NOBODY plans to fail, as the saying goes, but lots of people fail to plan.
There are lots of people in charge of arts organizations in B.C. who would love to be planning their shows and exhibitions for 2012, if only they knew what their budgets were going to look like.
The provincial government pulled the rug out from under arts groups in 2010 when it held back the grants funded by gaming revenue. Shortly after being anointed as premier, Christy Clark announced that the whole gaming money grant system needed to be reviewed, with the results to be announced at the end of December.
It's January now, and the fate of our unlucky gamblers' money is still unknown.
Slow government decision-making is nothing new. But it adds insult to injury to leave artists guessing after forcing them to endure some very tough years. Performers and venues aren't booked the week before. Rehearsals take time. Even if the news is good, it takes months of planning to put that money to its best use. Delaying the decision means those scarce dollars won't generate the return they could.
It's worth noting that arts funding is often held up as the social payoff for the social costs that come with gambling.
While it's tough for the arts to be seen with their hands out, we subsidize all sorts of other industries too. Dollars spent today mean more jobs tomorrow - jobs that will eventually move elsewhere if nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. Subsidies are of little use without certainty.
