JOIN US OCTOBER 6th FOR AN ALL-PARTY FORUM AND POLITICAL CABARET

Join us Monday, October 6th from 7:00-8:30pm at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage to hear representatives from each Federal Party debate the arts, and stay for The Wrecking Ball election cabaret from 9:00-10:30pm hosted by John Mann of Spirit of the West, and directed by The Electric Company’s Kim Collier and Jonathon Young. 

Vancouver’s Alliance for Arts & Culture will be hosting the debate, which will be moderated by Hal Wake, Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Writer’s & Reader’s Festival.

The Wrecking Ball is a political cabaret that was founded in Toronto in 2004 to address a nagging imbalance: too much theatre in our politics, not enough politics in our theatre. This year, on the eve of the election, the Wrecking Ball swings across the country! Simultaneous Balls will happen in cities from Cornerbrook to Vancouver .

In Vancouver , local playwright Lucia Frangioni (Espresso) joins Canadian Theatre icon Judith Thompson (The Crackwalker, Palace of the End), local literary star Michael Turner (Hard Core Logo) and media personality Bill Richardson, to create brief, explosive plays about the election: the candidates, their policies, and the controversies. All the plays will be less than a week old, so you know the theatre’s gonna smell fresh!  Directors and actors will feature a luminous cross-section of talent from Vancouver ’s theatre, film and television communities.  Special musical guests include local punk icon Joe Shithead Keithley of D.O.A. fame, and a few songs from our host John Mann.

Admission to the event is free. Donations will be taken at the door for The Department of Culture www.departmentofculture.ca , a brand new initiative whose purpose is to challenge the political parties on funding for the arts. For more info, visit www.thewreckingball.ca.

We need to fill the Stanley to make our point!  Pass the word, and please SHOW UP.

Federal cuts now total almost $50-million

Federal government has now cut almost $50-million in arts funding, including the PromArts Program, the Trade Routes Program, the Capacity-Building and Stabilization Funds and various cuts to the film and television sector. The Alliance for Arts & Culture has issued the following reponse, and is working with our national affiliate organizations to organize a Federal action strategy. You can help by emailing our Director of Communications, Peter Boychuk, with information about how these cuts have affected your organization. Please send your information by email to pboychuk@allianceforarts.com. We will keep you posted about further action as it unfolds.

No more promoting culture abroad

Canwest published an article today about the government’s decision to cut PromArt, a $4.2-million program that promotes Canadian culture abroad. It was distributed in the National Post and the Vancouver Sun, among other papers. You can read it here.

In it, a senior government official (who spoke on the condition of anonymity) is quoted as saying that the reason the program was targeted was that some of the money “went to groups that would raise the eyebrows of any typical Canadian.” As examples, they cited a $5000 grant that was given to CBC broadcaster and filmmaker Avi Lewis, who was characterized as “a general radical”, and a $3000 travel grant given the Toronto-based experimental band Holy F---. “Not exactly the foot that most Canadians would want to put forward,” another Conservative said.

What is not mentioned in the article until well into the article is the $50,000 given to Canadian Museum of Civilization, the $40,000 given to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the $3000 given to Supreme Court Justice Michel Bastarache so he could travel to Cuba to lecture about the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms.

The Alliance for Arts and Culture will be compiling a response throughout next week. Please write to the government individually and copy us so that we can coordinate our efforts.

Out with the old, in with the new...

The Alliance for Arts & Culture is getting a facelift! This September, we will be launching a new look for the Alliance, including a new logo, a new design for Synergy, and a brand new website. Stay tuned…