “whole new world of possibility” in terms of bringing local artists and artisans into the village. And without adding significantly to WAC’s already stretched operating budget.

“I’ve seen the design go through some changes and some various additions,” Niedermayer said. “I’ve kind of had an idea of what we’d want to use it for, and also what the arts community would want to use it for. For us, that’s always been really exciting because given that it would be a space that is run by the municipality, we would be able to implement things like a Thursday night farmers market or craft fair.”

The Artisans’ Galleria in Steveston showcases the work of artist members and exhibitions, and is free for the public to attend.

The Community Arts Council of Richmond, which raised significant funds to help build Richmond’s Gateway Theatre, issued scholarships to promising artists and gave grants to many of Richmond’s art and culture groups to assist in their endeavors.

“The cuts by the provincial government to funding the arts is the largest contributor (to the gallery closing),” explains treasurer and primary administrator Margaret Stephens.

“I’ve inherited a very healthy arts council — I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all the hard work that Joan Richoz and (Executive Director) Doti (Niedermayer) did,” Pitman said. “I’ve got big shoes to fill. We just want to make sure that we exceed the expectations of the community.”

Pitman said she hopes to grow WAC’s membership and patron programs, as well as increase the visibility of the arts council.

“So much goes on in Whistler that a lot of people don’t know Whistler’s arts council is backing. I want a better awareness,” she said.

“I would like to see arts and culture expanded a little. It’d be really wonderful if the weekenders could join our patrons program; we do so much that the weekenders see and participate in, and we would like to have their support.”

When asked if she anticipates any new events, Pitman replied that she is currently planning a celebration of Whistler’s history, to be held in November.

The council was founded in 1969 when Pat Martin Bates convinced the Canadian Forces to hold off the demolition of a quaint brick structure at the entrance to the Esquimalt Dockyards. Called Signal Hill, it became home to an eclectic group of artists — the same group that went on to become the Xchanges artists’ co-operative.

In the late 1970s the council opened an office on the third floor at 620 View St. and concerned itself with the well-being of local dance, music, writing and visual art. Longtime president Erika Kurth brought the council to Rogers cable TV with her weekly Arts Calendar program, produced by Gilles St. Denis and volunteer cameraman Paul Scrivener.

Next Friday (Aug. 6), the community is invited to come out and discover some of these often-overlooked artists and venues, as the Whistler Arts Council hosts its second annual ArtWalk Function Block Party.

Kevin Krueger, minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, said the festivals will build on the success of the Cultural Olympiad, associated with the 2010 Winter Games

Krueger said he announced his proposal for spirit festivals at the Assembly of B.C. Arts Councils’ annual general meeting late this spring. But the Professional Arts Alliance of Greater Victoria’s Scott Walker says the proposal appears to be excluding professional arts groups such as those in his 17-member organization.

Building on the success of the Cultural Olympiad, the festivals will showcase local music, art and theatre in individual communities across the province, said Kevin Krueger, minister of tourism, culture and the arts.

An unspecified amount of funding will be drawn from the $10-million 2010 Sports and Legacy Fund.

The festivals will be held each February for at least the next three years, said Krueger, and he anticipates funding will continue after the legacy fund dries up.

But not everyone is in the spirit for spirit festivals.

This is great news for Burnaby, and for the Burnaby Arts Council (BAC), our member groups and many other local arts and community organizations impacted by recent funding cuts at the provincial level.

The Burnaby Arts Council organizes many special events throughout the year, and is currently in the early planning stages of potentially initiating two new festivals in 2011. One of these will be the expansion of a new national event, ‘Culture Days’, in which B.C. communities are participating for the first time in 2010.

About 20 artists of various media are displaying an array of pieces symbolizing the dilemma of reality and the potential of the hereafter in the Cowichan Valley Arts Council’s bold exhibit.

Pieces span installations, paintings, collages, sculpture and more.

Barbara Sobon’s existential installation work piece Dissolving Into Blue Sky offers her views about the great beyond and living life to the fullest now.

Meanwhile, CVAC, like many other local groups, is clinging to life by scaling back its expectations in the wake of government grants cuts.