Custom Assignment | Book Report Writing | Custom Dissertation

This must be a stormchasing content as the highly ranking television show.

The elimination of Gaming Funding as well as cuts to the BC Arts Council budget will have devastating and far-reaching effects on arts and culture in our province. Ask yourself: Now that it's gone, will we ever get it back? Does the public or the government see that there is a need for arts and culture in our society? Does anyone really care?

It took years of hard work, bold action, and high risk--yes, even tree hugging--to get the environment movement on the public agenda. There were, and still are, people of passion and dedication that keep the importance of the environment in our face--and in the government's face. Those of us in the arts have failed to stand up and be counted. We have failed to convince the government and the public that what we do is vital to the health and well-being of the larger community. Remembering that politicians care about votes, we have failed to mobilise our constituency, our audiences. We have failed to communicate our passion, dedication, and belief in what we do. I have been told that arts and culture do not even appear on surveys of public concerns and interest. We are to blame. Small wonder that massive cuts to culture funding do not create much more than a whimper.

It is time to become active. I propose a province wide organisation that has advocacy as its sole purpose. This organisation should include and represent artists in all disciplines--companies, alliances, councils, audiences, and individuals: musicians, poets, sculptors, painters, writers, graphic designers. A small annual membership fee (there's strength in numbers) would pay for a part-time lobbyist in Victoria as well as regular communication and action messages to the membership and to media. There are any number of professional and non-professional groups that could serve as models. You can be sure that almost all professional and non-professional organisations, from dentists to soccer moms, are out there lobbying and petitioning. Where are we? Why have we been so silent?

Since around 1996, when I was a member of the BC Arts Council, I started promoting the idea of a strong "union" or organisation specifically for the purpose of lobbying. Reaction at that time was lukewarm, though government was even then hacking away at arts funding. People expressed concern that "making too much noise" or "biting the hand that feeds" would be counterproductive. Frankly, I believe that the absence of a loud and strong public voice has led to the situation in which we find ourselves today.

I also suggest that we enlist the support of a number of high-profile artists to lend their names and voices to this movement. What if we could cite the support of widely known BC artists like Ben Heppner, Jeff Wall, Judith Forst, Diana Krall, Richard Margison, Douglas Coupland, Randy Bachman (now resident in BC), Dal Richards, Jon Kimura Parker, Cory Cerovsek, Steven Galloway--the list goes on and on--as individuals who not only believe in the necessity of arts and culture but also believe that it is the responsibility and duty of government to provide support.

Finally, I am reminded of the words of the great labour song-writer Joe Hill: “Don’t mourn, organise!”

Tom Durrie

Our Arts Council has being trying to move to being financially less dependent on government grants for the past several years. It is a slow process. Our annual gaming grant funded many of our projects that the community has relied on. The loss of gaming funds is a huge blow to our programmes and will mean cuts to youth and senior activities as well as our annual Island wide Juried Art Show.

I like the concept of sharing our stories and working together to show the province how valuable we are in the lives of it's citizens and that we don make an economic impact on the communities in which we live.

Please keep me on your email list for future forums.

Thank you,

Merry Hallsor, President
Oceanside Community Arts Council OCAC