[Bcma-l] Summer Student funding confirmation delay

[bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca]

No you are not alone. It can be just as bad in the big cities.  
Luckily we hired the same student as last year so recruiting was not  
a problem. Actually we hired her before we heard on funding so we  
wouldn't lose her.

Every year I complain to the powers that be about the late  
announcements of funding and number of students. I agree that hearing  
in December or early in the new year would be beneficial. Then we  
could recruit with a guarantee that the funds were available. We only  
heard last Thursday that we had funding for 14 weeks. If we had had  
to recruit, interview, and then hire, there wouldn't have been 14  
weeks left in the summer. Also, the really top students are hired  
long before the school term in over and we rarely get them.

Somebody has to get the message through to the politicians but my MP  
is not in the party in power so her efforts fall largely on deaf ears.

Helen Edwards
Administrative Director
http://www.hallmarksociety.ca

On May 13, 2008, at 2:01 PM, bcma-l-admin@museumsassn.bc.ca wrote:

> May 13, 2008
>
> Re:  Issues with funding.
>
> I cannot agree more with what Rosaleen Ward put forward with regard  
> to funding.  I would suggest a series of changes with regard to  
> grant funding for the museum/library fields that depend on summer  
> grant programs to operate.  It has been increasingly difficult to  
> staff positions in the north.  The Businesses at Barkerville have  
> been feeling the crunch as well, as students and young people find  
> positions that are more financially rewarding prior to the  
> disbursement of grants.  This has been going on in the business  
> world for a little longer, but is similar to the issues we in the  
> museum community have been feeling for several years – outside of  
> the normal issue of having funding distributed at the wrong time of  
> the year and inconsistently – there are not sufficient young people  
> to operate effectively and the wages are not sufficient to attract  
> young people from other more lucrative opportunities.
>
> Governments operate on a yearly budget – voted on usually at the  
> beginning of April or thereabouts.  Any delays in distribution of  
> voted funds are reflected in late adjudication of any grants.  This  
> is a huge problem for recruitment purposes and for being able to  
> sustain a normal planning phase for the work flow.  If grants were  
> voted on for distribution prior to April 1st – say by the end of  
> December, then we would be able to recruit with confidence that we  
> can actually hire someone to carry out a plan.  As it is, we  
> scramble each year when the funds come down for both students and  
> getting our programs in place.  Last year was a nightmare.  This  
> year, notifications were actually faster for Young Canada Works,  
> but a little on the slow side for Canada Summer Jobs.  The design  
> of these grants is not for the consumer, but for the voter.  The  
> amounts actually distributed are relatively small compared with  
> most other Government expenditures, especially in light of the fact  
> that cultural institutions add tremendously to the economy in  
> relationship to real costs – especially in non-suburban areas where  
> they help circulate money in regions where boom and bust is a fact  
> of life, but also the back bone of the general Canadian economy.   
> Grants could be simplified by establishing a body that the funds  
> could be transferred to in the year prior to the actual  
> expenditures.  It is not like we would be distributing huge sums of  
> money or setting up a body that does not already exist if it was  
> say the BCMA or the CMA.
>
> Another issue that I have with the granting system is the age  
> limits.  I have been told by workers in the agencies that this  
> would never change.  Not only are age limits discriminatory for  
> older students/people, it limits our ability to fill positions in  
> an economy where young people are no longer the group that should  
> be targeted.
>
> Another issue that is part of the problem is that Governments also  
> fear having employees and try to guard against this by not entering  
> situations where they are obliged to support an institution.  There  
> is the fear of having to have large payouts for laying off people;  
> fear of coherent collective actions that might be a cost burden to  
> the tax payer; fear of having a capital/operational cost and a  
> potential threat to their mandate and a fear that anything that  
> does not have an immediately visible return (i.e. I will sell you  
> this bag of chips for $1 and I get $0.30 cents for doing so).   
> Analysis of cultural value in real dollars has demonstrated time  
> and time again, that having a well functioning cultural institution  
> that works with other elements of our society provides not only the  
> ephemeral emotional aspects of respect for history/ideas/ideals/ 
> creativity, etc. but pays off in cash.  I am still trying to figure  
> out why Scotland with not much more population and a lot less land  
> mass (than B.C.) can put in five times as much money into heritage  
> – remember this is Scotland, the land with the reputation for  
> having people who are quite prudent in their expenditures.  As a  
> tax payer, I can see the obligation point.  But, I can also  
> understand economics that point to a better method of dealing with  
> the Cultural situation.  In the past I have suggested that a  
> Foundation be established for this purpose into which Governments  
> might place endowments with the aim towards stability in the  
> Cultural sector.  But, this was not commented on, except for one  
> person who indicated that they did not want to have another  
> foundation.  But, I have not heard any other suggestions to effect  
> change.  Is the status quo suitable then?  Is this what people in  
> the Cultural sector want – late grants and no employees?  Or, are  
> these concerns only for people like Rosaleen and myself – in the  
> frozen north?
> W. (Bill) G. Quackenbush, Curator
> Barkerville Historic Town,
> Box 19, Barkerville, B.C.  V0K 1B0
> Telephone: 1-888-994-3332; ex. 25
> Fax: 1-250-994-3435
> bill.quackenbush@barkerville.ca
> visit - www.barkerville.ca for general information
>
> From: bcma-l-admin@museumsassn.bc.ca [mailto:bcma-l- 
> admin@museumsassn.bc.ca]
> Sent: May 9, 2008 2:31 PM
> To: bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
> Subject: [Bcma-l] Summer Student funding confirmation delay
>
> For some organizations the confirmation of funding has come too  
> late – many of the students here in the northern communities have  
> already found positions.  Museums and libraries received calls  
> saying that they would probably receive funding but the  
> confirmation did not come through for another 3 – 4 weeks.  I have  
> heard this is because the government was slow in releasing  
> confirmation of funding to Service Canada.
>
> Maybe the government should be made aware of the consequences of  
> these delays.  Unfortunately, it is Service Canada’s beleaguered  
> front line staff who often have to bear the brunt of people’s  
> frustrations.
>
> Rosaleen Ward
> Museum Coordinator
> Hudson's Hope Museum
> 9510 Beattie Drive
> Box 98
> Hudson's Hope
> BC V0C 1V0
> Phone (250) 783 5735
> Fax (250) 783 5770
> e mail hhmuseum@pris.ca
>