[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: