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Home | Resources > Newsletter | Synergy - January 14, 2005
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January 14, 2005 Volume 16, Number 1 Synergy, the electronic newsletter
January and February are turning out to be consultation months at the Alliance. We are putting together three different committees and hosting a fourth, which can get a bit confusing, so below is a primer for all of you who may be interested. Please note that we have a nomination deadline coming up February 2, and we would very much like to hear from you. City of Vancouver, Mayor's Arts Committee Nominations for this committee closed January 10. We received a number of excellent nominations and will be contacting the six people chosen for this committee on January 26. The committee will meet with the Mayor and interested Vancouver City Council members on a quarterly basis to provide elected officials and representatives from the arts community with an opportunity to meet and discuss topics of importance to Vancouver's artists and arts organizations. The committee will attend the pre-budget consultation (see below), with a larger community group on February 7. Their first meeting with Mayor Larry Campbell will be in early March. The Creative City Task Force If you have already nominated someone for the Mayor's Arts Committee and want their name to stand for the Creative City Task Force, please just let us know and we will carry the nomination forward. If you did not submit a nomination for the Mayor's Arts Committee, you may nominate someone (or yourself) by sending the name, contact information and a brief paragraph outlining the qualifications of the person you are nominating, to info@allianceforarts.com, with the subject line "Creative City Task Force Nomination", fax it to 604-681-7848, or mail it to the Alliance for Arts and Culture, Creative City Task Force Nominations, Suite 100 - 938 Howe Street, Vancouver, V6Z 1N9. Councillor Jim Green will chair, and Councillor Raymond Louie will vice-chair the Creative City Task Force. Councillor Ellen Woodsworth will also sit on the committee, which will include five community representatives nominated by the Alliance for Arts and Culture, senior staff from various city departments, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, and Vancouver Public Library. Recognizing that the arts, culture and creativity contribute to economic as well as social sustainability, and in anticipation of the opportunities that hosting the 2010 Olympic and We are looking for five individuals who will be able to devote a significant amount of time to the task force over the next six months. These individuals will not be representing a specific discipline, size of organization or diverse group. Instead, we are looking for people with vision, who think in terms of the big picture, who are interested in the integration of arts and culture into all aspects of human experience and are willing to work and move the creative city agenda forward. The persons you nominate may or may not be artists. They may be a board member, painter, business person, pianist, health care worker, educator, administrator, poet, volunteer, actor, someone who understands how important the arts are and what they have to offer society. This task force has a very important role to play in setting the agenda and the funding levels for 2005 and beyond. Bev Oda, Cultural Policy Roundtable Bev Oda, the Conservative Party critic for the Department of Canadian Heritage, is consulting with a cross section of arts organizations on the creation of a cultural policy for the Conservative Party. An invited group of participants will meet with Ms. Oda the morning of January 27th. City of Vancouver, Pre-budget Consultation On February 7 the Alliance will host a pre-budget community consultation meeting for the City of Vancouver. This is one of a series of meetings the City is hosting with groups across Vancouver to look for guidance on the principles of how funds should be spent. The city will be inviting a cross-section of arts organizations to participate. In addition, the Alliance will be preparing a written pre-budget submission for Council. If you would like to be part of the written submission, please send your input to Heather Redfern, IN THIS ISSUE: 1. An advocacy update from the executive director Editor: Allison Markin 1. An advocacy update from the executive director A word from the executive director, part two. It is important that the arts and cultural communities have a unified message when lobbying politicians. It strengthens our position if we are clear and concise about what we need them to do to make our cities, province and country better places to live in. The big issue: a significant increase in sustained investment at all three levels of government for existing operating and project grant programs. New festivals, special projects and new programs cannot be sustained without a major investment in organizational infrastructure through increased operating funds. It is especially important to shore up that infrastructure now, as special funding becomes available for 2010 legacy projects. Ensuring organizations have a strong foundation will go a long way to making sure that one-time project funding has a sustained impact across the province. An increased investment in current project funding programs are also needed to encourage the breadth and scope of the projects artists can take on and to ensure we are nurturing the most creative in our community. Municipal: earlier this week, the City of Vancouver announced its preliminary budget estimates, including a $1 million increase for "strengthening civic cultural program and initiatives" for 2005, $2 million for 2006, and $3 million for 2007. These increases are currently under consideration; recommendations will be presented at the City Services and Budget meeting on February 3. Now would be an excellent time to contact Mayor Campbell and Vancouver City Council and urge them to support these increases. Email them at mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca. Provincial: a cumulative new investment of $5 million dollars per year for the next four years, ($5 million year one, $10 million year two, and so on.), for a total, permanent, yearly increase to the BC Arts Council's budget of $20 million. Decisions are being made right now about the provincial budget that will be announced on February 15. Funding to the BC Arts Council has been frozen for more than 20 years leaving operating budgets at 1980s levels and shutting the door to emerging companies from across the province. This would be a great time to write your MLA expressing your support for the $5 million per year increase. Find your MLA at http://www.legis.gov.bc.ca/mla/3-1-1.htm. Federal: the Federal Finance Committee said it best in their recommendations -- "That the federal government provide stable, long-term funding to the following elements of federal support for arts and culture: the Tomorrow Starts Today program; the Canada Council for the Arts; Telefilm Canada; the Museums Assistance Program; the Community Access Program; the Canadian Television Fund and initiatives designed to promote Canadian culture internationally." Send a message to your MP: http://canada.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html Heather Redfern,
Thanks to Rena Cohen, managing director of Joe Ink, for submitting this article. Glen Murray, ex-mayor of Winnipeg, spoke recently as part of the Alliance for Arts and Culture Professional Development Series. His reputation as a fiscally responsible and socially progressive leader lends him high credibility, and his eloquence and humor as a speaker make him easy to listen to. Murray is passionate about how we need to apply creative values to build vibrant, economically viable cities. Utilitarian values (those he refers to as the "three p's"—pipes, potholes and police), while necessary, are not what draw young people to a city. It's the cultural events, the festivals, the striking architecture, the theatres, art galleries and overall cultural dynamism that are the source of a city's attraction to a motivated population and ultimately its economic success. An outspoken and entertaining visionary for the future of our cities, Murray argues that the internet's ability to transfer information and billions of dollars across the world in milliseconds makes us view our world today from two perspectives, global and local. Today we're more affected than ever by the neighbourhoods and communities in which we live and therefore, as citizens, have a duty to focus our politicians on the importance of investing in them. Speaking to a rapt audience both at the Alliance and later that evening in the City of Richmond Council Chambers, Murray had high praise for the Barcelona Olympics, referring to Barcelona as an example Olympic host city that continues to enjoy enduring benefits, because from the start, their planning and investing had the goal of sustaining the Olympics legacy. Let's hope Vancouver has the same success. Editor's note: you can relive moments from past Olympics by visiting: In December, the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance (GVPTA), announced that 2004 was a record-breaking year for Vancouver theatre. Bard on the Beach reported overall attendance of 79,600, up by 12,000 over the 2003 season; the Fringe Festival enjoyed a 15 percent increase in total attendance; and the Arts Club Theatre Company announced its highest subscription sales ever, including a record number of new subscribers. As well, a number of Vancouver-based professionals and companies won national awards. For more info, visit: http://www.theatre.ubc.ca/gvpta/ The Easter Seals / March of Dimes National Council is conducting a nation-wide survey on the rising costs of insurance for voluntary organizations in Canada. The survey has been developed with the Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies at Ryerson University, and all submissions will be kept strictly confidential and anonymous. Once complete, results will be shared by the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy, who funded the project, the Voluntary Sector Initiative and the insurance industry to seek ways to reduce insurance costs and inform governments and funders of the impact rising costs have had on voluntary organizations. Take 10 minutes to complete the survey at:
Early in January the Globe and Mail reported that a decision on what to do with the Vancouver Art Gallery - relocate it or leave it at Georgia and Howe in downtown Vancouver - has been delayed for several months. The VAG's master planning committee has been working with Michael Maltzan Architecture Inc., of Los Angeles, on a report for the gallery's board of trustees. That report was to have been submitted in December, however the deadline has now been extended to June 5, 2005. In December, the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Park Board announced a new program aimed at getting youth active in arts, culture and sports. Get out!, undertaken by the Office of Cultural Affairs, Social Planning Department and the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, is a multidisciplinary program targeted at kids and young adults aged 12 to 24. Get Out! includes programming for youth to get more active through sports, physical activity, and arts and culture; opportunities for community organizations to partner and design programming for and with youth; and opportunities for youth to receive grants for their own projects, in partnership with community organizations. For more info, visit www.heygetout.ca. While we're at it, a correction to a previous City of Vancouver piece - email addresses at the City will shortly be changing to first.lastname@vancouver.ca. No under_score, as previously stated. Effective January 17, some letter rates in Canada are increasing. Basic lettermail that used to cost 49 cents (for mail 30g and under) will now cost 50 cents. Letters over 30g but less than 50g will cost 85 cents. If your organization uses a meter, you should have received a notice of these increases; if not, visit www.canadapost.ca for more info. Changes at OCA The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) recently announced the appointment of Burke Taylor as VANOC's vice-president of culture and ceremonies. Burke joins VANOC from the City of Vancouver where he has served as director of the Office of Cultural Affairs. He was part of the team that produced Vancouver's successful 2010 Bid, and he produced the performing arts program for the Olympic Arts Festival of the XV Olympic Winter Games in Calgary. Burke will continue to serve as the executive director of ArtsNow at the 2010 LegaciesNow Society. Meanwhile the Office of Cultural Affairs welcomes three new faces: Douglas (Doug) Durand, as a cultural planner II, will be working with the interdisciplinary cultural planning team to review and make recommendations to Council on grants to Vancouver's non-profit performing arts organizations. Doug was most recently the dance officer for the Arts Council of England. Vickie Jo Morris, as a social planner III, will be working for both the OCA and Social Planning, representing both department's interests in the City's planning and development processes. She was previously a planner and social planner with the cities of Burnaby and Vancouver. Christina Medland, coming on as a cultural planner III in March, will also be working for both the OCA and Social Planning, with a special focus on building organizational capacity within non-profit organizations, cultural capital infrastructure and investment strategies. She will also be managing the OCA's relationships with its non-profit cultural tenants. She was most recently with the YWCA. If you haven't heard of The Tyee (not the salmon, the online 'zine), surf (no pun intended) over to www.thetyee.ca. True in-depth reportage covering BC, not to mention numerous haikus about salmon. And no mention of the Brad Pitt - Jennifer Aniston breakup. Spirit of BC: the deadline to apply for monies from the Spirit of BC Arts Fund is January 28. See: http://www.cse.gov.bc.ca/2010Secretariat/ArtsFund/spirit_of_bc_arts_fund.htm ArtsNow: the deadline to apply for ArtsNow funding from 2010 LegaciesNow, for the Catalyst and Innovations programs, is January 31. See: http://www.2010legaciesnow.com ENDQUOTE From the City of Vancouver's preliminary budget report: "City funding to its not-for-profit creative sector has not kept pace with population growth or development needs in the community. This initiative will allow the City to plan for and be prepared to make significant investment in culture programs and initiatives. Vancouver also has the Olympic opportunity to create a global reputation for creative excellence and an unprecedented market for the City's cultural products (including cultural tourism) long after the games. Very significant matching resources will be available from the federal and provincial governments and VANOC."
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