There's still room at SHAPE's free panel discussion on the Art of Safety on May 4th from 3pm-5pm at the New Revue Stage on Granville Island. The panel is followed by a wine and cheese reception catered by Les Amis Fromage. RSVP by emailing rsvp@shape.bc.ca and noting Arts Reception in the subject heading. Safety is more important than ever.
Read More [caption id="attachment_146" align="alignleft" width="135" caption="Photo by Trevor Brady, The Georgia Straight"]
[/caption] A message from the Executive Director: So yet again the arts and cultural sector seem to fall off the table. The NDP and Green platforms for BC Election 2009 addressed arts and culture and made some encouraging promises. The Liberals have, thus far, described their rather impressive track-record, without addressing the large cuts to come to the BC Arts Council in the near future, nor including the significant arts and cultural industries in their platform, except a minor mention of the Film sector. I get it. This election is clearly about the Economy; it is about Health, Education, Environment; it is about Social Services and values; it is about the next four years – our future. It is about the sustainability of our families and communities. It is about survival.
In February’s budget, the BC government announced that investment in the BC Arts Council was being cut drastically.
Some of our Alliance members have been reporting some disturbing news regarding current investments in the arts. Music BC, for instance, has reported that the funding it receives from the province to administer a grant program for touring has been frozen. There are also reports about multi-year gaming grants recipients being told that their funding has been frozen due to the election. The response from officials has been, "As there is an election in process, only interim budgets were approved. We are still sorting all of that out. We should be done with that soon.”
How many more of you are able to confirm these freezes? Is this just because there is currently an election being run or are these portents of future cuts to the arts? We should ask these questions during this election.
CKNW News-Talk 980 is broadcasting a leaders debate Thursday, April 23rd between 8:30am 10:00am. The debate will feature Gordon Campbell, Carole James and Janet Sterk and will be hosted by Bill Good.
It'd be great to have a few people from our community call in and pose questions.
Our workshop on Demystifying Social Media has proven so popular we've added a second date on May 12 from 1-5pm here at the Alliance. If you would like to enroll - or if you are enrolled for the 5th and would like to switch dates - please call us at 604-681-3535 or email us at info@allianceforarts.com.
As we get ready to roll out our provincial advocacy campaign, it seems like a good time to point you to some important research being released by the Creative City Network of Canada (CCNC). The CCNC has partnered with the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA) to develop a project on cultural development in rural communities.
SHAPE (Safety & Health in Arts Production & Entertainment) is rolling out a number of initiatives to commemorate Arts Safety Week from May 3-9, 2009. First off, there are two free panel discussions - one for the film industry and the other for performing arts - followed by receptions catered by Les Amis du Fromage. There is no cost for either event, but RSVPs are requested. If you are interested in attending, please email rsvp@shape.bc.ca and note Arts Reception in the subject line.
Jessica Werb wrote an interesting article for the Georgia Straight about the conspicuous absence of arts and culture in the BC Liberal's election platform. In it, she notes that, "While the arts have taken a back seat in the election to talk of the economy and public safety, both the NDP and the Greens made a point of including cultural support in their election promises." For the complete article, click Read More
There are some exciting new developments for the Vancouver Arts Summit, a joint venture by the Alliance for Arts & Culture and 2010 Legacies Now taking on June 25-26, 2009 at the Vancouver Public Library. First, the Summit now has a name: SHIFTING GROUND: New Realities, New Ideas, New Opportunities. Second, we are very pleased to announce that we have secured Diane Ragsdale to perform the keynote address. Ms. Ragsdale is best known for her recent address to the Australia arts marketing council entitled Surviving the Culture Change, which is one of the most cogent and persuasive critiques of the current cultural climate in circulation. More information about the summit, including registration information, is forthcoming. This will be an event you don't want to miss , so be sure to save the dates!
Industry Canada has published application guidelines for their Marquee Festivals program, one of the stimulus items in the 2009 budget.
The Stratford Festival of Canada has canceled their April 30th performance of West Side Story, and has put another thirty performances on hold if ticket sales do not pick up. Sales for their 2009 season are down fifteen percent.
"It's a decision we made in the context of everything that is unfolding right now," says Anita Gaffney, Strat
By now, many of you have received supplemental funds from the BC Arts Council for your organizations and/or practice. Since there is so much uncertainty in regards to the financial future of the council, we have asked the staff at the arts council for clarification about this money.
The NDP rolled out their provincial campaign platform this weekend, and the Alliance responded:
Read MoreReaction to arts pledge cautious By Mary Frances Hill, The Vancouver Sun April 11, 2009 An arts and culture lobby group is taking a cautious approach to the New Democratic Party's campaign promise to restore funding to cultural programs across the province and create a capital plan for the B.C. Arts Council. In Take Back Your B.C., the NDP's 46-page campaign platform, the party devotes half a page to pledges to aid arts, culture and tourism. Leader Carole James promised to restore the provincial government's arts funding cuts for this year, increase the B.C. Arts Council's budget, and award the council -- a government agency -- a $50-million capital fund to invest in cultural projects. Alliance for Arts and Culture executive director Amir Ali Alibhai said he was pleased to see a mention of arts and culture in any election platform. "The arts are part of stimulating growth and recovery," he said. But he was wary of campaign promises. "I'm cautious because of the track record of the NDP," Alibhai said. "The last time they were in, there was a 25-per-cent cut in the B.C. Arts Council's [budget]." That was during the recession of the early 1990s. The Alliance advocates for the interests of about 350 arts and cultural groups in B.C., such as theatres and dance companies, and individual artists. The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts' 2009-2012 service plan shows the projected base funding for arts and culture programs dropping from $19.5 million in 2008-09 to $11.9 million in 2009-10 and $9.6 million in 2010-11. Alibhai said history has seen governments consider arts and culture spending as a frill. Spencer Herbert, NDP MLA for Vancouver-West End, said arts funding acts as an economic stimulus, generating about $1.36 in taxes for every dollar spent, "just from the multiplying effect of keeping the dollars in the economy locally."
[caption id="attachment_65" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Vancouver City Council"]
[/caption] As many of you know, the Culture Plan was imperiled by the budget cuts and the hiring freeze put forward by the City of Vancouver. We are pleased to announce that amendments to the 2009 City budget have been passed by Council during their recent deliberations that allow the Cultural Services to go ahead with certain aspects of the Culture Plan. Many thanks go out to City Council for acknowledging the extraordinary need for arts and culture during this time of economic upheaval, and to our members and supporters who wrote letters and contacted City Council about this issue. The amendments include:
This is a guest post by Richard Hatter of Hired Guns Creative. It is a revised version of an article he published on April 3, 2009. 
As many of you may know, we were recently featured on Smashing Magazine’s ‘Drawing Inspiration From Creative Logos’ for the design of the logo for The Alliance for Arts and Culture. We are deeply honoured by the recognition. We worked closely with AAC to achieve a design that matched their organization’s philosophy and represented the artistic community they service. We thought it would only be fitting to look back at bringing this logo to the surface.
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