Arts and culture sector receives $6.1 million in critical core funding from City of Vancouver
Council approves operating grants to 149 cultural groups
Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration Society.
VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL BHANGRA Celebration Society, Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance, and WePress are among the 149 cultural groups that have received an operating grant from the City of Vancouver.
Announced on April 12, the critical core funding totals just over $6.1 million.
The funding aims to “increase the appreciation of the arts by providing programs, conferences and workshops, and resources related to theatre and advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in the sector”, according to a release.
“Despite the sector-wide challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, cultural organizations who received core funding today continue to excel in advancing the City’s goals of contributing to a diverse and vibrant community, and amplifying the voices of creative people, while allowing each of us to see ourselves reflected in our shared stories,” Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said in the release. “These critical Council-approved investments continue to provide support to organizations who embody Culture|Shift's key directions, and contribute significantly towards advancing Cultural Equity, Accessibility, Reconciliation and Decolonization goals.”
Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration is one of the recipients, receiving its first operating grant from the City to elevate South Asian youth culture through their annual 5X Festival, virtual residencies, pop-up dance performances, and ongoing engagement with the community through weekly newsletters.
WePress received an operating grant to build community capacity and resilience through art-making, offering printmaking workshops and access to equipment and art supplies, arts facilitation, all with a focus on people from equity-denied communities in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance received an operating grant to increase the appreciation of the arts by providing programs, conferences, and workshops as well as resources related to theatre and advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in the sector. The organization achieves this through activities like co-hosting a national symposium on EDI, digital learning for underrepresented artists, and research in support of healthy and safe workplaces.
Among the other recipients are the frank theatre company, The Vancouver Out on Screen Film and Video Society, Rosario Ancer Flamenco Arts Society, Rice and Beans Theatre Society, Reel 2 Real: A Celebration of Moving Images For Youth, The Arts Club of Vancouver Theatre Society, and Kidd Pivot Performing Arts Society.
Nine members of the arts community formed four committees to review and rank applications individually, and later joined their fellow committee members and staff to discuss the preliminary reviews as a group and make collective recommendations for funding. Making up the peer committee were Anoushka Ratnarajah, Cecily Nicholson, David Pay, Debi Wong, Henry Heng Lu, Julia Taffe, Justin Neal, Ralph Escamillan, and Tanja Dixon-Warren.
The City states that the grants align with key civic policy and strategic directions, such as Culture|Shift, the COVID-19 Economic and Business Recovery program, the Reconciliation framework, and the Equity Framework.
The full report can be found here.
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