The BC Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services recently issued its Report on the Budget 2017 Consultations, in which it makes recommendations to the Minister of Finance regarding 2017 provincial budget allocations.
The Committee made the following recommendations for Arts and Culture funding:
79. Increase provincial per capita funding to support the growing number of artists in B.C. and the vibrant creative economy, and provide increased, stable, multi-year funding for arts, culture and heritage organizations to promote, educate and support B.C.’s arts community. (2014: #47 and 2015: #53)
80. Ensure local communities can access provincial and federal funding to celebrate and promote Canada’s 150th anniversary of confederation (sesquicentennial) celebrations in 2017.
81. Restore gaming grants to 2008 levels ($156 million from the current $134 million) and provide incremental increases as gaming revenues increase. (2014: #47 and 2015: #54)
Since 2013, the Committee has consistently recommended that investments to the BC Arts Council and Arts and Culture Community Gaming Grants be increased (see Report on the Budget 2016 Consultations, Report on the Budget 2015 Consultations, and Report on the Budget 2014 Consultations). However, the BC Arts Council’s budget has not increased since 2013-14 and Community Gaming Grant levels are still below those of 2008.
PAARC is asking BC artists, cultural workers, arts patrons, and audiences to mobilize by writing to their MLA; Minister of Finance, Michael de Jong; and Minister of Community, Sports and Cultural Development, Peter Fassbender, in support of a strong and vibrant arts and culture sector in BC. Write to your provincial representative and ask them to advocate in favour of increased arts funding in BC. Follow these easy steps to make your voice heard:
- Download the letter templates: letter to Minister of Finance, Letter to Minister of Community, Sports and Cultural Development, and letter to MLA.
- Personalize the letters by filling in the blanks and including a short statement about your artistic practice/organization and what increased arts funding means to you/your organization.
- Send letters to: Michael de Jong, Minister of Finance (mike.dejong.mla@leg.bc.ca), Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sports and Cultural Development (peter.fassbender.MLA@leg.bc.ca), and your MLA. Click here to find your MLA’s contact information.
- Spread the word! Help us send as many letters as possible by December 20th, 2016. Ask your network to participate in this campaign.
- show your support! Download Facebook profile image and Download Facebook post image
PAARC presented a brief to the Brief to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services as part of the province-wide 2017 pre-budget consultations.
We presented the following recommendations to the Committee aligned with those of the Professional Arts Alliance of the Greater Victoria and the Alliance for Arts and Culture.
Recommendation 1
Double the investment in the BC Arts Council so that: a) BC artists have the same opportunities as artists in other provinces; b) BC arts organizations can provide access to underserved communities; c) the Council can provide stable, multi-year funding to arts, culture and heritage organizations;
Recommendation 2
Restore gaming grant levels to 2008 levels and provide incremental increases as gaming revenues increase;
Recommendation 3
Invest in a cultural facilities infrastructure program to enable BC organizations to leverage federal funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage;
Recommendation 4
Increase funding for arts education to enable access for youth;
Recommendation 5
Increase investment in the cultural sector so that everyone in BC can have meaningful engagement with culture, including access to thought-provoking visual and media arts, and that artists, cultural workers, and organizations can continue to foster the development of a dynamic, diverse, and rich cultural offer.
Download PAARC’s 2017 Pre-Budget Consultation Brief
Dates: September 8th & 9th, 2016
Time: 6 p.m. onward
Access website
SWARM is an annual 2-night event that marks the launch of Vancouver’s artist-run centre programming season with exhibition openings, performances, screenings, and special events. On the evenings of Thursday, September 8th and Friday, September 9th, the public is invited to “gallery-hop” from venue to venue to experience the vibrancy of Vancouver’s artist-run centres and independent non-profit galleries.
Most SWARM events are free and open to the public!
For detailed information about SWARM programming, events, and venue locations visit: www.paarc.ca/swarm17
Join the conversation: #ArtistRun
About SWARM
Organized since 1999, SWARM is an annual festival put on by the Pacific Association of Artist-Run Centres (PAARC) to launch the programming season of Vancouver’s artist-run, non-profit, and independent galleries. This year, we celebrate the 17th edition of SWARM.
The Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres (PAARC) is happy to announce collaborations with the grunt gallery, the Or Gallery, VIVO Media Arts Centre, Open Space and Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art to commission curatorial research drawing from the material indexed by the Repertoire of BC ARCs’ Publications. These commissions constitute the second step in the development of a multi-phase project hosted on ArcPost, which aims to stimulate renewed interest in the practices and histories of BC artist-run centres through their publishing activities.
Project collaborators include: Lorna Brown (commissioned by the Or Gallery), Lucas Glenn (commissioned by Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art), Tarah Hogue (commissioned by the grunt gallery), Robin Simpson (commissioned by VIVO Media Arts Centre), and Benjamin Willems (commissioned by the Open Space). These curators have been commissioned by partner organizations to produce thematic curated readings lists and accompanying essays highlighting particular moments and orientations specific to BC’s artist-run histories.
Curated Reading Lists will be published on ArcPost in May 2015, and the project will be launched in early June.
For more information about this project click here.
About the Repertoire of BC ARCs’ Publications
The Repertoire of BC ARCs’ Publications indexes print publications produced by BC ARCs since 1967. Since the inception of the first artist-run centre in BC (Intermedia, in 1967) the artist-run community has fostered the creation of a large archive of publications, print ephemera, audiovisual recordings as well as organizational and institutional records. This collective archive documents the rich contributions that BC artist-run centres have made (and continue to make) to the province’s cultural ecology.
The searchable feature of the database makes it a great resource for research as it draws connections between material produced by different publishing centres.
Publications indexed in the Repertoire are searchable by: publishing centre, artist, author, curator, media, date and through key words.
The Repertoire is an open resource managed by members of the BC artist-run community. Artist-run or artist-led initiatives across the province can add their publications to the database by creating an organization profile.
To do so, access the Repertoire home page, click “Log in/Register” in the top right corner, then click “Register new user.”
PAARC is grateful for the generous contributions of the Friends of the BC Archives Foundation through the Terry Reksten Memorial Fund and of the BC Arts Council, which have made this project possible.
