Editor:
If not for the generosity of the taxpayers of the District of Sechelt, under the Community Investment Program Policy, the Sunshine Coast Arts Council (SCAC) would lack the stable funding required to operate the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre and its programs.
The SCAC receives a standing grant of $8,000 a year from the district. The district owns the property that the Arts Centre occupies and further assists the functioning of the SCAC by leasing this community asset to them for $1 a year. In return, the Arts Council “shall only use and expend the Grant for providing programs, projects, services and/or events that seek to preserve, celebrate and strengthen the local arts, culture and recreational opportunities for residents of Sechelt.”
The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing Arts, the longest running festival on the Coast, is a joyous enrichment program for youth. The Festival helped purchase a grand piano, which now resides in the music room at the Arts Centre. The Festival and the Arts Council agreed the piano would be available to the Festival in the Arts Centre during their yearly, three-week run every April. The SCAC, historically and without question, cleared the gallery for the Festival at no charge.
It seems, under the direction of the current board, this agreement is over. The 45-year-old Festival is now limited to Mondays and Tuesdays. The Young People’s Own Show, a yearly gallery event, is the obvious choice to complement the Festival. According to chair Nell Burns, the SCAC gallery committee didn’t know the dates of the Performing Arts Festival and it likely wouldn’t have mattered if they had known. Really? The SCAC is supported by taxpayers and is mandated to preserving, celebrating and strengthening the local arts and culture landscape. This need not be.
Lynn Blair, Sechelt
