News from our members

The new Vancouver Symphony Music School is getting set up to open in January 2011. Construction of their new facilty on Seymour Street in Vancouver seems to be coming along on schedule. While most of the teaching staff will comprise of members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, some teaching positions will be filled by non orchestra members. The school is now looking to fill some of those positions.  Check out the "job postings' page on our main site at www.bcacms.bc.ca for more information.

Delta Community Music School has moved to a new location. After more than 20 years in a second floor office space above a carpet store in Ladner village they finally have their own "home".  The school has taken up residence in the McKee Heritage House on Arthur Drive.  The house built in 1895 is a 3000 sq. ft. facility owned by  Delta and maintained by Delta Parks Recreation and Culture. The school opens in its new location at 4705 Arthur Drive in Ladner BC next week when the students are back from Spring Break. An official "Open House" event is being planned for this May.

Arts education: "It's not a waste of time" - ARTicles

"Just Do It" - sounds like an over used corporate slogan, but then again the road to becoming an great artist or a great "anything at all" for that matter is first to get out thee and "do it", not just write or talk about it.

The link below is an article worth having a look at , I will quote a few lines here because it makes a great point.

... I was reminded of this the other night during the Oscars when Michael Ciacchino won for his original score for "Up." He skipped the usual shout-outs to agents and higher powers and, instead, went right back to the beginning.

I was nine and I asked my dad, "Can I have your movie camera? That old, wind-up 8 millimeter camera that was in your drawer?" And he goes, "Sure, take it." And I took it and I started making movies with it and I started being as creative as I could, and never once in my life did my parents ever say, "What you're doing is a waste of time." Never. And I grew up, I had teachers, I had colleagues, I had people that I worked with all through my life who always told me what you're doing is not a waste of time. So that was normal to me that it was OK to do that. I know there are kids out there that don't have that support system so if you're out there and you're listening, listen to me: If you want to be creative, get out there and do it. It's not a waste of time. Do it. OK?

Imagine that. He had teachers who told him what he was doing wasn't a waste of time. All aspiring young artists should have teachers like that. I'm not saying that teachers who foster creativity aren't out there, but they're either fleeing the profession or drowning in a mad "reform" race that threatens to drive the arts out of public schools. And frankly, I'm worried.
.

Arts education: "It's not a waste of time" - ARTicles Blog of the National Arts Journalism Program.

BC arts grants - update

This just in this morning. It looks at first glance that funding for arts programs for children and youth may be restored to some degree.  Also it seems the grant application process will change April 1st into a single program?

COMMUNITY GAMING GRANTS FOR 2010-11

VICTORIA – The Province is allocating $120 million for gaming grants in 2010-2011, up from $113 million last year, to fund approximately 6,000 organizations that benefit communities, including those that assist public safety, youth and disabled sports, people in need, fairs, festivals, museums and community services such as preschools.

            Parent Advisory Councils will receive $20 per student, a $10 increase from 2009-2010. District Parent Advisory Councils will be allocated $2,500 each, up from $1,250 last year. The Province will continue to honour multi-year gaming grant commitments. All other organizations will apply for single-year grants of up to $100,000 each throughout the year, following the regular application process. Groups designated as provincial organizations, which deliver services province-wide, will be eligible for up to $250,000.

Youth arts, culture and sports groups will be eligible for grants this year, as will sports organizations serving people with disabilities. A new sub-category of grants has been created specifically for museums, fairs and festivals. In addition to gaming grant funding, the Province also recently announced a $60-million Sports and Arts Legacy fund as part of Budget 2010.

School playgrounds, environmental groups, and adult arts, culture and sports organizations will remain ineligible for funding this year. Playground grants were provided for approximately 250 school playgrounds across British Columbia between 2007-2008 and 2008-2009.

            Effective April 1, the Province will combine bingo affiliation and direct access grants into a single community gaming grant program, ensuring all organizations have fair and equitable access to gaming funding.

            Last year, the Province allocated almost $113 million in base grant funding for community organizations. Additional funding was provided to cover other government priorities not traditionally funded by gaming grants. Responsibility for those programs is returning to the respective ministries this year and the combined community gaming grant program will return to the usual practice of assisting eligible organizations.

            In addition to funding community gaming grants, gaming revenue provides over $1.1 billion for key provincial programs, including health care and education.

Press Release :Community Gaming Grants for 2010-11

Few Canadians give to the arts

Individuals gave about $101 million to arts and culture organizations in 2007, but these donors represent a very small percentage of Canadians who make charitable donations, according to a new report.

A study by Hill Strategies Research found that of the Canadians who give, only 3.3 per cent give to the arts. The report is based on figures from 2007, when the recession had not yet hurt donation practices.

"Some cultural attendees and participants may not realize that a large portion of the revenues of arts and culture organizations is not covered by admission fees, other earned revenues or government funding," the report said.

Read more »

BC Provincial Budget: impacts for arts education in BC?

So how does  the March 2 budget announcement impact  BC community music schools and other arts training organizations in our province? At first blush this is difficult to tell. The press release from the  Alliance for Arts and culture is indicating today's budget is somewhat of an improvement over what many of us feared was going to happen, which was a 90% reduction in arts funding for this province. However, the Premier has still ignored his own MLA's and the recommendations of his own finance committee. Something like 30 million dollars in arts funding has been announced, but when compared to the funding levels our sector enjoyed a year ago, when by the way we were already the least funded province in Canada (look for that report elsewhere on this blog) - well we have less funds now than ever before. See the table below (reproduced from the Alliance article linked to above):

Looking at the numbers above, projections for 2010/11 represent a reduction of about 33% in funding resources from 2008/09. It may be a shell game though as other sources indicate a 50% reduction in available funds for the arts as the accounting process of what programs are classified under which heading have all been changed.

Read more »

B.C. funding shortage sends Pite to Germany

Are you listening Gordon Campbell?

Crystal Pite and her dance company are temporarily relocating from British Columbia to Germany because the choreographer was able to secure two years of steady funding for her company from the city of Frankfurt and its regional government.

Pite said that she has renamed her company Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM in order to honour the two-year relationship with Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm, the theatre in Frankfurt where her company will be based through to 2012.

RM is the acronym for Rhein-Main, the metropolitan government in Germany for the area that includes the city of Frankfurt.

"We have an amazing two-year coproduction with a theatre in Frankfurt," Pite said by phone.

"I'm able to employ my dancers for the first time all year long. I have never been able to do that before.

"So we're called Kidd Pivot Frankfurt for the next few years.

"It could not be better timing. With the funding drying up in British Columbia, it was getting pretty scary."

B.C. funding shortage sends Pite to Germany