How much did the B.C. government contribute to Summer Live?

by Charlie Smith on July 10th, 2011 at 7:22 PM

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With just a few hours left on the program, the organizers of Summer Live deserve a hearty round of applause for what they accomplished in Stanley Park this weekend.

Special kudos should go to the artistic director, Robert Kerr, who followed up on his triumph with the Cultural Olympiad by putting on a splendid show loaded with local talent.

I can remember several years back when Bruce Allen wanted to put on a concert with Bryan Adams in Stanley Park. He was rebuffed by those who worried about the impact on the city's favourite landmark.

How things have changed in No-Fun City. The Vision Vancouver council took a risk and this weekend, it paid off, shining a much-needed spotlight on the city's artistic and musical stars.

Vision politicians will likely reap some benefits in the November election, when they can rightly say they invested public money in culture.

Kerr told the Straight earlier this year that the budget for Summer Live was $2.3 million.

Some of this was subsidized by the federal government's generous $1.7 million donation. This came with Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore's designation of Vancouver as a Cultural Capital of Canada in 2011.

As a result, the federal government's logo appeared in the Summer Live poster and in numerous advertisements.

Meanwhile, Kerr revealed to the Straight that the provincial government was a "pretty minor supporter" of Summer Live.

I guess the city's six B.C. Liberal MLAs just couldn't deliver in a big way for an important arts and music festival.

The B.C. government appears on the city's website as a "government partner", but its logo did not appear in the ads.

Meanwhile, Straight arts reporter Jessica Werb has pointed out that Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson publicly thanked the federal government for its gift, but merely mentioned that the B.C. government had provided "some support".

Now that the festival is winding up, maybe someone can tell us exactly how much the B.C. Liberal government contributed to what has been one of the more memorable events of the year.

Supporters of arts and culture deserve to know this, particularly if they live in Vancouver constituencies represented by B.C. Liberal MLAs Christy Clark, Colin Hansen, Margaret MacDiarmid, Kash Heed, Mary McNeil, or Moira Stilwell.

Comments

7 Comments

UWSofty

Jul 11, 2011 at 8:55am

What an awesome event! Kudos to the City of Vancouver for throwing an awesome birthday party.

monty/that's me

Jul 11, 2011 at 9:24am

Well done Charlie. But why would one expect such an uncultured bunch to provide any support? They are all so busy clamoring for more support for the HST from their backers. Tomorrow the Liebral caucus meets at Harrison Hot Springs. Christy is probably searching for armour to shield herself from certain attacks. Are we taxpayers getting stuck with the bill for Harrison? Do they still have the Old Fogies band? Suitable for these out-of-touch clowns.

(Over to you, PAB)

Ray I

Jul 11, 2011 at 3:06pm

It was a great event with the funding it had. We should be looking for ways to REDUCE our tax dollars being spent and not asking why we didn't subsidize events more. Remember we still have healthcare and education to pay for and, anyway, the private sector should be the first target for funding these kinds of popular, "good news" events.

scathie

Jul 11, 2011 at 9:05pm

More tax payer money down the drain. How about we pay our deficit off first and then throw parties?

Steve Y

Jul 12, 2011 at 7:25am

Why should hard working people in Northern BC pay for a big party for pot smoking slackers in the lower mainland? I went and then party was fabulous.... but I don't necessarily think that others from BC (or even the rest of Canada) should pay for it.