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Home | Resources > Newsletter | Synergy - December 18, 2003
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December 18, 2003 -- Volume 14 Number 20 Synergy, the electronic newsletter
When the Olympic Arts Fund was announced by Premier Gordon Campbell it was to have the dual purpose of providing a lasting cultural legacy after the 2010 Olympic Games and to “fund cultural and artistic activities that promote a) the bid for hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in British Columbia, or b) the hosting of those Winter Olympic Games.” The Special Accounts Appropriation and Control Act that established the Olympic Arts Fund places the responsibility for distributing the interest of the Fund in the hands of the Minister of Community, Aboriginal and Community Services. When the principal of the Fund reaches its full allotment of $20 million on April 1, 2004 it will start generating approximately $400,000 to $640,000 in interest annually according to a recently produced government fact sheet.The fact sheet came into being after news broke last week that $250,000 from the Fund had been given to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra over the next two years. Not surprisingly, the arts community and members of the media wanted to know what the process was for applying for money from the Fund. And what they discovered was there is no process. There are only three sentences in the Special Accounts Appropriation and Control Act that gives the minister the authority to pay out the interest and the minister, according to both the Vancouver Sun and the government’s own fact sheet, doesn’t have a plan, a program or a process. But a plan will be in place by April 2004. And the fact sheet also has come up with five areas where the money may be spent: promotion of 2010 milestone events; province-wide promotion of the 2010 Winter Games; commissioned works in the spirit of 2010; special events and festivals prior to the Games; international touring in support of the Games. One hopes that in the actual development of the plan the ministry tightens the language of the first two areas to conform to the Act’s wording that the money be used to “fund cultural and artistic activities”. One also hopes that the ministry spends some time considering how best to strategically use the money over the coming seven years to meet the development needs of the arts and culture sector in the province. The government took a leadership position by establishing the Fund and placing arts and culture prominently within the Olympic bid and the Olympic games. However, by not establishing a clear, public and transparent process for administering the Fund it has undermined the credibility of the Fund, the minister and the government itself. We are at the beginning of a long road leading to the Olympics and the government has stumbled badly. Fortunately there is time to learn from these mistakes and correct them, if they so choose. They may want to have a conversation with Alfonso Gagliano. I believe he can be reached in Denmark. Lori Baxter,
This will be our last issue of Synergy for 2003, as the Alliance offices prepare for a holiday break. We will be shutting down at 5pm, Friday December 19, and will reopen at 9am on Monday, January 5. The first FaxNet of 2004 is scheduled for Thursday, January 8. A happy and safe season to all - see you in 2004! Allison Markin,
1. So long Sheila, bonjour Hélène Editor: Allison Markin 1. So long Sheila, bonjour Hélène As Paul Martin took the reigns of the Prime Minister's office late last week, his first order of business was a major cabinet shuffle. Longtime Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps (she was the longest serving minister in this portfolio), as predicted, lost her post and was replaced by Hélène Chalifour Scherrer, the MP for Louis-Hébert in Quebec City. Scherrer won her seat in a 2000 by-election and since then, has served on the Standing Committee for Health, the House Sub-Committee on Sport, the House Committee on Sustainable Development and the Prime Minister's Task Force on Urban Issues. Her member website lists her profession(s) as events organizer, public relations officer and social worker, and notes that while she was a municipal councillor for the town of Sillery (1990-94) she sat on "a number of committees dealing with culture, leisure and family issues." The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) reports that Sherrer has already met with senior bureaucrats at Heritage and has made a good first impression. Learn more about the new minister at: http://www.helenescherrer.parl.gc.ca/welcome.asp?lang=en. The new privacy legislation comes into force on January 1, 2004. Bill 38-2003, the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) brings in new legislation aimed at protecting personal information, and it may affect the operations and marketing and communications strategies of many organizations. Personal information includes your name, home address and telephone number and employment information, among other items, and it requires organizations to obtain consent when they collect, use or disclose your personal information. Organizations must also let an individual know how their personal information is being used or disclosed. The PIPA hotline is 250-356-1851.
John Hobday, the director of the Canada Council, recently made several stops in Vancouver, including one at an Arts After Hours networking event, part of the Alliance for Arts and Culture Professional Development Series, addressing Alliance members on the future of the Canada Council. Mr. Hobday praised Vancouver, calling the city "a happening place" with an extraordinary level of creative activity as well as noting that Vancouver "is moving ahead on the brick and mortar front." Last year, the Council distributed $14 million to groups in Vancouver, but Mr. Hobday admitted this "was not enough." In late November the Vancouver Sun reported that a developer had purchased the Capital 6 movie theatre downtown on Granville Street and has plans to demolish it and put up a new commercial-residential complex. Part of the plans include new facilities for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and an expansion of the Orpheum Theatre. Macdonald Development Corporation is in the process of seeking approval to construct a 35-storey condo tower in exchange for $15 million worth of new amenities for the city. The Sun reported that the proposal, currently in the preliminary stages, has the approval of the Vancouver Symphony Society (VSS), which operates the VSO. Bramwell Tovey, VSO's musical director, and the society's chairman, Art Willms, are helming the pitch to the city. The developer paid $7.5 million for the property and according to the article, is willing to build a four-storey podium on the Seymour Street side, providing space for an expansion of the Orpheum and the creation of a music education facility to be known as the Centre for Musical Excellence. This space would include a recital hall, classrooms, Internet teaching facilities, a listening library and administrative offices for the VSS. The article also indicated that Telus had expressed interest in becoming a partner in the project. Meanwhile, on December 4, BC's Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services announced that it is providing $250,000 over two years through the Olympic Arts Fund to the VSO "to commission and stage new, uniquely Canadian works in time for the 2010 Cultural Olympiad", according to a government news release, which also stated that this was the "first contribution toward the commissioning of new works to flow from the province's $20 million Olympic Arts Fund...established to promote cultural and artistic activities related to the 2010 Games."
In November, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell made the first donation (from his own bank account) to Orcas in the City, a public art initiative aimed at raising funds for sick children. Campbell donated $3700 towards the cost to produce a multi-coloured "art" orca created by Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design teacher Landon MacKenzie. The whale is currently beached in front of Vancouver City Hall. Art and/or whale lovers are invited to sponsor and pay for the fabrication of a replica killer whale calf, then different artists add their touch to create a unique work of art. The replicas are about three metres high, and as of late November, 20 orcas had been sponsored. Organizers hope to have 100 whales in place around Vancouver before summer, 2004. Orcas will also be installed around Victoria. Funds benefit the Canucks for Kids Fund and the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities. For more info, call the BC Lions Society at 604-873-1865 or visit www.orcasinthecity.com.
A report by Hill Strategies Research Inc. shows that 351,000 Canadians 15 years or older volunteered for arts and culture organizations in Canada in 2000. This adds up to 5.4 percent of all volunteers in Canada and 1.4 percent of the total population 15 years of age or older. This is a 22 percent increase over the estimated number of volunteers, 288,000, in 1987, but it is a 22 percent decrease in the number reported in 1997, which was a high of 452,000. Volunteers contributed about 51.9 million volunteer hours in 2000, equivalent to 27,000 full-time, year-round jobs, and can be valued at approximately $690 million. The report is based on custom tabulations from Statistics Canada's 1997 and 2000 National Surveys of Giving, Volunteering and Participating as well as the 1987 Survey of Volunteer Activity. Planning a direct mail campaign? Be sure you've calculated the right amount of postage in your budget. On January 12, the cost to mail a first-class domestic letter will rise one cent to 49 cents, plus GST, (for letters under 30 grams), and the cost to mail a letter, card or postcard to the United States will jump 23 percent to 80 cents. Other international rates will also increase, depending on the destination. The new rates were approved by the federal cabinet (under the now-retired Jean Chretien), along with an increase in the cost of registered mail and the elimination of a fee Canada Post charged for mailing literature for the blind abroad. FIND, the Festivale de nouvelle dance inc., is no more, now that this year's event has come to an end. The Board of Directors made the decision to shut down after a review of the company's financial situation and a hard look at a proposed strategic plan for 2003-2007 that would have restructured the organization. The board decided that current levels of funding were not favourable to allow FIND to pursue its goals, and that the accumulated deficit, which grew significantly after 9/11, was too onerous to handle. FIND, located in Montreal, had been in operation for 20 years. New culture guru Duncan Low, soon-to-be former director of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and a soon-to-be former member of the Alliance board of directors, has been appointed to the new position of Cultural Planner for Festivals and Community Celebrations by the City of Vancouver. He was chosen from a pool of more than 300 applicants and will be responsible for helping to implement new celebrations in the city, as well as working with community partners to facilitate, strengthen and promote existing events. We'll miss him at the Alliance.
In November, three University of British Columbia music students made it through an initial stage of New York's Metropolitan Opera's audition process. At auditions at the Vancouver Academy of Music, students Neema Bickersteth, Rhoslyn Jones and Justin Welsh were given the go-ahead to perform at the next round in Seattle in February. Whenever the holiday classic, I'll Be Home for Christmas, is played on the radio, St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, hears a bell ring - the sound of cash coming into the university. The song's lyricist, according to the Vancouver Sun, stipulated in his will that 20 percent of the royalties from his songs go to his alma mater. The school receives about $18,000 US a year from the bequest, mostly from the Christmas tune. The next event in the Alliance for Arts and Culture Professional Development Series will be Dancing as Fast as We Can: human resource planning and accountability in arts and culture. This workshop has been rescheduled for Tuesday, January 27 at the Alliance offices in downtown Vancouver. This one-day event will combine an interactive forum with a workshop format. Strategic, current, information exchange and relevant, hands-on learning tools will be used to help participants from arts organizations large and small, for-and non-profit, build personal and organizational capacity and collaborative networks for problem-solving. Visit our workshops page for more information: http://www.allianceforarts.com/about-us/workshops/workshops-hr.html
If you've ever wanted to see the world from the perspective of an armadillo, sheep or pitcher plant, visit this unique online art project: http://www.anivegvideo.com. Video artist Sam Easterton's "Animal, Vegetable, Video" projects collects video footage from cameras mounted on animals and vegetables. ENDQUOTE, Part Two "I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up - they have no holidays." Comments? Send a message to: Copyright © Alliance for Arts and Culture, 2003 |
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