NORTH Shore arts groups are giving mixed reviews to Premier Christy Clark's announcement that they will have some of their gaming revenues restored.
On Thursday, Clark said the province would provide $135 million in grants to community groups around the province, including adult arts and sports organizations that were cut off in 2009.
"The arts bind us together," Clark said at the Port Moody Arts Centre. "The arts weave a story that we tell each other about ourselves."
Clark said there will be a special application process to fast-track requests from groups that were previously denied funding.
Ian Forsyth, director of North Vancouver's municipal Arts Office, said Clark's three-year commitment is "great news."
"It's nowhere near the 33 per cent (of gaming revenue) it was originally," he said, "but there is additional money for adult arts and sports groups, which is great news. 2009 was a real struggle. There were casualties. A lot of people folded their tents. A lot of organizations that relied on gaming were left scrambling because the announcement came in the middle of the budget year. It was pretty much scorched earth."
Forsyth pointed out that Presentation House Theatre was among the groups that lost a gaming grant, and were forced to plead for emergency funding from North Vancouver's city and district councils. "That was a direct result of them losing their gaming money and not being able to make up the difference with their box office. It was a tricky time for them," he said.
Linda Feil, executive director of the North Vancouver Community Arts Council, was in Port Moody for Clark's announcement.
"My reaction is that the glass is always half full," she said. "We are very happy to hear there's a commitment on the part of the government to make last year's one-time additional $15 million stay in place over the next three years. That's positive, but I have to say I was disappointed, because everyone anticipated that there would be a little bit more, some appreciation that we've been really hard stretched over the last three years. A lot of organizations are holding on with their fingernails."
Feil said her group can apply for gaming money at the beginning of February and may have an answer as soon as April. Nevertheless, she said, the 2009 cuts have left their scars.
"We ran a lantern festival in this community for 12 years," she said. "It was a fabulous event. Gaming contributed $10,000 to that. We ran that event with the confidence that we would have the funding for that as we had in 12 previous years. Two weeks after we ran the event, we found out we didn't get any money. So we started that year with a $10,000 deficit. We had to eliminate that event immediately. We had to eliminate a staff person and we had to charge for our Art in the Garden tour, we had run as a free event."
On the positive side, Feil said the loss of $36,000 in gaming money had prompted donors to come forward who hadn't supported the council in the past.
"We're back to about half of what we got," she said.
Even with the restoration of the money for arts and sports, Feil questioned whether the province is delivering the social benefits meant to offset the social costs of gambling.
"If we as a province are dependent on how much revenue is generated from gaming to be fiscally responsible, that is a very sad state. That money is not supposed to be for education and health. The only reason anyone agrees with gaming is the additional social benefits. The government is making it easier and easier to gamble, and they are growing more dependent on it. That's the tragedy of it. For me it's a moral question. We're probably better off with no gambling, and let us figure that out."
