remix, vancouver
/The Alliance for Arts & Culture's Artists' Legal Outreach program and the Open Education Conference present:
remix, vancouver
a creative copyright conversation CCC
Read MoreThe latest news on BC's arts, culture and heritage sector.
Industry Canada's "Marquee Festivals" program
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Industry Canada has published application guidelines for their Marquee Festivals program, one of the stimulus items in the 2009 budget.
Stratford puts 30 performances on hold
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The Stratford Festival of Canada has canceled their April 30th performance of West Side Story, and has put another thirty performances on hold if ticket sales do not pick up. Sales for their 2009 season are down fifteen percent.
"It's a decision we made in the context of everything that is unfolding right now," says Anita Gaffney, Strat
Supplemental funds
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By now, many of you have received supplemental funds from the BC Arts Council for your organizations and/or practice. Since there is so much uncertainty in regards to the financial future of the council, we have asked the staff at the arts council for clarification about this money.
NDP rolls out their platform, and the Alliance responds
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The NDP rolled out their provincial campaign platform this weekend, and the Alliance responded:
Read MoreReaction to arts pledge cautious By Mary Frances Hill, The Vancouver Sun April 11, 2009 An arts and culture lobby group is taking a cautious approach to the New Democratic Party's campaign promise to restore funding to cultural programs across the province and create a capital plan for the B.C. Arts Council. In Take Back Your B.C., the NDP's 46-page campaign platform, the party devotes half a page to pledges to aid arts, culture and tourism. Leader Carole James promised to restore the provincial government's arts funding cuts for this year, increase the B.C. Arts Council's budget, and award the council -- a government agency -- a $50-million capital fund to invest in cultural projects. Alliance for Arts and Culture executive director Amir Ali Alibhai said he was pleased to see a mention of arts and culture in any election platform. "The arts are part of stimulating growth and recovery," he said. But he was wary of campaign promises. "I'm cautious because of the track record of the NDP," Alibhai said. "The last time they were in, there was a 25-per-cent cut in the B.C. Arts Council's [budget]." That was during the recession of the early 1990s. The Alliance advocates for the interests of about 350 arts and cultural groups in B.C., such as theatres and dance companies, and individual artists. The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts' 2009-2012 service plan shows the projected base funding for arts and culture programs dropping from $19.5 million in 2008-09 to $11.9 million in 2009-10 and $9.6 million in 2010-11. Alibhai said history has seen governments consider arts and culture spending as a frill. Spencer Herbert, NDP MLA for Vancouver-West End, said arts funding acts as an economic stimulus, generating about $1.36 in taxes for every dollar spent, "just from the multiplying effect of keeping the dollars in the economy locally."
Some good news (for a change)
/[caption id="attachment_65" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Vancouver City Council"]
[/caption] As many of you know, the Culture Plan was imperiled by the budget cuts and the hiring freeze put forward by the City of Vancouver. We are pleased to announce that amendments to the 2009 City budget have been passed by Council during their recent deliberations that allow the Cultural Services to go ahead with certain aspects of the Culture Plan. Many thanks go out to City Council for acknowledging the extraordinary need for arts and culture during this time of economic upheaval, and to our members and supporters who wrote letters and contacted City Council about this issue. The amendments include:
The Design Process Behind Our New Logo
/This is a guest post by Richard Hatter of Hired Guns Creative. It is a revised version of an article he published on April 3, 2009. 
As many of you may know, we were recently featured on Smashing Magazine’s ‘Drawing Inspiration From Creative Logos’ for the design of the logo for The Alliance for Arts and Culture. We are deeply honoured by the recognition. We worked closely with AAC to achieve a design that matched their organization’s philosophy and represented the artistic community they service. We thought it would only be fitting to look back at bringing this logo to the surface.
The provincial election - and opportunity for change
/As we gear up for a provincial election, it is more important than ever to engage with our provincial leaders (and aspiring leaders) to let them know that arts and culture are a vital part of a sustainable future for British Columbia. As you know, there are significant and potentially devastating cuts to arts and culture in the 2009 service plan for the Province of BC. The Alliance has sent a letter to Minister Bill Bennett about the issue, and we are urging all our members to write their own letters to Minister Bennett and your local MLA, and to please copy the Alliance on any correspondence.
We are advising everyone to adhere to the following talking points:
Read MoreJumping on the blogwagon
/The Alliance for Arts & Culture is proud to unveil our brand new blog! Special thanks to the hardworking guys at Hired Guns Creative for integrating it so seamlessly (and beautifully) into our site. We hope you will make this blog a regular stop in your digital day. We will posting regularly on a variety of different topics, and updating it very often with breaking new of concern to the artistic community here in Vancouver and abroad.
Read MoreJanet Bingham—A Full Life
/Janet Bingham, one of the founders of the Roedde House Preservation Society, founding member of the Friends of the Vancouver City Archives, and former President of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver, died on September 26 after a brief illness at the age of 95.
Janet Mary Bingham (nee Whitmore) was born and raised in Vancouver. She married Alec Bingham and had three children. They all survive her.
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