B.C. Government Cuts $20 Million for Art

Arts Groups Stiffed Due to Recession/Olympics

The BC Ministry of Tourism and Culture announced a $20-million cut to the funding of arts communities across the province last week. The promised money was to come from direct access gaming grants, collected largely from lotteries and casinos (last year the province's share of gambling revenues was over one billion dollars).

The $20 million arts budget was to support theatre productions, music, fine art, but now, financial commitments often made years in advance, can no longer be honored, contracts must be broken, and audiences will miss out on many entertainment events.

BC NDP culture critic Spencer Herbert says "It doesn't make sense economically. The B.C. government's own study shows that for every dollar invested in arts and culture, they get $1.38 back in taxes, so this is laying people off, and costing the government money to do it."

Do the cuts indicate shifting priorities in the Liberal government? The surprise announcement stands in sharp contrast to the optimistic rhetoric of the spring re-election campaign.

Money Re-appropriated Not Short

On the same day that the cuts were announced, $2.9 million was awarded to the Olympic Torch Relay. The Ministry seems to prefer Tourism over Culture. The 2010 Olympic Games, according to Liberal promises, will provide lasting benefits for all British Columbians, but can't the same be said of the arts? How does $20 million compare to the bloated Olympic budget? Isn't art a competition of talent too?

According to yesterday's announcement, Canada is pulling out of the recession, but provincially BC's government is still crying poor. If Olympic tourism fails to meet high expectations and provincial coffers dry up, will B.C. gamblers ante up?

BC Arts Alliance Assess Cuts

The Alliance for Arts and Culture, a hub organization representing 350 arts organizations, is asking its members to help assess the impact of the budget cuts. This is no easy task for them: the government seems to be making it "as difficult as possible to understand our exact standing with various sources of funding."

Hopefully there will be better sportsmanship forthcoming from elected officials, but without long-standing commitments from government ministries to the arts community now seriously in breach of trust, can the rift be repaired in time to save those agencies close to collapse without the promised funds?.