Animation artist Janos Sitar painted his face grey, and wore a hoodie of the same colour. The Emily Carr University of Art + Design instructor also hung a portrait frame around his neck.

He wanted to send a message: life is drab and empty without art.

Sitar took this message today (September 28) to the sidewalks of Seymour and West Hastings streets in downtown Vancouver, where artists converged amid seething anger over cuts made by the provincial government to cultural funding.

“That’s what’s going to happen if we don’t have funding for arts,” Sitar told the Straight before the start of the noon hour rally held outside the Morris J Wosk Centre for Dialogue, referring to the unexciting life the absence of art would bring.

Inside the centre, members of the bipartisan Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services of the legislature held consultations for the 2010-2011 budget.

Some of the placard-bearing protesters later went inside to face provincial legislators led by committee chair B.C. Liberal Chilliwack MLA John Les.

Outside, painter Peter Lojewski noted that the cuts have been crippling for many sectors in the arts community. He cited the case of the artist-run Helen Pitt Gallery that lost 50 percent of its operating budget when it was denied its annual $34,000 grant this year. The gallery is moving out of its present location.

“The worst thing that seems to happening is theatres, which are dependent on funding, and they don’t have the funding there and they can’t plan anything for next year,” Lojewski told the Straight.

Among the provincial politicians spotted at the rally were NDP MLAs Spencer Herbert (Vancouver-West End), Nicholas Simons (Powell River-Sunshine Coast), and Jenny Kwan (Vancouver-Mount Pleasant). Vancouver park board commissioner Loretta Woodcock was also at the gathering.

Lindsay Brown was one of the organizers of the rally. She is also the chair of the board of the Or Gallery that lost its annual $30,000 gaming grant. The money used to cover 16 percent of the gallery’s budget. It has been forced to cancel all its programming between October and January because of funding constraints.

“We are here in silent protest against the cuts,” Brown told the Straight, explaining why there were no speakers nor audio system at the rally.

Lindsay Brown speaks on the B.C Liberals' cuts to the arts at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue on September 28, 2009.