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Dear Supporter
Why the Arts Council
To be effective in arts advocacy one has to be well
informed. Nothing sinks your case faster than when people can point out
flaws in your arguments. One needs to understand what the issues are,
who is responsible for what, and how one should present the case.
Since the inception of this newsletter we have tried
to share information about these aspects of arts advocacy with our
readership. What we have not yet addressed is who the Arts Council
is, and why we are championing arts advocacy.
Who are the Players?
Well, firstly there are you, the individual artists,
artist groups, and arts lovers in general. Then there are the New
Westminster Arts Council and the New Westminster Arts and Culture
Commission. Then there is the City of New Westminster. At the
next level up there are the BC Arts Council, the Assembly of
BC Arts Councils, and the Alliance for Arts and Culture.
Is your head spinning yet? We cannot really blame
you! In future newsletters will talk more about the other players. At
the local level we collaborate fully with the City of New Westminster
and serve on its
Arts and Culture Commission. The City has a
representative on the Arts Council's Board of Directors.
Who then is the "Enemy"?
If all these individuals and organizations are for
the Arts, who then is the "enemy"? Who or what are we “fighting”? Why,
there is no enemy! Ask any of the players mentioned above and they will
all confess to supporting the Arts – and they are sincere when they say
that!
So, if you will, the only real enemy is the fact
that, as a community, our resources are not infinite but limited.
The task of advocacy is to provide municipal and corporate
decision-makers with information that will give the Arts its fair
share of the resources; and to point out problem areas that the
decision makers might have overlooked.
The Arts Council
What then are our credentials? Why are we qualified
to champion arts advocacy? Please allow us some rhetoric opportunity -
the Arts Council (like other Arts Councils in the Province) is a
representative, or "grass- roots" body - that means we are arts people,
governed and guided by a Board, elected by arts people. We are part of a
larger Provincial community of arts people.
We run and promote arts activities with funding that
comes mainly from arts bodies, supplemented by a HUGE in-kind
contribution made by a team of volunteers from the arts community.
We keep our ears to the ground regarding trends in
the arts, we study the latest research in community arts, and we are out
there - in touch with fellow artists in our community. We are passionate
about the Arts - you could say we live, eat and breathe the Arts!
That is why we champion arts advocacy.
Sincerely
Susan Wandell
President
Did you know...
Arts Councils Are a
Good Investment
According to a recent government report*, of the nearly $10M that the BC
Government allocated to the 300 Arts Councils in the Province, the
activities of these Councils generated $13M in taxes for the provincial
government; $2M to local government in property taxes; $25M to the
federal government in revenues!
In other words for every dollar spent by the
Provincial Government on the Arts, we generated 3-4 dollars in return
revenues. Small wonder that the BC Government increased its funding for
the Arts in its recent budget!
*Socio-economic Impacts of the Arts (www.tsa.gov.bc.ca). |
