Update on BC Cuts to the Arts October 16, 2009

First off, I’m excited to say that a profile piece on me was published yesterday in The Vancouver Observer. Alfred DePew interviews me about the recent cuts to the arts, and how Social Media helped us to organize our protest against it.

Click here to read it.

Secondly, yesterday a delegation of 25 representatives from the non-profit and arts worlds affected by the recent cuts to the arts met yesterday with Kevin Krueger, the minister of arts and culture. It’s my understanding that not much positive came out of that meeting. So…. another rally has been planned. Similar to the one on September 9 at the VAG, this one is called The Grey Rally. It’s happening all day on Wednesday, October 28, all over the city. Here’s the information from the Facebook page (speaking of using social media to organize):

The Grey Square Grand Plan

A minimum of 16 people, dressed in GREY, walk single file SILENTLY and make a grey square SILENTLY on a city corner.
Someone in that group will be designated timekeeper.
After 15 minutes, led by the timekeeper, they walk single file to another city corner and make another square.
This goes on all day, all around the city.
People can be funneled in and out once the route and times are ascertained.

We need: people to form grey squares; volunteers to hand out leaflets; volunteers for communication and organization tasks.

This is not a protest. This is about art and artists taking their space.

Participants are asked to donate an hour of their time on Oct 28. If you are interested in participating, please contact movingjac@gmail.com.

Finally, The Alliance For Arts and Culture has created an Advocacy Toolkit. Please download it, read it, and create some action!

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Dandilions and Firelighters September 9, 2009

I went to the Art Strike this afternoon.

It was like the weather was on our side, because it was a grey and rainy day. We were instructed to wear grey–the colour of a world without art, and the weather also showed up in shades of grey.

Arts Strike at the VAG: this is a world without art

The steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery, from the top right down, through the whole courtyard, all the way out to the fountain were covered in a mass of grey people and umbrellas. These were all cultural workers, artists, and those in non-profit organizations who were affected by the recent government cuts.

Mo Dahliwal reflected on how the arts were like electricity–you don’t notice it when it’s there, but if it’s gone for some reason, you really miss it. Later, picking up on that same theme, Nadia Chaney called us, as artists, firelighters, and said “all of us are that spark. Pass it on.”

As the rally drew to a close, Nadia had us imagine a dandilion in its seed state. She released us out into the world again, each person a seed, a firelighter, to infect and inspire others.

After, over a coffee with some friends, we talked about that passion, that spark that we all posses. We know it’s powerful. After all, it moves us every day to do what we do for long hours and little pay. But in order to make our voices heard, we also need to speak the language of the lawmakers and financiers. We need to convince them that the arts are not a charity, but a business that is a good investment.

Moving Forward

If you have not yet done, please express your concerns to your elected representatives.

• Write your MLA
• Write you City Councillors
• Write the Premier’s office -
• Write the Minister of Finance -
• Write the Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts

And have a read of this article by Charles Campbell at The Tyee.

For further updates and information about what is being organized to protest these cuts, continue to check The Alliance for Arts and Culture.

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Update on Financial Cuts to the Arts September 4, 2009

This has been an absolutely exhausting week.

It all started last Friday when most of the theatre companies in Vancouver got letters from the Provincial Government saying that thier Gaming funding was being pulled, and the three-year agreement that they had previously signed was being nullified. Many theatre companies were out $120,000.

Well, the community organized, got together, and created a stink that could be smelled in Victoria. Talk of a class-action suit was floating around. Then, yesterday, the government announced that it was reversing its decision, but only for those who had three-year agreements. Those companies who had only gotten gaming funding for this year, like one of my clients, Presentation House, are still out that grant. For Presentation House, it’s to the tune of $30,000.

Two things became really clear to me this week.

First, it is incredibly powerful when a group of people get together with a common cause and raise their voices. They become a force to be reckoned with. I’m not saying this is why the Government reversed its decision. We don’t actually know why they did. But it most certainly did not hinder the cause.

Second, I noticed how much social media was used this week to spread the word about meetings and updates on the status of the gaming grants. I only had to check in with my Twitter feed or Facebook, or check out a blog to find out what was going on. Earlier this week, someone started a Facebook group called Organizing Against Campbell’s Cuts to the Arts, and to date, it has nearly 2,000 members. Someone started the hashtag #bcartscutssuck, and it was soon everywhere. These tools are very powerful for disseminating information.

Moving Forward

There will be a rally for the arts on Wednesday, September 9, 12 noon, at Robson Square in downtown Vancouver. People attending are requested to wear grey–the colour of our world without art. Meet at The Dance Centre at 11:30 am. The rally will then move to Robson Square, where participants will form a silent square for 30 minutes.

The Facebook Event

There will be a similar event in Victoria, at the same time. Meet in front of the office of the BC Cultural Services Branch, 800 Johnson St. (corner of Johnson and Blanchard), at 11:50 am.

The Facebook Event

Links to related stories:

The Alliance for Arts and Culture (blog)

The Vancouver Sun

The Georgia Straight

GlobalBC TV

The Times-Colonist

And now, back to regular blogging.

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Alliance calls community meeting for Wednesday August 31, 2009

From Kevin McKeown, the new Director of Communications at The Alliance for Arts and Culture:

Alliance for Arts and Culture
ARTS COMMUNITY MEETING

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
1 pm to 3 pm
Museum of Vancouver
1100 Chestunut Street

The Alliance for Arts and Culture will convene a community meeting on Wednesday, September 2 at the Museum of Vancouver to discuss our options in response to this week’s announcements regarding BC Gaming Commission Direct Access Grants. The meeting will run from 1 pm to 3 pm.

We will attempt to quantify the damage, bring one-another up-to-date on protest initiatives currently being taken by individual artists, organizations and discipline sectors, and discuss the pros and cons of several possible courses of action for the future.

This meeting will NOT be open to the media, elected officials or cultural sector bureaucrats. While we appreciate the support we are receiving from many in each of these sectors, the arts community needs this opportunity to “talk among ourselves”.

This is NOT a “rally” so we are only looking for one or two pesons from each arts organizations to attend. A full-scale arts community rally in the near future will be one of the options discussed. So please don’t send your entire staff and/or membership!

Arts organizations that are not members of the Alliance are welcome to send representatives to this gathering.

Please RSVP to kdm@allianceforartsandculture.com indicating how many representatives from your organization will be attending. Seating is limited, so we need to count noses. We will begin at precisely 1 pm, so plan to arrive early.

QUANTIFYING THE DAMAGE
We have had numerous emails over the past few days from Alliance members and non-members informing us of declined Direct Access grants.

To help us quantify the damage to our community in advance of Wednesday’s community meeting, could you take a moment to email us the following details, in the order noted:

• Name of your organization.
• Amount of declined grant request.
• Whether this was a one-year or multi-year grant.
• If multi-year, which year was declined.
• How many years your organization has been receiving Direct Access funding.
• Whether your organization has a BC Arts Council grant pending.

The government now seems to be mixing apples with oranges in order to make it as difficult as possible to understand our exact standing with various sources of funding. At least one arts organization has received confirmation of a BCAC grant which cites the Gaming Grants Program as the source of the funds, and states that the money will be deposited to the recipient’s Gaming account.

If you receive a similar BCAC grant confirmation, please let us know whether that grant is for the full amount of your original BCAC funding request.

We would also like to hear from any organization which received a Direct Access Grant or grant confirmation in the past week, or does so in the coming days. So far, the only approved grants seem to be those confirmed prior to the freeze — most of them in May.

Please keep your responses to the above questions brief and factual. I will have to compile the answers in a spreadhseet, and lengthy and anecdotal replies will slow down the process.

Thank you for your collaboration.

MEDIA CONFERENCE
The Alliance for Arts and Culture will hold a media conference to announce the outcomes of Wednesday’s community meeting on Thursday, September 3, at a time and place to be determined.

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Massive turnout at Press Conference in support of Spencer Hebert August 30, 2009

What a way to catch up with friends and colleagues.

The theatre community was well represented today at the press conference at Spencer Hebert’s downtown office. Many of them were my colleagues, friends, and clients. But it’s like meeting people you haven’t seen in ages a funereal: while you’re happy to see them and catch up with them, you’re sad that this is the occasion that brings you together.

So, to quickly summarize: The provincial government has promised arts and non-profit organizations money from its Gaming

Crowds spill out onto the sidewalk at the press conference today

revenue. What this means is, some of the money that they make (last year $1 Billion), from lotteries goes to non-profit and arts organisations. Some theatre companies have mult-year agreements, to the tune of $40,000 per year, for three years. This is money that they have signed a contract for with the government, and are counting on to produce shows. The money is already allocated.

In the case of some theatre companies, like Touchstone and Ruby Slippers, the money comes at the end of thier fiscal year. They made choices and spent with the knowledge that that money was coming. In the case of Touchstone, the result is that they are now facing an unprecedented (in their 35 years) deficit, because thier season is over, but they were expecting that money, which is now not coming.

I think a lot of the outrage is because of this. In the arts, we are used to having little, and to making our work on a shoestring. What is making people so angry is that this is money that they were assured they would be getting, and it is now being taken back.

If someone did something like that in the corporate world, they would be immediately sued.

The devastation is wide-spread. I don’t know of too many theatre companies in Vancouver who have not been affected. At the press conference, I spoke to the ADs of Touchstone, Ruby Slippers, Leaky Heaven Circus and Theatre Terrific, all of whom I worked for last season, all of whom are facing massive cutbacks. Presentation House is affected, but Full Figure has not yet heard.

Deb Pickman, whose Shameless Hussy Theatre company goes into rehearsals tomorrow for their latest production, Frozen, has said that the three company members (herself included) will be forced to forgo their salaries as a result of the cuts, and tour planned and advertised for the fall may have to be cut if they can’t make up the shortfall. Carol Higgins of Carousel Theatre recently posted on Facebook about how she was going to make up for the shortfall.

At this moment, I don’t know if my own work will be directly impacted, but it certainly will impact the theatre community as a whole, and future contracts will certainly be affected.

Vancouver Sun story

Global TV story

CTV story

The Province, Aug 31

A facebook group has sprung up called Organizing Against Campbell’s Cuts to the Arts.

Alliance for Arts and Culture
ARTS COMMUNITY MEETING

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
1 pm to 3 pm
Museum of Vancouver
1100 Chestunut Street

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Local arts community rallies in the face of massive cuts August 29, 2009

This always happens when I take a vacation. Something big.

The arts community, including many theatre companies here in Vancouver, rely heavily on gaming for funding. What that means is, non-profit organizations (which includes many arts organizations) get grants for operating and projects from revenue that the goverment makes off of lotteries, bingo and the like.

On August 14,  the government instituted a freeze on this money, pending a review. This freeze was lifted on August 24, but yesterday, many companies learned that grants that they were relying on for the next year or two have been cut.

You can read more about this story:

The Georgia Straight

The Westender

The Alliance for Arts and Culture

Plank

A press conference/rally has been called for tomorrow at Spencer Hebert’s office (Spencer is the opposition’s Art critic).

Here’s the information, courtesy of Jessie Van Rijn, who’s the GM at Carousel Theatre, and yesterday’s letter from Spencer:

A press conference will be held Sunday Aug. 30 at Spencer Herbert’s office. He would like as many people there as possible – arts organizations, arts lovers of all kinds, and particularly those who were on multi-year Direct Access agreements. If you are on a multi-year agreement and would like an opportunity to speak at the conference, please come a half hour early. And please pass this information along to everyone you know.

PRESS CONFERENCE
SUNDAY AUG. 30, 12:00 NOON
923 Denman St (btw Barclay and Haro)
Doors open at 11:30 a.m.

28 August 2009

Dear Friends of Arts and Culture,

Today is black Friday for our province’s arts and culture industries.

We are learning today that most arts and culture organizations who did not receive their gaming grant before the BC Liberal’s instituted their unannounced freeze will likely be getting zero dollars this year.
For some groups that can mean they will lose up to $100,000 in funding, and the money will likely not be there for organizations next year either.

Some groups will fold, others will go into massive debt, and others will lay off staff and cancel programs.
Some organizations had been guaranteed 3 years of funding by the government, and were waiting for the second year of funding after spending on the programs the government guaranteed them would be funded – and are now told they won’t receive it, and will have to re-apply.

This has come about because of the government’s budget lie.

They said the deficit would only be $495 million before the election despite top economists, and the Official Opposition’s warnings and now after the election acknowledge it will be much bigger.

One month before the election campaign kicked off I asked the Minister responsible about the province’s commitment to arts and culture and he said ‘there is no reason for the member to suggest that funding that has taken place in the past is somehow or other in jeopardy in this next fiscal year. It is not in jeopardy. This is assured funding during very, very challenging times.’

He also said in response to my first letter to the arts community about the government’s
plans to cut arts funding by 50% ‘The member goes on to say in this letter to the arts and culture community: “After the election, the budget will then decline by about 50 percent.”

That also is just wrong, and the member has no substantiation for saying that.”

The Minister’s statement is now proven to be a lie, and a lie that will cost us all economically, socially, and culturally.

From government reports we learn that BC Gaming’s investment in arts and culture is going from 19.8 million to somewhere in the area of 10.9 million, although none of this will go to people who have applied to gaming as it’s being used for the first time to pay for the BC Arts Council’s usual programs whose funding has been cut.

The government’s direct Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and the Arts budget is set to decline 50% next year, and possibly more depending on what comes out in the budget on Tuesday. on the whole it looks like a nearly 75% cut to arts and culture investment in BC. We’ll know more on Budget day, and I will let you know when I hear anything.

Can you pass this e-mail on to all of your contacts, and let me know what you are receiving from Gaming, and the BC Arts Council? Also please let me know if you are on multi-year funding, and were supposed to be getting your grants, but are now not and what this will do to your organization.
I will continue to stand for a strong creative economy, and support arts and culture organizations province wide.

We know that for every dollar invested by the province the province makes $1.38 back in taxes. That is sound economics.

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Arts coummunity concerned about cuts to the BC Arts Council July 15, 2009

This email arrived in my inbox on Monday from Peter Boychuck, the communications manager at The Alliance for Arts and Culture.  Since then, it has been widely spread, but in case you haven’t seen it:

The arts and cultural sector in British Columbia is facing an imminent crisis. The Service Plans for the next two years show a 40% reduction in funding for the BC Arts Council. The BC Arts Council is the largest funding body in the province; last year, more than 224 communities throughout British Columbia depended on it for support.

“The impact to the province will be devastating,” said Amir Ali Alibhai, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Arts & Culture. “The BC Arts Council supports a sector that employs 80,000 people and generates $5.2-billion annually. It is bigger than the forestry and fishing industries combined. At a time when the government is doing everything they can to create and retain jobs, why are they implementing measures that will trigger layoffs and cause organizations to reduce programming?

According to Ministry’s own research, for every dollar invested in the arts, the province gets back $1.38 in taxes. There are also countless studies that show that arts and culture creates healthy communities, enhances education, and helps to shape our cultural identity.

The government has defended the cuts as a necessary and discretionary, but artists and their communities are unconvinced. “No other government in the country has reduced funding for arts and culture during the recession,” said Minna Schendlinger of the PuSh Festival. “In fact, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and the Government of Canada have all increased their investments.” In their estimation, arts and culture are clearly valued and recognized as an important area to invest by other governments – they are not seen as discretionary nor a frill; they are core investments.

During a recent interview with Scott Walker of ProArt Alliance in Victoria, the new Minister for Tourism, Culture, Kevin Krueger, characterized the arts community as unconcerned. “I am not hearing complaints at all from the arts and cultural community,” he said. “I think people are pretty happy with what we’ve done.”

“The arts community is genuinely grateful for the past support that the Liberals in BC have given to arts and culture,” said Mr. Alibhai. “However, the proposed cuts take us back to much older funding levels. The effect will be a costly creative drain in this province, and it will be next to impossible to regain the ground lost.”

If you are concerned about the cuts to funding in the arts in BC, and want Mr. Krueger to know about it, then send him an email at kevin.krueger.mla@leg.bc.ca.

UPDATE, JULY 16: Someone has started a Facebook Group in protest. Join and voice your complaint.

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Vote for the Arts May 11, 2009

Tomorrow, here in BC, we will have a provincial election.

Up until quite recently, I used to be one of those people that was pretty apathetic about politics. I just figured everyone was a crook, and my one little vote was not going to make  any difference in the grand scheme of things. Then I went to work at The Alliance for Arts and Culture in Vancouver.

Among the myriad of things that they do there, is advocacy, and you can’t be apathetic for long when you work in that kind of environment. So, now I’m on the other side: I’m encouraging you, if you live in BC, to get out tomorrow and vote. And, because I am not non-partisan, but just myself, I’m encouraging you to vote for anyone but the Liberals.

The Liberals have a horrible track record when it comes to supporting the arts. Over the last few years, they have cut funding to the arts by 40%. Okay, to be fair, the NDP, who used to be in power, weren’t that much better, but they at least have the arts on their platform, and have pledged to restore the 40% cut by the Liberals. I hope they keep their promise if they get elected.

The Assembly of British Columbia Arts Councils and the Alliance have put together a campaign/information package called: Vote: Put Your HeART In It. Check it out for information about artists and our place in the economy.

And then get out and vote.

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A blog-bate! May 4, 2009

During last year’s federal election, the arts, which have traditionally gotten left by the wayside in political campaigns, were brought front and centre by a political debate focused on the arts called The Wrecking Ball. These debates took place in several major cities across the country. Our local Wrecking Ball was organized by The Alliance for Arts and Culture, and it was, in a word, inspiring.

Here in BC, we are in the throes of a Provincial election–we go to the polls on May 12. According to an article in The Georgia Straight, the arts are pretty far down on the priority list when it comes to platforms.

While both the NDP and Greens have pledged to increase arts funding, the B.C. Liberals have not. The NDP has vowed to restore the arts funding cut in 2009, increase the budget for the B.C. Arts Council, and provide a new $50-million capital fund to be administered by the B.C. Arts Council for investment in projects that “support the growth and sustainability” of professional and community arts, culture, and heritage sectors. The Green party platform calls for increasing funding to the B.C. Arts Council, establishing a separate Ministry of Arts, Culture and Heritage, and cooperating with other levels of government to fund an “indigenous peoples culture and arts plan for B.C.” Meanwhile, the only mention of the arts in the Liberals’ platform comes in the context of boosting tourism: “It [increasing tourism revenues] is why we established the $150-million B.C. 150 Cultural Fund and are investing $50 million in a new generation Vancouver Art Gallery.” (read the entire article here)

In an attempt to bring Arts more to the forefront, The Alliance for Arts and Culture has arrainged a debate–a virtual one:

In an innovative departure from the usual all-candidates debates, the Alliance for Arts & Culture will host a “live-blogging” forum on May 4th at 4pm with Spencer Herbert (NDP candidate), Vanessa Violini (Green Party candidate). At this point, no Liberal Party candidate has chosen to participate; however, Bill Bennett, Liberal candidate and former Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts – who cited prior commitments – will post a prepared statement on behalf of the Liberals.

You are invited to participate: visit the Alliance’s blog, and drop a question to the candidates in the comments section. Then, you can follow the debate as it is live-blogged on May 4.

The only way to make a difference is to speak out!

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Dream of Saving Vancouver’s Pantages Dies April 27, 2009

Only a little more than a year ago, on April 16, 2008, I was part of a huge celebration that took place at Vancouver’s 100-year-old Pantages Theatre on Hastings St. The event was attended by, and featured the talents of, some of Vancouver’s elite, including Christopher Gaze and Dal Richards. It was a huge success, and hope was high–on that day, we announced the $26-million plan to restore the theatre by developer Marc Williams.

The Pantages Today

It looks like that dream has died.

In October, 2008, it was announced that the future of the Pantages was in jeopardy. Hung up in red tape at City Hall, the developer put the property up for sale. Every month the building sits empty, it costs him in the range of $30,000.

On December 9, members of the Pantages Theatre Society presented an early Christmas gift to the then-new Mayor, Gregor Robertson. It was a book that included more than 350 letters of support for the Pantages, and a plea to the Mayor to reopen negotiations.

On December 19, City Council voted to allow the owner of the York Theatre, Bruno Wall, a density transfer, and that Vancouver landmark was saved, and a $12 million restoration is in the works. Hopes were high that City Council might consider something similar for the Pantages.

The Pantages Theatre Society’s website has been taken down, and a source close to them told me that the building did not fare well during this past (heavy) winter.

In an email from Dr. Charles Barber, head of the PTS, he said:

Ten years from now, after this 101-year old dazzler is demolished and replaced by utter mediocrity, people will wonder how we could have been so stupid.

It makes me incredibly sad to report this. I recently attended a backstage tour of the Moore Theatre in Seattle, whose archetecture was so strikingly similar to our Pantages. This is because the archetect that assisted in designing the Moore, was the archetech for our Pantages. The two theatres opened within a year of each other. Seeing the Moore was like seeing the potential of the Pantages, if we could only get there.

In this city, any indepenndent theatre producer will tell you one of our greatest challenges is finding spaces to produce our plays. The restoration plan for the Pantages was to include not just the main 650-seat theatre, but a second, smaller, 99-seat black-box theatre. The plan also included 200 units of social housing. No one can say that homelessness is not a huge problem in our city.

It’s just wrong.

You can see all my past posts on the Pantages here.

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