Arts cuts blasted
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Updated: October 28, 2009 7:46 PM
Nelsonites had a chance to offer feedback on the provincial budget to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services on Oct. 22.
The committee, made up of MLAs from the NDP and Liberal Party, travelled to eight communities across the province and met many more, including Nelson, by video conference.
Michelle Mungall, MLA for Nelson-Creston, is a member of the committee. She said one of the major themes she heard from people in Nelson and across the province was distress over cuts to the arts.
There were presentations made by the BC Touring Council and Oxygen Art Centre at the Nelson meeting. Both saw cuts this year and feared the impact of further cuts coming in next year’s budget.
“We anticipated it being a concern in Nelson for sure, but Nelson’s not alone,” said Mungall. “There were numerous artists and art groups coming forward from every community informing us that cutting arts is cutting an investment.
“It makes no sense when we’re struggling with revenue generation to cut an area that makes the province money,” she said.
Public input on the budget is now closed and the MLAs have until November 15 to bring forward recommendations to the ministers.
“If we’re going to do justice to the job of hearing public input and making recommendations based on that input, we need to make strong recommendations about reinvesting in the arts,” Mungall said.
All the recommendations must be approved by consensus, but it’s up to the ministers to act on them. Last year, there were 68 recommendations put forward.
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