Aug
31
By Jim Gerwing
On August 27, the Federal Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages,the Honourable James Moore, announced funding for the Arts Communities at the Royal BC Museum. Mr. Moore prefaced his announcement by remarking on the importance of the arts in the economic and quality of life of Canadians. For Victoria the arts offers major impetus to both tourism and the local citizenry.
The future of Canadian culture depends on the creativity of its people, and that in turn depends on exposure to the arts.
Seventeen arts, culture, heritage, and aboriginal projects will benefit from the $1.6 million dollars from the Federal Government. The Canadian College of performing Arts is one of the major recipients, with a three year grant of $630,000., an increase over the previous three year contribution. Most of the funding is a continuation of previous grants. On the other hand, the Royal BC Museum will receive almost $153,000. in new money to fund the virtual museum component of “aliens among us,” an interactive web-site being developed to explore the impact of invasive species of plants and animals in British Columbia.
The Aboriginal Women's program is receiving a second year of funding to assist Aboriginal women's groups and organizations to carry out activities that support the full participation of Aboriginal women within their communities and in Canadian society.
Other arts organization are the Art Gallery of Victoria, Pacific Opera, Dance Victoria, Intrepid Theatre Company society and many others.
This is good news for these economically fragile organizations. This funding is often critical for their survival.
In a second announcement Mr. moore informed the media that the federal and provincial governments had come to an agreement to provide major funding support for official languages in BC, amounting to just under $20 million. These funds encourage French language education through im? core French programs, going beyond the classroom to include student exchanges with Quebec and other Francophone communities in Canada. Representatives of the arts community of Victoria expressed gratitude for the funds invested by the federal government in their organizations.