Arts funding for kids?

While scanning through the Government of BC’s web page listing all the Community Grants applications in process this morning I couldn’t help but notice the number of applications still listed as being “in process”.  For community organizations under the umbrella of “arts and culture” the application deadline was May 30th, with final notification by Aug. 31. This year only arts organization dedicated to Youth arts activities were even allowed to apply.

So here we are, two weeks before the deadline, and as I go through the list of organizations that are marked as being “complete” I notice a disturbing trend that all of the “complete” organizations, at least in Delta and Richmond are sports related.  All of the community arts organizations and school PAC committees are still listed as “in process”.

So after last year’s funding fiasco where all of BC’s arts groups lost funding (except those on multi-year contracts which the government decided to uphold) are we faced with Round 2?  It was on August 24th last year when the government issued their press release indicating that all funding had been frozen, and we would all have to “wait and see”.

So does does our provincial government value Arts Education, or even public school education in our province? I guess we still have to wait and see.

2 Replies to “Arts funding for kids?”

  1. SR

    We are now moving into the third week of September, and many groups that were promised to have news by August 31 have still yet to hear about their fate. The groups that have heard that I have heard about have faced 50 – 75% reductions in funding. The bad news continues…

    Reply

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