North Shore arts, cultural and sports groups once again received a boost in funding as community gaming grants were distributed to 47 groups, totalling $1.3 million.
Grants ranged in amounts from the biggest at $125,000 to small grants like $3,000 to the Blueridge Chamber Music Society.
The largest grants went to two sports organizations – the North Shore Girls Soccer Club and the North Vancouver Football Club both received $125,000 grants.
Maggie Murch, manager of business operations with the girls soccer club, said the gaming grant all goes to league teams and not their academy teams, and she estimated it reduces fees by about $50 per player.
“(Without it) our league fees would increase substantially,” she said.
North Shore Girls Soccer Club is one of the largest soccer clubs in Western Canada and fields 167 teams, with a total of about 2,500 players.
The North Vancouver Minor Hockey Association received a gaming grant of $100,000.
Arts and cultural grants included $71,100 for the North Vancouver Community Arts Council, $60,500 for RNB Dance and Theatre Arts Society, $54,000 for British Columbia Photography and Media Arts Society, $33,600 for Latincouver Cultural & Business Society, and $35,700 for the Seymour Art Gallery Society.
The North Vancouver Community Arts Council provides arts programming on the North Shore and received a slightly larger grant this year, up from $62,000 last year. Nancy Cottingham Powell, the executive director, said the additional fund will go toward the capital purchase of computer equipment. The rest of the grant supports their arts exhibitions and engagement programs, rhythm and word music therapy programs, arts education programs and their Art in the Garden and North Shore Art Crawl events.
“We did apply for a large capital gaming grant over the past two years to support upgrades to CityScape Community ArtSpace and were turned down each year,” she said in an email.
On the North Shore, sports groups received about $900,000 in community gaming grants, while arts and cultural groups received about $400,000.
In total, the community gaming grants provide $140 million to 5,000 not-for-profits across the province every year. Of that, $27.5 million went to 850 sports organizations in 2018-19, and $18 million to more than 700 arts, heritage and cultural groups.
North Shore groups receiving gaming grants
BCO Volleyball Club $12,000
Blueridge Chamber Music Society $3,000
British Columbia Photography and Media Arts Society $54,000
Cypress Ski Club $20,000
Deep Cove Chamber Soloists Society$8,000
Deep Cove Rowing Club $20,000
Flicka Gymnastics Club $50,000
Gordon Sturtridge League Football Association $30,000
Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club $48,300
Highlands Little League Baseball Association $22,000
Hollyburn Cross Country Ski Club $41,000
Inter-River BMX Association $8,000
Latincouver Cultural & Business Society $33,600
Laudate Singers Society $6,600
Lynn Valley Black Bear Band Association $7,000
Lynn Valley Little League Association$28,600
Mount Seymour Little League Association $15,000
Mountain United Football Club Society $13,200
North Shore Baseball Association $38,500
North Shore Celtic Ensemble $15,000
North Shore Chorus Society $5,000
North Shore Community Music Society $9,700
North Shore Female Ice Hockey Association $25,000
North Shore Folkfest Society $3,000
North Shore Girls Fastpitch Association $23,500
North Shore Girls Soccer Club $125,000
North Shore In-Line Hockey League Society $56,000
North Shore Light Opera Society $5,000
North Shore Minor Lacrosse Association $23,000
North Shore Multicultural Society $50,750
North Vancouver Community Arts Council $71,100
North Vancouver Community Band $6,000
North Vancouver Football Club $125,000
North Vancouver Minor Hockey Association $100,000
North West Vancouver Ringette Association$15,000
Presentation House Cultural Society $40,000
R.N.B. Dance and Theatre Arts Society $60,500
Redshift Music Society $15,000
Sea to Sky Field Hockey Club $10,000
Seymour Art Gallery Society $35,700
Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre $3,300
Vancouver Chamber Players Society $6,000
Vancouver Freestyle Ski Club$19,500
Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival Society $20,750
Vancouver Philharmonic Society $11,500
Vancouver Skating Club $42,000
Vancouver Water Ski Club $10,000
