City of Vancouver approves more than $8.4 million in funding to support cultural growth and recovery
Funding comes in light of the financial impact of COVID-19 on Vancouver’s non-profit arts and culture sector
Indian Summer Arts Society is among 144 organizations receiving grants from the City of Vancouver.
VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL has approved $8,406,150 in grants to 144 cultural organizations, it announced on January 19. The funding is to help the non-profit groups continue to provide programs and services to artists, the cultural community, and the public.
The full amount of the funding will be provided to most recipients immediately to help them cover their core costs, according to a news release. Typically, the City would award 40 percent of the grant in January and the remaining 60 percent in April.
“The arts and culture sector has been deeply impacted by COVID-19 and the City is committed to supporting Vancouver’s artists, creators and cultural organizations through these difficult times,” Branislav Henselmann, City of Vancouver’s managing director of cultural Services, said in the statement. “This investment provides over a hundred groups with the essential resources they need to deliver critical programs and services in support of the cultural growth and economic recovery of the city.”
The release pointed to Indian Summer Arts Society as an example of the organizations benefitting from the announcement; it will receive $35,000 to sustain its distinctive arts and culture programming. In 2020, the society pivoted in response to COVID-19 by presenting its annual festival online, reaching audiences in 45 countries across six continents.
“We are grateful to the City for continuing to prioritize arts organizations during this pandemic year, recognizing that the arts are as needed as ever to imagine, narrate, and build the world we want to grow — not back to what was, but to what we might become,” Laura June Albert, grants and community initiatives manager of the Indian Summer Arts Society, said in the release. “We are heartened that the City continues to recognize the importance of People of Colour-led arts organizations to continue to centre and amplify voices of racialized artists, resourcing us to operate while project funding (and ticket sales) became so precarious. Annual Assistance keeps the lights on, paying the costs of unsexy things, like the equipment and people we need in order to function as an organization.”
The release noted that the grants align with the City's key civic policy and strategic directions, such as Culture|Shift, the COVID-19 Economic and Business Recovery program, the Reconciliation framework, and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives.
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