An umbrella group representing more than 350 arts and culture groups across the province slammed today's budget, saying it will keep British Columbia "dead last in per-capita arts funding."
"B.C. trails every other province in per capita funding of the arts," said Alliance for Arts and Culture executive director Rob Gloor in a press release circulated this afternoon by his organization, adding "the current budget, which projects a multi-year freeze in arts funding, is a promise to remain last in Canada."
The budget freezes funding for arts and culture over the next three years, in spite of overall budget increases, which taking into account inflation, said Gloor, "is equivalent to a multi-year decrease."
The new $500 tax credit said by the government to help families afford kids' arts programs is vastly oversold, said Gloor's group in their press release. "The actual maximum benefit is just five per cent of that figure -- a mere $25 per child per year -- and does nothing to facilitate participation among lower income families."
David Beers is editor of The Tyee.
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Fiat lux
13 weeks ago
My wife and I are going to
My wife and I are going to have another, usually very successful, exhibit in the artist owned Station House Gallery in Williams Lake in Sept., when all our paintings, up to about 40, will be donated to the gallery for fundraising .
Somebody has to stand up against these barbarian jerks, who are showeling billions of dollars out of the province, and country, to please our "wealth creating foreign investors", while our own people are welcomed to starve.
Falcon and Co. are just itching to be taken over by the BC Conservatives, so they can join the real "wealth creating"
-for foreign owners- policies of Harper.
Just watch what Harper's "majority" budget is going to be!
It is interesting to note that neither BC, or Canada, had any debts when people were making decent wages, owned homes, before the present neoclassical economic racket and bank deregulation, were forced on us by the "wealth creating capitalist conservatives"
The same applies all over the world, yet people are still voting for them?
Ed Deak.
CalvinTaplay
13 weeks ago
Budget shows limited support for communities and the arts
I agree with Rob Gloor's analysis of the child arts tax credit. When the finance minister delivered this announcement I was impressed initially. Knowing that it amounts to $25 per child is not much of an incentive for families. It does not put "families first" as Premier Clark likes to say.