Death by Chocolate

Two main themes dominated our discussion at the Arts Council's board meeting today: the job list for the Chocolate Reception we're having after the White Lights Christmas Studio Tour on Saturday, and the multiple wounds inflicted on us by the funding cuts via BCAC and Direct Access. We've been decapitated (or, as Jaci put it "the other way around, because 92% of us is gone) by the two major sources of operating funding. Technically, we have no secure operating funds. Of course, revenue generated from fundraisers like White Lights is ours to use as we see fit, and SAGA just received its news about CSA granting some operating funds, but overall there is no light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to stable funding just to stay staffed and pay the rent. Why, then, are we all just putting one foot in front of the other, celebrating, making music, having parties... I just shake my head and laugh, because it's who we are. I love what I do, it's fun. We'd all find a way to do it anyway. I fear the only major repercussion of the funding cuts is that we can't involve the broader community - children, seniors, low-income families - we can't provide the programs to expand the arts. That is a wound that affects everyone, one that can bleed a province to death.