After reading Sam Van Schie’s March 8 article (“Arts groups look for funding bump”), I thought some clarification was needed.
The fund surplus brought forward from 2012 has some caveats. For example, the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance account has funds that are managed by the Nelson and District Arts Council on behalf of the CKCA and are paid out as artist grants. The funds received through gaming grants have restrictions on how they can be used.
Yes, the arts council is hoping to contract out some of the business tasks to an executive director. In collaboration with other arts groups, the Nelson and District Arts Council is wanting to shift the focus of their annual ArtWalk to a more inclusive summer arts festival that would include ArtWalk.
The current model of ArtWalk has focused on the visual arts. The arts council is really not rolling in cash, but has a wealth of new ideas and a vision of how we want to evolve beyond the 25th anniversary of ArtWalk and the 43rd birthday of the arts council. Collaboration and inclusion are the main features of that vision.
Ron Robinson
President, Nelson and
District Arts Council