The variety of outstanding arts presentations available in the Capital Regional District is truly impressive. However, public support for the arts, comparable to that provided in other Canadian communities with populations similar to the CRD’s 350,000, is in a totally muddled state.
This cannot be resolved at the CRD board table, and must be addressed by municipal councils.
If you have visited the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria or attended performances at the Belfry Theatre, the Victoria Symphony, Pacific Opera Victoria, or presentations by any one of at least 60 other arts organizations in the region, you will have noticed the CRD logo in printed programs acknowledging CRD arts funding support. The majority of these organizations would not survive without the assistance of a CRD arts grant. Applications for this support are adjudicated annually, and grant amounts are recommended by a 12-member advisory council of volunteers, all of whom have had extensive experience in arts production, administration or governance.
However, many CRD citizens might not realize that only five of the 13 municipalities contribute to CRD arts funding on the basis of a formula established under CRD bylaws. This involves a complex calculation that includes population and total property assessment, and works out to an annual tax contribution of from $20 to $25 per household.
Currently, the five fully contributing municipalities are Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Saanich, Victoria and View Royal. Three other municipalities — Highlands, Metchosin and Sidney — contribute partially to CRD arts funding, but at levels less than 30 per cent of the established formula. Five municipalities — Central Saanich, Colwood, Langford, North Saanich and Sooke — do not contribute at all. As a result, arts organizations based in these municipalities are ineligible to apply for CRD arts support.
A Greater Victoria Arts and Culture Economic Activity Study released in 2013 showed that the arts and culture sector generated total economic activity of $177.3 million per year. As well, the sector provides more than 4,300 person-years of employment and almost $17 million in property-tax revenue.
Public funds spent on the arts do not represent a net cost to the taxpayers. They are, in fact, a successful investment.
Why, out of 13 municipalities, do only five fully contribute to CRD arts funding, and three of the remaining eight volunteer only token amounts? The reasons are partly historic. But history aside, it is the responsibility of each municipality to decide if and how much it will provide to the pooled funds from which CRD arts grants are dispensed. Hence, it is truly a muddle.
The non-contributing municipalities tend to argue that they would rather support the arts in their own community than contribute to CRD arts funding. They also argue that few of their citizens go “downtown” to attend arts events. But this is not borne out by box-office data from CRD-funded arts organizations, which invariably show that thousands of tickets are sold every year to patrons of these organizations who reside in non-contributing municipalities.
Given the minimal cost of $2 per month per household to support regional arts activities, there is no valid reason why municipalities cannot support regional, as well as local arts activities.
Although we have an impressive variety of arts presentations in the CRD, our arts organizations are suffering financially. The fund for CRD arts grants has been flat-lined for five years. During that time, recipient organizations have had to absorb inflationary increases in operating costs and curtail programming, thereby reducing the benefit of a flat-lined grant.
If all 13 municipalities contributed to CRD arts funding according to the established formula, the current pooled funds would increase by at least 35 per cent. Current grant recipients could be more effectively sustained, and grow artistically. Additional arts organizations could also receive support.
It is therefore timely to ask all candidates for council in the forthcoming municipal elections to state their views on regional arts funding, especially in the municipalities that either do not contribute to CRD arts funding or that volunteer only a token amount. Where do your candidates stand on the value of supporting regional arts that are enjoyed by so many citizens and bring significant benefits to all citizens?
Patrick Fleck was a member of the CRD’s arts advisory council for eight years, and is the immediate past-chairman of the council.
