Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

Hopefully residents of the city will be more inclined to see the value of a performing arts centre, much as they finally did when it came to building the coliseum at Riverside Park

Proposed Kamloops Performing Arts Centre

According the BC government, more people will have the opportunity to enjoy B.C.’s community festivals and visual artists, thanks to the latest BC Arts Council grants, just recently announced.

“Arts and culture connect, challenge and inspire us. They make our communities vibrant and resilient, creating great places to live and raise families,” said Lisa Beare, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture. “Through our increased investment in the BC Arts Council, we are working to enrich our neighbourhoods, improve peoples’ lives and attract even more visitors to B.C.”

More than $1.5 million in provincial funding will be distributed through 191 grants in the latest round of funding administered by the BC Arts Council. This includes 102 grants to support community festivals (up from 77 last year). As well, there was an increase in grants to individual artists through the Visual Arts Awards program.

Grants announced in my own community of Kamloops, from the latest round covering the first quarter of the year, have been provided to:

The Kamloops Arts Council ... $3,000
The Kamloops International Buskers Festival Society ... $3,500
Kamloops Society for the Written Arts ... #3,000

In honour of former mayor Nils Jensen — a champion for the arts before his recent death, the funding announcement took place in Oak Bay. The Mayors' Arts Legacy Fund supports many arts related events in Oak Bay throughout the year.

The BC Arts Council, an agency of the provincial government, provides grant funding for arts and culture throughout the province. Funding by the council is administered through a peer review adjudication process. Grant recipients represent a diverse group of artists and arts organizations, including Indigenous groups, scholarship students and community arts councils.

“We are pleased to be able to increase the number of awards distributed to artists and cultural organizations in this round of latest grants,” said Susan Jackson, chair of the BC Arts Council. “These grants are opening up new opportunities for B.C. artists and contributing to their success in today’s creative sector.”


While these funds, provided by the BC Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, are for groups under the umbrella BC Arts Council, many in the Kamloops region are hoping that a partial provincial source of funding may also be available for new Performing Arts Centre which earlier this year was proposed once again for the City of Kamloops.

The BC Alliance for Arts and Culture, on their blog January 9th, stated that:

....philanthropist Ron Fawcett offered millions of dollars in land and design plans to resurrect a proposal for a performing arts centre in the city, which voters rejected in 2015.  The proposed centre ... would include three theatres with nearly 1,800 seats between them. The building also includes cafe areas, rehearsal halls, meeting spaces and office space, among other amenities. The Fawcett family would donate $8-10 million to the proposed effort ...

Hopefully residents of the city will be more inclined to see the value of a performing arts centre, much as they finally did when it came to building the coliseum at Riverside Park, this time round.

Hopefully as well, the cities residents will be able to receive back a rightful share of taxes they have paid to all levels of government, to assist in the costs of this endeavour.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'Very good news' that Supreme Court will hear B.C. mineral claims case, Eby says

The BC government needs clarity from the Supreme Court of Canada on a landmark mineral rights claim, Premier David Eby says. But the lawyer representing the challenger says that they would have preferred the province respect the lower court's decision. Eby said Thursday it is very good news that the court will hear its appeal of a ruling that found the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the provincial mineral claims regime are "inconsistent." The BC Court of Appeal ruled in December that the provincial Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA, should be "properly interpreted" to incorporate the UN declaration into the laws of B.C. with immediate legal effect. That ruling set off the appeal from the province amid concerns that it could cause economic uncertainty ... CLICK HERE for the full story 
Post a Comment
Read more

EBY OFFSIDE WITH NATIONAL INTEREST AS CARNEY AND SMITH BUILD BC'S ECONOMIC FUTURE WITHOUT HIM ~~ BC Conservatives

IMAGE CREDIT :  CBC News   Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced a landmark agreement today committing Ottawa to designate a new pipeline to BC's west coast as a project of national interest by October 1, 2026, with construction approval targeted for September 1, 2027. The deal pairs the pipeline with a new industrial carbon pricing framework and a fall 2027 construction start. British Columbia, the province where the pipeline ends, where the jobs would land, and where the export terminal would be built, was nowhere at the table. "This is a nation-building deal, and the BC NDP have been locked out of the room," said Trevor Halford, Interim Leader of the Official Opposition.  "While the Prime Minister and the Premier of Alberta were doing the hard work of growing the Canadian economy, the NDP is on the sidelines calling this pipeline a 'fiction' and an 'energy vampire.'  He chose petulance over partnership, and now BC ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kamloops - North Thompson BC Conservative MLA Ward Stamer speaks to Bill 20 — K’ómoks Treaty Act

The following is a condensed version of Kamloops – North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer’s remarks, to the BC Legislature, on the afternoon of Tuesday May 19th : I rise today to continue remarks on Bill 20, the K’ómoks treaty, and to address what I believe are some of the most important constitutional, democratic and governance concerns facing this Legislature today. At the centre of this debate are two major issues. First, unresolved overlapping territorial boundaries tied to this treaty process. And second, the growing legal and political consequences arising from the provincial government’s implementation of the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, more commonly known as DRIPA. Much of the government’s defence on DRIPA rests upon references to the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, commonly known as UNDRIP. And this is where we must begin having a more honest and mature conversation in this province. UNDRIP was never originally designed to function ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more