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Campaign for Culture: The 2005 Provincial Election
We have left our Campaign for Culture page up for your information; it will be updated as we prepare for the next election.
Arts and culture was a non-issue in the last provincial election. Visit these resources to see how you can bring culture to the forefront of our current campaign.
For information on voting in a British Columbia provincial election, visit Elections BC, where you can register to vote, find your electoral district, and find your candidates on the general list of candidates (this list is provided by Elections BC.)
Download our information sheet for candidates (PDF).
Join our advocacy listserv and visit our Action Centre to send a message to your provincial election candidates.
The Provincial Parties
The following are registered parties for the BC provincial election on May 17, 2005. Brief statements from each party are available through Elections BC, along with a list of registered parties and their contact information.
If there is no link to a party's arts and culture platform (or a similar platform), a specific policy on arts and culture could not be found, and parties without websites (or websites that could not be found) are not included on this list:
How to campaign for the arts
- Conduct research: find out about the candidates in your riding and their parties' positions on arts and culture. Most party websites contain links to their election platform, as well as links to find the candidate in your riding.
- Use the election as an opportunity to educate candidates about your organization, the arts and culture sector, cultural issues, and specific needs in your community.
- Make connections: meet and talk to candidates directly.
- Attend all-candidates meetings. Ask questions about arts, culture, and heritage issues. Respond to vague answers with a follow-up question.
- Contact local media and advise them of issues you have identified, as well as questions you plan to ask candidates.
- Organize with other artists or groups in your community to create a stronger local voice for arts and culture.
- Write arts news stories, opinion pieces, or letters to the editor to send to newspapers. Focus on how these issues apply to the local community. Ensure candidates receive a copy of material that gets printed.
- If contacted by a candidate's campaign office, ask the candidate's position on arts and culture funding.
BC's cultural sector
The region's arts and culture sector includes the following:
- public art galleries
- artist-run centres
- commercial art galleries, art dealers, and consultants
- theatres
- municipally owned cultural centres/art studios
- non-profit cultural organizations
- thousands of volunteers
- dance schools
- music schools
- theatre schools
- book publishers
- magazines
- record companies/labels
- radio stations
- television production companies
- television studios
- motion picture production and studio companies
- recording studios
- public library branches
- public archives
- public museums
- and more
Public participation:
- From 1987-97, there was a 95 percent increase in arts and culture volunteerism across Canada (Outside the Lines, British Columbia Arts Council, 1999)
- 84 percent of Greater Vancouver's residents attended an arts event, defined as going to a play, performance, concert, opera or ballet; or visiting a place like an art gallery or museum (Survey of Public Attitudes Toward a Regional Cultural Plan for Greater Vancouver - Phase III, Canadian Facts, August 2000)
- 51 percent of GVRD residents are personally involved with the arts (Arts & Culture in Greater Vancouver: Contributing to the Livable Region)
- 30 percent of Greater Vancouver's residents attend festivals (Arts & Culture in Greater Vancouver: Contributing to the Livable Region)
- Attendance at public performances and visual arts exhibitions in Vancouver is more than 2 million annually (City of Vancouver, Office of Cultural Affairs)
Cultural labour force:
- Approximately 700,000 Canadians earn their livelihood in the arts and cultural industries
- The cultural sector contributes more than $30 billion annually to Canada's Gross Domestic Product
- About seven percent of Greater Vancouver's employed labour force works in arts and culture
- Direct, indirect, and induced cultural sector jobs account for 11 percent of Greater Vancouver's employed labour force
- Direct, indirect, and induced wages and salaries in Greater Vancouver's cultural sector add up to more than $2.3 billion
Economic benefits:
- The cultural sector adds $2 billion to the GVRD's Gross Domestic Product value
- While all levels of government provide an estimated $100 million to the cultural sector within Greater Vancouver, this combined contribution leverages $3 billion in direct revenues and represents an exceptional value or return on investment.
- The direct, indirect, and induced GDP impact of Greater Vancouver's cultural sector is $3.45 billion
- The cultural sector attracts in excess of $500 million in government revenues when combining direct, indirect, and induced effects
Social benefits:
- Strengthening social cohesion and establishing common ground between generations and cultures
- Creating and preserving our cultural heritage, which provides community identity, distinctiveness, and collective pride
- Providing diversity and choice in leisure, entertainment, and celebration opportunities
- Providing opportunities for personal and creative skills development, particularly by children and youth
- Providing opportunities for public involvement and support through participation, consumption, and volunteerism
- Assisting in the delivery of other public services, such as education, health/healing, community integration/socialization, and crime prevention
Questions for Candidates
- What is your position on provincial investment in arts and culture?
- If elected, would you, or your party, support increased funding for arts and culture, specifically to the BC Arts Council?
- How would you rank the importance of arts and cultural activities to BC's economy? To Canada's economy?
- What would you do to increase arts education opportunities in British Columbia?
- Do you believe in protecting Canadian culture? What is the provincial government's role in protecting our culture, and Canadian cultural industries?
- How do you see the arts and culture sector contributing to our province's changing reality?
Advocacy Kits
Canada Council for the Arts Advocacy Resource Kit
Links
Elections BC
Canada.com: BC Votes
CBC British Columbia
CNews: BC Election
Election Prediction Project
The Tyee: Election Central
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Copyright © Alliance for Arts and Culture, 2006
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