BC Arts Service Organization
Victoria community groups shocked, disappointed in B.C. funding grants cut
Community organizations around Victoria were left shocked and disappointed yesterday after the provincial government said they would no longer be directly eligible for gaming grants. “I think it’s particularly devastating and possibly short-sighted,” said Scott Walker, co-ordinator of ProArt Alliance, which represents region’s professional arts organizations. Under the new funding rules, any charity or non-profit [...]
B.C. government withholds community gaming grants from adult arts and culture
The B.C. Liberal government stated today that adult arts and culture will not receive any community gaming grants in 2010-11. The message came in a “backgrounder” to a Ministry of Housing and Social Development news release about community gaming grants. Adult sports, environmental groups, and school playgrounds will also not receive funding under this program. Amir Ali Alibhai, executive [...]
Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance Celebrates World Theatre Day, 3/27
2010 will mark the seventh year that The Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance has organized local World Theatre Day celebrations. While World Theatre Day was established by the InterNational Theatre Institute on March 27th, 1961, many theatre artists are still unfamiliar with this one day a year when we commemorate Theatre. This year’s WTD celebrations [...]
Arts Community Leaders Disappointed by Budget: “Premier Ignored MLAs and His Own Finance Committee”
Emerging from today’s budget lockup at the BC Legislature, Alliance for Arts and Culture executive director Amir Ali Alibhai, Victoria Symphony executive director Mitchell Krieger, and ProArt Alliance of Greater Victoria coordinator Scott Walker expressed disappointment at the budget’s half-hearted support for the arts in British Columbia. “Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen [...]
Spencer Herbert and the Alliance for Arts and Culture exposed B.C. Liberal shell game
Yesterday, I wrote a story about the B.C. Liberal government’s shell game with arts funding. In the March 2 budget, Finance Minister Colin Hansen made it appear like he had restored arts funding to the level that existed in 2008-09. Back then, the government provided approximately $47.7 million in funding for arts and culture. In this [...]
Arts Funding Less than Advertised Say Advocates: BC’s overall arts budget $15 million less than two years ago: ProArt Alliance
While presenting the British Columbia budget on Tuesday, Finance Minister Colin Hansen made a big deal of the money being put into the arts. Advocates within the sector, however, are unimpressed. In his speech Hansen lumped the arts spending in with sports. “We are also making new investments to help young British Columbians excel in [...]
Arts alliance says B.C. budget cuts arts funding, but Liberals cover it up by including museum funds in total
When Amir Ali Alibhai first saw the new provincial budget figures, he thought that perhaps the B.C. Liberal government had restored arts funding. But upon closer examination, the executive director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture realized that this wasn’t the case. After doing some number crunching in the budget lockup, Alibhai has concluded [...]
Four NDP MLAs, including Carole James, submit petitions to legislature to reverse arts cuts
NDP Leader Carole James and three other NDP MLAs have submitted petitions in the legislature signed by constituents opposed to arts cutbacks. James, who represents Victoria-Beacon Hill, told the House yesterday that her petition was signed by 2,290 people. Stikine NDP MLA Doug Donaldson‘s petition had 843 signatures and Cariboo North NDP MLA Bob Simpson‘s petition had 224 signatures. [...]
