[Bcma-l] CMA Clip Serv: Capital gains for the arts
bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:15:55 -0700
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<b>Capital gains for the arts</b></span></font>
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<b>Will the Cultural Capital of Canada funding boost sustain the
arts beyond 2009?</b></span></font>
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Claire Piech, Pique Magazine (Whistler), Wednesday, July 29, 2009</span></=
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Art Walk threw a block party in Function Junction; the Children's Art
Festival brought renowned entertainers to perform at Creekside; and
mountain bike festival Crankworx will showcase a technology-art
display in the village next week.</span></font>
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In the nearly 12 months since the federal government dubbed
Whistler one of Canada's 2009 Cultural Capitals, the program's
effects have been seen in many corners of the resort municipality.</span><=
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But while community members and village guests delight in
Whistler's strengthened arts, culture and heritage sector, the
improvements are somewhat temporary.</span></font>
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The Cultural Capital designation came with $500,000 from the
federal government and a requirement for the municipality to kick in
$167,000. On top of that, the private sector and other government
sources swelled the budget to $820,000.</span></font>
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All that money must be spent in 2009.</span></font>
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Doti Niedermayer, executive director of the Whistler Arts Council,
said this week the Cultural Capital funding has provided an
undeniable boost to the arts sector but she is concerned about what
will happen next year.</span></font>
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"I am a little bit concerned about the funding for next year, but I t=
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that there have been inroads made that will be a legacy that will
continue forward and that will ensure those programs remain as big as
they were this year," said Niedermayer.</span></font>
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"For example, this year with the help from the Cultural Capital of
Canada, we launched open studios in Function Junction with block
parties, and those were extremely successful. I think next year, we
would maintain that connection to the artists' studios in Function
Junction."</span></font>
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Niedermayer explained that of the 12 new and expanded programs
funded through Cultural Capital, some are more likely than others to
continue beyond 2009.</span></font>
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"I think a lot of them are going to be around. The museum received
funding to expand museum tourist visits and that will be maintained
for years to come," said Niedermayer.</span></font>
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On the other hand, she said some programs are one-off, like the
script-writing project being undertaken by G. D. Maxwell, Leslie
Anthony, Grant Stoddard and Lisa Richardson.</span></font>
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"It is great to have the opportunity to create that project," sa=
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Niedermayer. "But I don't think we'll have an annual script-writing
program."</span></font>
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The Children's Arts Festival, Whistler's longest running festival, is
also susceptible to losing some steam next year because this year
there was additional money available for professional artists and
infrastructure like tenting. But Niedermayer added the festival has
been embedded in the community for 26 years, which will help</span></font>
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keep it going.</span></font>
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"For the arts council, we were really clear that we wanted to expand
our programs rather than create new ones which then are immediately
susceptible to never happening again. I think if you put money into
expanding programs, you create a stronger foundation," she said.</spa=
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"Our proposal was to expand our existing programs because we knew
that would give us the best chance of moving forward... That was our
strategy and I think that was a good strategy. I think we'll maintain a
legacy from this year that will really expand on what happened this
year."</span></font>
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The arts council received about $250,000 from the Cultural Capital
money to fund five programs.</span></font>
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One of the programs that is part of the Cultural Capital funding -
although separate from the arts council - is to develop a plan to make
the arts sector more robust.</span></font>
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The $60,000 program, called W.A.t.C.H. (Whistler, Arts, Culture and
Heritage), will outline branding, marketing and volunteer strategies
for Whistler's arts sector from 2011 to 2020.</span></font>
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Niedermayer is already seeing a move in the Whistler's arts
community from public to private sponsorship.</span></font>
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"We may move towards sponsorship and away from the government,
which is really what we intended all along; that it would be more self-
funded moving forward and supported by the business community
because it supposedly drives traffic," she said.</span></font>
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For example, she said, sponsors of the Art Walk were really satisfied
with the results they saw, and she believes the arts council will
maintain that participation next year.</span></font>
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Meanwhile, artists in Whistler are generally enthusiastic about the
impact of the Cultural Capital designation on the arts and culture
sector.</span></font>
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"I think it is way overdue," said Vincent "Binty" Mass=
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resident and potter, adding that up until this point, it has been an
uphill grind to make a living as an artist in Whistler.</span></font>
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"If you look at money like that as a seed, if you plant that seed wit=
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that money, hopefully something will grow out of it," said Massey.</s=
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"Just look at Art Walk. It was huge compared to last year. There were=
four times as many people that showed up to the opening night of Art
Walk."</span></font>
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Chili Thom, a well known painter, also applauded the way the
Cultural Capital money has made Whistler's art scene more visible.</span><=
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"It is absolutely amazing," he said.</span></font>
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"There has always been a strong arts and culture component to
Whistler for a long time. It has always gone hand in hand with the
snowboard culture, especially with younger artists. But there wasn't
an avenue for people to express themselves for the longer time. With
the funding coming in and more public art projects, people are</span></fon=
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getting a chance to express themselves."</span></font>
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And writer Lisa Richardson also said she thinks the boost is fantastic
- although she warned it can be hard sometimes to use this type of
funding in a "sustainable" way.</span></font>
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"The challenge always with funding is how do you fulfill the goals of=
the funding body and fulfill your own mandate and move in a
direction of a sustainable model," said Richardson.</span></font>
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For example, said Richardson, a lot of the funding the Writers'
Festival has received - not just from Cultural Capital but from other
programs as well - is on the condition the money does not go towards
salaries and other operational needs.</span></font>
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"Primarily the money we have been provided through the Cultural
Capital is to develop our marketing campaign... But our festival
director (Stella Harvey) is doing this on a volunteer basis, and I can't
put a number on how many hours Stella has put into this event," said
Richardson.</span></font>
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"The sustainability of the event is how long Stella is willing to do =
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out of sheer passion."</span></font>
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To date, 44 per cent of the $820,000 Cultural Capital money has been
spent.</span></font>
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More information on the 12 programs receiving the funds can be
found at
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<u>www.whistlerculturalcapital.ca</u>
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<b>Cultural Capital funding in a nutshell</b></span></font>
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An overview of Whistler's 12 Cultural Capital programs by name,
group and cost.</span></font>
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• Winter Arts Festival in support of the 2010 Olympics (Whistler Arts=
Council) - $148,500</span></font>
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• Heritage walks (Whistler Museum) - $39,400</span></font>
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• Artwalk workshops (Whistler Arts Council) - $11,700</span></font>
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• Children's Arts Festival expansion (Whistler Arts Council - $60,000=
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• Whistler: The Musical script writing project (MY Millennium
Place) - $82,167</span></font>
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• Artwalk expansion (Whistler Arts Council) - $38,200</span></font>
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• Cultural Journey Youth Paddle (Squamish-Lil'wat Cultural Centre) -
$37,000</span></font>
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• Artist Workshops on the Lake expansion (Whistler Arts Council) -
$14,667</span></font>
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• Art meets Technology (Crankworx) - $54,936</span></font>
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• Whistler Writers' Festival expansion (Vicious Circle Writers Group)=
- $36,667</span></font>
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• Whistler Stories Youth film project (Whistler Film Festival) -
$44,844</span></font>
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• Whistler Holiday AlpenGlow New Year's Eve celebration (MY
Millennium Place) - $52,870</span></font>
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• Community Now film project (Whistler Museum) - $50,667</span></font=
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• Whistler's arts and culture business plan, also known as W.A.t.C.H.=
- $60,000</span></font>
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• Cultural Capital's administration, signage and website (Resort
Municipality of Whistler) - $87,000</span></font>
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