The provincial government has granted $38,888 to the Community Arts Council of Fort St. James for arts infrastructure.
“Arts and culture organizations have been working hard to adjust their businesses while adhering to provincial health orders,” Melanie Mark, minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport, said in a press release March 5.
“Our government values the arts as part of our economic recovery, and we are here to help them weather the storm. I know this funding comes at a critical time and will help sustain the sector until we can all gather to enjoy arts and culture again,” Mark added.
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The government has also provided $5,000 towards arts and culture resilience supplement. Additionally, $12,000 has been given for operating assistance.
The ministry of tourism, arts, culture and sports said “the supplement is part of $21 million relief from StrongerBC to support the resilience of the arts and culture sector.”
The funding includes $15.7 million to help keep the lights on and $5 million to adapt to the pandemic challenges via Pivot program.
The B.C. government is also providing funds, including $500,000 to help professional artists adapt to pandemic challenges, nearly $2 million to 50 arts and culture for improving existing art spaces and buying equipment, and $123,000 to BC Museum Association for micro grants to small- and medium-sized museums for meeting immediate needs.
Meanwhile, the B.C. government-led investments in BC Arts Council have set the budget to a record high of $35.6 million.
The BC Arts Council distributed over $25.6 million for 1,365 grants throughout B.C. from April to December 2020.
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