First post here on slashed funding for B.C. arts nonprofits.
Jonathan Middleton, director of the Or Gallery, said today that government funding cuts are “devastating” the Vancouver arts scene.
The liberal party has had a reasonably good history of supporting art in the past. During the last election, it promised to keep the deficit to $400 million. It’s currently $3 billion. The government is cutting wherever it can. Arts funding came for a gaming tax, which is not out of the general fund. There was the idea that the social cost of gambling might be offset with charitable contributions, including to the arts.
Nonprofits have relied on this money for years and had no prior notice of cancellation. Instead, we were told we could continue to count on it. It wasn’t a cut could could have contemplated.
Or Gallery lost $30,000, which is 15.6 percent of its annual budget. (The gallery canceled its November/December exhibit, which was to be on the theme of humor in art.) Helen Pitt Gallery lost 40 percent of its funding. Helen Pitt is going to lose its space. I don’t know if it can continue to pay a director or continue programming. The irony is, the government has talked for years about the benefits of arts to the economy, that arts bring in $1.39 for every dollar spent.
BC Arts Council defends the cuts, which it says it regrets. The opposition is organizing, including here.
Leave a Reply