This year’s Sechelt Arts Festival will be going ahead without one of the hoped-for events, because organizers couldn’t get the grant money they applied for.
Producer Nancy Cottingham Powell told the District of Sechelt’s finance, culture and economic development committee July 13 that losing out on grants means they’ll have to drop Gillian the Jellyfish from the program.
“We did not receive the money [from the BC Arts Council] for the arts-based community programming grant that we had submitted for the Gillian the Jellyfish project,” she said.
Cottingham Powell added that after meeting with some of the artists behind the project they decided “there’s no way to do the project justice without having significant funds behind it; we’d originally gone after three different grants for it.”
The Vancouver Foundation and Canada Council also turned down the festival.
Gillian the Jellyfish was described in festival literature as “a highly artistic and unique project that uses a collaborative, community-engaged, mentoring process between emerging and professional artists to create a story, music, and visuals that will be presented as a live show and exhibition, then tied together into a book and CD.”
Cottingham Powell said it would have taken as much as $90,000 to do it well, and they’d asked the three granting agencies for $30,000 each.
She also told councillors that some corporate sponsors haven’t come through, but she’s confident it won’t impact the festival.
“I’ve got a plan in place to make budget,” she said. One of the new revenue possibilities this year is selling ads in the program for the premier events: the dance performance Flicker by the Dancers of Damelahamid, a concert featuring Kinnie Starr, and the Waterworks curated art exhibition.
The festival is set for Oct. 13 to 23 and the theme is The Art of Water.
Local artist Gordon Halloran has been named guest curator. His work, Regeneration, debuted at last year’s festival. It was officially unveiled July 16 as a permanent installation in Spirit Square.
