In a survey conducted by the Mustel Group for the City of Vancouver, to help the government allocate its 2008 budget, 45 percent of businesses and 41 percent of residents said arts and cultural support was their lowest priority, in comparison with other funding recipients such as community centres, libraries, parks and beaches, community service organizations, sewage and drainage, policing, traffic management, and fire protection. The results place arts and cultural support at the top of the list of services in which to make cuts, if needed.
Andrew Wilhelm-Boyles, executive director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture and former executive director of the Winnipeg Arts Council, told the Straight he did not find the results surprising. “When I was in Winnipeg, we got that all the time,” he said. “When people were surveyed to say, ‘What are the most important things about the city that give it its identity?’ at the top or very close to the top was arts and culture. When there was a budget survey that said, ‘What should we be spending money on?’ the bottom of the list was arts and culture.…People apparently don’t make the link between the cost of sustaining these things.”
Sue Harvey, Vancouver’s managing director of cultural services, told the Straight she takes the results to be an indication that residents need a better understanding of the significance of arts and culture. “I am concerned about raising the level of awareness of the importance and value that the sector brings,” she said.
Harvey added that she was not overly worried about budget cuts to arts and cultural services. “I think that council knows when you ask people would you rather have fire services or arts and culture, they recognize how people will take that question and consider it. I think what we learned from this is that people value all of the services they get from the city,” she said. Harvey also noted that when asked whether they preferred to reduce, increase, or maintain community and cultural services, only 25.5 percent of residents and 29.8 percent of businesses said they would want cuts to those services.
Council will make its final decisions about the budget on Tuesday (April 15).
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In the past five years there has been a large exodus of artists to cities like Montreal and Toronto. I think the lack of affordable studio space and galleries is the biggest factor. I gave up my studio and gallery about five years ago in Gastown and traded it in for a walk in closet in my apartment. I hate it, but for the moment it’s adequate and it’s all I can afford. Studio space is a dying commodity in this town as property values climb and rentals go up in price. It’s this climate that makes gallery and theatre space extinct or unreachable for most people with a good idea.
Out of frustration I personally have given up on exhibiting my work here and have opted to show in the US instead. I find that Americans put a greater value on its arts, especially in large urban centers. If Vancouver wants to be the “World Class” city it strives to be for 2010, it’s going to have to put some funding into its arts and show the world what we have going on right here in Vancouver instead of chasing it away.