Ruling puts musicians' union in the middle
The president of the Vancouver Musicians' Association says the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's musicians have been placed in a difficult situation by a recent B.C. Labour Relations Board ruling.

On September 26, the LRB issued an interim order that prevented third-party picketing at the Orpheum's stage door for the VSO's season-opening concerts on September 29 and October 1. This allowed musicians and stagehands to enter the Orpheum without crossing picket lines.

"We back CUPE 100 percent, because they are a union and we understand their position," Bobby Hales, president of the VMA, which represents the VSO musicians, told the Straight . "The musicians are all uncomfortable with the situation. They don't like to strike-break or anything. But as the Vancouver Symphony Society is their employer, they have to work when they're told to work because of the collective agreement."

During the VSO concerts, more than 20 picketers placed themselves at the Orpheum's main entrance. They chanted and handed out pamphlets to the concertgoers crossing the line to enter the theatre. Vancouver police have also charged William George McClure, a striking city clerk, with assaulting a VSO violist in an altercation at the Orpheum's stage door on September 29.

At press time, a decision had yet to be made regarding the four VSO concerts scheduled for this week. Should picketers set up in front of the stage door for any future concerts, Hales said, the musicians would not cross the line.

"If that stage door down there is being picketed, they can't go in there. Quite simply, they cannot go to work," he said.

A request for an interview with the orchestra was not answered by press deadline.

Toronto group wins cultural contract
A Toronto-based organization was awarded a $110,000 consultancy by the City of Vancouver on October 2.

Toronto Artscape will develop a comprehensive long-range plan for cultural facilities in Vancouver and present its findings in June 2008. The organization will provide recommendations about how the City should handle existing and future cultural facilities.

Toronto Artscape's proposal was one of five received by the City through a request for proposals in May. When asked why a Toronto group was favoured over local organizations, the City's managing director of cultural services, Sue Harvey, told the Straight , "This was the group that we felt best met the things that we were looking for."

Harvey said she could not recall how many of the applicants for the contract were from Vancouver but added that Toronto Artscape was the only nonprofit group to bid.

Andrew Wilhelm-Boyles, executive director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, said he is familiar with Toronto Artscape. "They have actually developed an international reputation for their ability to manage productive and useful arts and cultural spaces," he told the Straight . "I would simply guess that they made a really convincing case for themselves."

In addition to approving the contract in Tuesday's council meeting, city council was presented with a draft of the office of cultural affairs' 2008–18 culture plan for Vancouver.

Harvey said the draft plan will be taken to the community for feedback, and a final report will be presented to council by the end of the year. In addition to the cultural facilities priority plan, the office of cultural affairs is conducting reviews of its grants program, public-art program, and cultural tourism plan.

Strike hits Community Arts conference
A large community arts conference has been forced to find a new venue as a result of the civic strike that has gripped Vancouver for the past 11 weeks.

Live in Public: The Art of Engagement, organized by the artist-run grunt gallery in partnership with the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre, will now take place at Emily Carr Institute from Wednesday to next Saturday (October 10 to 13).

Emily Carr offered space for the conference at its Intersectional Digital Arts Studio on Granville Island, next to the school (1399 Johnston Street). This came as a relief to conference coordinator Tania Willard, who said she couldn't wait any longer to find out whether the strike will end next week, as some have predicted. Willard said the venue change, along with the strike, will bring the number of expected delegates down from 200 to 120.

"The Roundhouse was going to use all of their networks and other community arts programs to get word out and have people register from those community centres at the conference," Willard noted. "But because of the strike and the workers not being available, we haven't been able to have that as part of the conference. That's a huge impact."

She said conference organizers will be expressing their concerns to the City regarding the strike's impact. "We hope to direct our complaints in terms of what the strike, what kind of effect that's had on the conference and on community arts in general," she said. "Many of the City of Vancouver workers in the arts and cultural programs have been affected, obviously drastically, in terms of their wages. Rumour is that some of them have had to look for other work."

Live in Public will feature artists and panellists including multimedia artist Laurie McGauley, aboriginal artist Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, and Montreal-based activist arts group ATSA. For more information, visit www.grunt.bc.ca/engage/ .

Setting it Straight
The Arts Note "Fayad Memorial Fund to Be Established" in last week's edition of the Straight reported that a memorial for Larisa Fayad, the local lighting and technical director who died last month in a plane crash in Thailand, was scheduled for October 21 at the Roundhouse Community Centre. The correct date for the event is October 22.