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Whistler Arts Council, museum denied gaming grants

Two organizations each lost $40,000 in funding, aren't sure how they'll compensate

In a devastating blow, both the Whistler Arts Council and Whistler Museum and Archives learned last week they won't receive any money from the provincial government's annual Direct Access gaming grants.

Now, the two community organizations are scrambling to figure out just how deeply the cut will affect their operations.

Neither group will benefit from Minister of Housing and Social Devleopment Rich Coleman's announcement last Wednesday morning that the provincial government will fully fund organizations that received three-year community gaming grant commitments.

For the arts council, which recently relocated to MY Millennium Place, executive director Doti Niedermayer said she doesn't want to completely slash a single program or staff member, but it will be difficult to balance their finances without making drastic changes.

"The funding traditionally goes towards our summer programs like the Children's Arts Festival, Art Walk and the summer art workshops," said Niedermayer. "They form the foundation of our summer programs. I would hesitate to cancel any one program because it really then has an impact to the local artists and local community, but at some point, someone is going to get impacted."

The arts council has received money through Direct Access for at least 10 years. Last year arts council received $40,000, and Niedermayer said they already have contracts lined up for next year because they assumed the funding would be in place.

"When everyone sent in their applications in January, there was nothing on the gaming website that said they weren't going to be approving funds that they had previously approved," she said.

Over at the Whistler Museum, located in the old library building, things are looking similarly bleak.

Jehanne Burns said last week her board is still discussing exactly how to compensate for the $40,000 loss, and they will have more concrete answers later this week. Regardless, though, the cut will resonate deeply within the non-profit society.

"We only have X number of dollars, so something has to go," said the museum's education manager. "We don't know what that something is, but it is going to be something."

The museum's new president, John Hetherington, added this week no one will be laid off from the museum's staff until the end of December at least.

He said the museum is hoping to find new sources of funding in the next two or three months.

"A lot of these programs are going to be revised and the emphasis is going to be on revenue generating programs because we don't have the funds to put on programs that don't generate revenue," said Hetherington.

"Most of the money we were hoping to get from the gaming grants was directed towards programming. Without that money, we can't afford to do programs that don't generate revenue. We just can't. It is going to be a matter of refocusing our attention and seeing what we can do with very limited resources."

The museum's current exhibition, entitled "Whistler's Journey to 2010," will not be affected by the funding cut, said Burns last week.

The arts council and museum are just two of the hundreds of arts organizations across B.C. who found out two weeks ago that they won't get any money since the province slashed its gaming grants.

However some arts groups were given a reprieve after the province announced on Wednesday, Sept. 2, that non-profit groups that previously received three-year commitments to gaming grants will be fully funded this year.

Funding for non-profit organizations focused on sports, the environment, social services, public safety and parent advisory councils is also potentially on the chopping block as the province faces a massive deficit. Sports groups like the Whistler Mountain Ski Club and the Whistler Gymnastics Club should find out about their grant applications within the next week.

One of the few groups to receive positive news about the gaming grant program is the province's 85 search and rescue (SAR) organizations.

However, at least in Whistler, even that announcement is not a slam-dunk.

Greg Newton from Whistler Search and Rescue said the local SAR will receive $2,100 this year to go towards their insurance coverage. The Ministry of Public Safety recently announced it will provide an additional $180,000 for liability coverage for search and rescue organizations. The money will come from the community gaming grant program administered by the Ministry of Housing and Social Development.

On the other hand, though, Whistler Search and Rescue has no guarantees it will receive any of the other gaming grant money it applied for this year.

Newton added Whistler SAR is hoping to reel in the majority of its operating funds at their annual dinner and auction on Oct. 10. Tickets went on sale last week.

Each year, the Direct Access program redirects money from the province's gaming and lottery revenue to provide up to $100,000 to local non-profits, or up to $250,000 to province-wide non-profits.

In July the Ministry of Housing and Social Development, which administers the grants, began a comprehensive review of the program in light of the provincial deficit.

In past years, almost a dozen Whistler groups have received the Direct Access grants, including the Whistler Community Services Society, Whistler Children's Centre Society and various parent advisory councils.

According to the government's online records, the Whistler-based group B.C. Luge also had their gaming grant application processed this week. However, the group could not be contacted for comment before deadline.