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.”

“It’s only an hour,” Brayden said of the Oct. 25 meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. sharp.

Before the last election, the B.C. Liberals promised charities and non-profits that gaming grants were safe from cuts. This spring, however, deep cuts were made.

“This was a promise that was made at the outset of the gaming laws being passed here in B.C., that 33 per cent of the gaming revenue would go back to the community groups to help with the good work that they do at the community level,” Brayden said. “That money has been reduced to 10 per cent.”

Many are feeling the pinch.

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.

Chandra Herbert said Tourism, Culture and the Arts Minister Kevin Krueger made reference to the new event at the recent launch of the Klahowya Village at the Stanley Park mini train. When he pursued the issue later with the minister, Chandra Herbert says he was told the new, multicommunity festival would launch in February 2010 and then take place over the next two years, drawing funds from the legacy money.

Pointing out that arts festivals were recently dropped from gaming funding, Chandra Herbert said: “It’s interesting because we have a number of good festivals that need support already. The government is speaking out of both sides of their mouth. They claim they support festivals [with this new event], and yet they don’t.”

New Democrat MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert, the Opposition critic for arts and culture and MLA for Vancouver–West End said he was recently told by a bureaucrat with the B.C. Ministry of Housing and Social Development, which is responsible for gaming grants, that writing, dance, film, fringe, and other festivals would not be eligible for that funding this year.

“To me, all of those events qualify as things that have broad community support and are definitely community cultural celebrations, and so this shocked me,” Chandra Herbert told the Straight by phone.

In March, the ministry announced that although adult arts and culture groups would no longer receive the grants for 2010-11, fairs, festivals, and museums were still listed as eligible programs.

Chandra Herbert said no explanation was given when he asked why the decision was allegedly made to deny grants to many festival groups.

This shows a complete lack of understanding of the creative sector. The arts and culture industry brings crucial revenue into B.C. while making our communities better places to live. We must ask if the forces beyond the B.C. Liberals’ control to which Krueger refers include the scandalous cost overrun on the new convention centre or the cost of fixing BC Place’s roof going from $365 million to $563 million in less than a year. Under government “oversight,” the convention centre project went $480 million over budget -more than 10 times B. C’s annual budget for the arts.

The Opposition continues to stand up for the thousands who will lose their jobs in the arts and for the communities whose cultural experiences will be diminished.

Spencer Herbert

MLA Vancouver West End and Opposition Critic for Tourism, Culture, and the Arts

“What I’ve been able to see in the budget so far is it looks like a 50 percent cut to the arts, gaming and [BC] Arts Council,” says Vancouver-West End MLA Spencer Herbert, who is gay.

“So it’s not 90 percent the Liberals threatened but a 50 percent cut is devastating. It will lead to thousands of job losses, artists leaving our communities and a much less vibrant cultural scene with less expression for queer stories,” he says.

“I know Out on Screen has been watching this closely. It will impact them and any other queer groups looking to get our stories out there,” Herbert adds.

Queer arts organizations, including Out on Screen which produces Vancouver’s annual queer film festival, were hoping that the government would restore funding to 2007-2008 levels.

“What is frustrating with this government is that it feels like they’re playing a colossal shell game,” says Out on Screen’s executive director, Drew Dennis.

Last year’s appropriation (2009-2010) was $1,235,000. Next year’s appropriation (2010-2011) is $948,000.

NDP arts and culture critic Spencer Herbert told the Straight that it doesn’t make sense to cut the film commission’s funding.

“The film industry has been struggling, obviously, given the government’s endless delays on tax credits. Some industry estimates are $200 million in business because of that,” Herbert said by phone from Victoria. “We can’t afford to be cutting the film commission that does that work of landing projects here—which promotes our work here—with unemployment at the rate that it is.”

“I’m concerned what they’ll do is take the gaming money, put it in the B.C. Arts Council to keep the arts council budget whole, but overall that will still be more than a 50-percent cut in arts funding,” Herbert said. “That’s better than a 90-percent cut, but it’s still brutal.”

Finance Minister Colin Hansen, Tourism, Culture and the Arts Minister Kevin Krueger, and Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman have all gone into hiding.

Fortunately, the NDP Opposition has created a chart that paints a pretty good picture of arts funding in B.C.

The critic for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Vancouver-West End NDP MLA Spencer Herbert, e-mailed it to the Straight today.

The next provincial budget is scheduled to be unveiled on March 2.

Spencer Herbert, arts critic and MLA for Vancouver West End, stopped by the gallery show opening on his tour of northern communities and chatted with some of the artists, and gallery patrons before heading north to Quesnel.

He said he was concerned about Victoria cutting 50 per cent of funding for the arts and expected more cuts for the arts in B.C. were on the way, even though studies show that every $1 invested in the arts is returned with $1.38 in tax revenue.

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.

Vancouver-West End MLA Spencer Herbert told the Straight that his petition was signed by 1,200 people.

“What really impressed me in going through the names is that they were from all over the province—small communities, big communities,” Herbert said. “It was a last-minute thing. Talking to the people who put out the petitions, the people were literally pulling them out of their hands [because] they wanted to sign them so badly. People are looking for any means possible to get the government to change its course.”

According to Herbert, an ad hoc group loosely affiliated with Victoria’s ProArt Alliance tried to take the petition provincewide.

He said he is “quite happy” that the government has taken action on the video game sector because when he had asked the ministers of technology and culture in the House about doing something like that, neither had heard of such an idea.

“I think it kind of signals in a sense what the government thinks of arts and culture—that it’s used as a tourism-development tool,” Herbert said. “It’s just one of the line items under tourism development.”