Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres (PAARC)

Protest against the BC Cuts to BC Arts and Culture Funding - today (Monday), 12:30PM, Wosk Centre in Vancouver 560 Hastings at Seymour

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:22:59 -0400

Arts groups in BC are gathering outside the BC Liberals’ Public Finance meeting in Vancouver this Monday at 12:30.

The Finance Committee’s meeting, which collects public opinion about its 2010-11 budget, was announced at the last minute, and the speaker list is full. However, arts groups will be gathering outside to demand the restoration of arts and culture funding. They will be demanding that Kevin Krueger, minister responsible for the arts, either begin defending the arts against his party’s brutal 90% cuts, or resign. They will also be demanding that Rich Coleman, the minister responsible for Gaming and the bulk of the funding cuts, reconsider the economic foolishness of demolishing an entire sector.

We will be asking why, when the government’s own studies prove that arts and culture subsidies give a 30% return on the government’s investment, an entire sector will be cut off during a recession.

In keeping with the “grey square” emblem of this fight against cultural demolition, this will be a silent rally in grey, along both Seymour and Hastings.

Media can contact stopbcartscuts@paarc.ca.

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Margaret Atwood, William Gibson, Douglas Coupland and many other eminent British Columbians and Canadians Speak Out Against BC Arts Cuts

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:21:00 -0400

The Pacific Association of Artist-Run Centres (PAARC) and Stop the BC Arts Cuts jointly announce the launch of a new website protesting the BC Liberal government’s devastating cuts to arts and culture funding.

The website can be found at http://www.StopBCArtsCuts.ca.

Stop BC Arts Cuts is loose affiliation of concerned arts organizations and individuals working to bring attention to the damage that 90% funding cuts over two years will do to BC’s arts and culture sector and the province’s cultural life. It asked numerous high-profile individuals to write about their feelings about the attack on the arts. Many more names will be added over the coming weeks.

Information about the issue can be found on the homepage above.

Media can contact stopbcartscuts@paarc.ca.

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British Columbians and Canadians speak out against the BC arts cuts

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:47:20 -0400

British Columbians and Canadians speak out against the BC arts cuts

Ruins, a short article on the arts cuts

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:47:22 -0400

Ruins, a short article on the arts cuts

Kate Armstrong: GOT CULTURE? Um, actually no

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:53:00 -0400

Thursday, 03 September 2009 at 21:54

B.C. Liberal government has cut funding for arts and cultural organizations by 50 percent this fiscal year, and by 92 percent for 2010–11.

Imagine a 92 percent reduction in your company’s income. How would your industry fare if that was implemented across the board?

The numbers are like this: 47.8 million (2008) down to 3.75 million (2010-2011)

Reasons This Makes No Sense Economically:
• B.C.’s arts and culture sector employs more than 78,000 people and contributes over $5 billion each year to the provincial economy
• Yes, billion.
• The B.C. government’s own research has demonstrated that for every dollar invested in the arts, $1.38 comes back in taxes
• Contrast this move with the response to financial downturn in Ontario: Ontario increased their core arts spending by approximately 130 million in this year’s budget

How Does This Affect You?
• Arts foundations, non-profits and galleries will close or reduce their programming or services. Example: Between the announcement Friday, August 28 and Wednesday, September 3, 2009, 2 Vancouver galleries have announced that they are being forced to close their doors.
• Creative people will leave B.C. in droves
• Drastically reduced opportunities for cultural exposure in the province for yourselves and your children
• Huge damage to the reputation of B.C. - do you want to live in and bring up your children in a cultural wasteland? Was there a reason you chose to live in a city and not in a closet?
• Everything you attend, view, take your children to, or see in a cultural framework is partly subsidized by provincial infrastructure. Arts Umbrella? Children’s Festival? Vancouver Art Gallery? Gallery openings? Ballet BC? BYE!

Common Misconceptions
• Artists are not spending their time at champagne soirees at the taxpayer’s expense. Artists are among the most underpaid professions in our society.
• Culture is an industry, not something that just “happens”. You’re thinking of people who make pictures of owls using bottle caps.
• Not a hobby. Don’t argue that running the Children’s Festival or arranging an international visual art exhibition is something we’re supposed to do in our spare time.
• Artists are not “fancy”. Art is a hugely important part of our shared culture. Were the cave paintings fancy? Do you like written language? Have you ever seen a movie or worn a nice shirt or walked through a public space?
• You cannot argue that the cultural sector must be commercially viable or die. A huge amount of heavy lifting in terms of ideas, social good and cultural visioning is performed by the creative industries and this does not neatly align with commercial engagement.
• These grants we’re talking about do not entirely pay for the operations of these cultural associations so forget the word “parasite” when you make your economic argument. They represent a small but crucially important portion of total support and income.
• Art is not about artists, it is about communities and culture.
• This discussion is not only art, it is dance, film, heritage, publishing, media, sound, music, design, theatre, social outreach, community festivals.
• People in these industries work hard, have jobs and have families too, and are already underpaid.
• A healthy arts sector is essential for healthy communities.

The idea that this is about supporting art vs feeding needy children is a shell game. We need to do both.