Art Walk threw a block party in Function Junction; the Children's Art Festival brought renowned entertainers to perform at Creekside; and mountain bike festival Crankworx will showcase a technology-art display in the village next week.
In the nearly 12 months since the federal government dubbed Whistler one of Canada's 2009 Cultural Capitals, the program's effects have been seen in many corners of the resort municipality.
But while community members and village guests delight in Whistler's strengthened arts, culture and heritage sector, the improvements are somewhat temporary.
The Cultural Capital designation came with $500,000 from the federal government and a requirement for the municipality to kick in $167,000. On top of that, the private sector and other government sources swelled the budget to $820,000.
All that money must be spent in 2009.
Doti Niedermayer, executive director of the Whistler Arts Council, said this week the Cultural Capital funding has provided an undeniable boost to the arts sector but she is concerned about what will happen next year.
"I am a little bit concerned about the funding for next year, but I think that there have been inroads made that will be a legacy that will continue forward and that will ensure those programs remain as big as they were this year," said Niedermayer.
"For example, this year with the help from the Cultural Capital of Canada, we launched open studios in Function Junction with block parties, and those were extremely successful. I think next year, we would maintain that connection to the artists' studios in Function Junction."
Niedermayer explained that of the 12 new and expanded programs funded through Cultural Capital, some are more likely than others to continue beyond 2009.
"I think a lot of them are going to be around. The museum received funding to expand museum tourist visits and that will be maintained for years to come," said Niedermayer.
On the other hand, she said some programs are one-off, like the script-writing project being undertaken by G. D. Maxwell, Leslie Anthony, Grant Stoddard and Lisa Richardson.
"It is great to have the opportunity to create that project," said Niedermayer. "But I don't think we'll have an annual script-writing program."
The Children's Arts Festival, Whistler's longest running festival, is also susceptible to losing some steam next year because this year there was additional money available for professional artists and infrastructure like tenting. But Niedermayer added the festival has been embedded in the community for 26 years, which will help keep it going.
"For the arts council, we were really clear that we wanted to expand our programs rather than create new ones which then are immediately susceptible to never happening again. I think if you put money into expanding programs, you create a stronger foundation," she said.
"Our proposal was to expand our existing programs because we knew that would give us the best chance of moving forward... That was our strategy and I think that was a good strategy. I think we'll maintain a legacy from this year that will really expand on what happened this year."
The arts council received about $250,000 from the Cultural Capital money to fund five programs.
One of the programs that is part of the Cultural Capital funding - although separate from the arts council - is to develop a plan to make the arts sector more robust.
The $60,000 program, called W.A.t.C.H. (Whistler, Arts, Culture and Heritage), will outline branding, marketing and volunteer strategies for Whistler's arts sector from 2011 to 2020.
Niedermayer is already seeing a move in the Whistler's arts community from public to private sponsorship.
"We may move towards sponsorship and away from the government, which is really what we intended all along; that it would be more self-funded moving forward and supported by the business community because it supposedly drives traffic," she said.
For example, she said, sponsors of the Art Walk were really satisfied with the results they saw, and she believes the arts council will maintain that participation next year.
Meanwhile, artists in Whistler are generally enthusiastic about the impact of the Cultural Capital designation on the arts and culture sector.
"I think it is way overdue," said Vincent "Binty" Massey, a long-time resident and potter, adding that up until this point, it has been an uphill grind to make a living as an artist in Whistler.
"If you look at money like that as a seed, if you plant that seed with that money, hopefully something will grow out of it," said Massey.
"Just look at Art Walk. It was huge compared to last year. There were four times as many people that showed up to the opening night of Art Walk."
Chili Thom, a well known painter, also applauded the way the Cultural Capital money has made Whistler's art scene more visible.
"It is absolutely amazing," he said.
"There has always been a strong arts and culture component to Whistler for a long time. It has always gone hand in hand with the snowboard culture, especially with younger artists. But there wasn't an avenue for people to express themselves for the longer time. With the funding coming in and more public art projects, people are getting a chance to express themselves."
And writer Lisa Richardson also said she thinks the boost is fantastic - although she warned it can be hard sometimes to use this type of funding in a "sustainable" way.
"The challenge always with funding is how do you fulfill the goals of the funding body and fulfill your own mandate and move in a direction of a sustainable model," said Richardson.
For example, said Richardson, a lot of the funding the Writers' Festival has received - not just from Cultural Capital but from other programs as well - is on the condition the money does not go towards salaries and other operational needs.
"Primarily the money we have been provided through the Cultural Capital is to develop our marketing campaign... But our festival director (Stella Harvey) is doing this on a volunteer basis, and I can't put a number on how many hours Stella has put into this event," said Richardson.
"The sustainability of the event is how long Stella is willing to do this out of sheer passion."
To date, 44 per cent of the $820,000 Cultural Capital money has been spent.
More information on the 12 programs receiving the funds can be found at www. whistlerculturalcapital.ca.
Cultural Capital funding in a nutshell
An overview of Whistler's 12 Cultural Capital programs by name, group and cost.
• Winter Arts Festival in support of the 2010 Olympics (Whistler Arts Council) - $148,500
• Heritage walks (Whistler Museum) - $39,400
• Artwalk workshops (Whistler Arts Council) - $11,700
• Children's Arts Festival expansion (Whistler Arts Council - $60,000
• Whistler: The Musical scrip writing project (MY Millennium Place) - $82,167
• Artwalk expansion (Whistler Arts Council) - $38,200
• Cultural Journey Youth Paddle (Squamish-Lil'wat Cultural Centre) - $37,000
• Artist Workshops on the Lake expansion (Whistler Arts Council) - $14,667
• Art meets Technology (Crankworx) - $54,936
• Whistler Writers' Festival expansion (Vicious Circle Writers Group) - $36,667
• Whistler Stories Youth film project (Whistler Film Festival) - $44,844
• Whistler Holiday AlpenGlow New Year's Eve celebration (MY Millennium Place) - $52,870
• Community Now film project (Whistler Museum) - $50,667
• Whistler's arts and culture business plan, also known as W.A.t.C.H. - $60,000
• Cultural Capital's administration, signage and website (Resort Municipality of Whistler) - $87,000
