Local organizations have been left worried and confused by the recent changes to the rules governing the release of provincial grant money. Figures eleased by the Ministry of Housing and Social Development, the province has reduced by $36 million the amount of gambling money made available to local organizations from 2008-09. Combine that with the March 8 announcement that provincial funds in 2010-2011 will not be awarded to adult arts and culture, adult sports, or environmental projects, and many well established organizations in the Boundary are reeling.
The Grand Forks Art Gallery Society has already had their grant of $30,000 cut to zero and is not expecting anything more. “Even last year we were hit,” Grand Forks Art Gallery society President Judith Lloyd said. “ We usually get $30 thousand a year from the gaming fund and have for the last five or six years. So because of our increased involvement and expenses and staffing and all that stuff, we put in an application for $60 thousand. So we based our whole budget on $60 thousand. Then we were informed that there wouldn’t be any increases, so we rewrote our budget again for $30 thousand. Then we were informed that there wasn’t going to be anything, so we rewrote our budget again.” The number, variety and quality of the shows that the society will host will be greatly reduced, Lloyd said. “The board is a hard working board,” she added, “so that is how I know we will survive this, but it is not going to be easy.”
The Christina Lake Stewardship Society is hopeful that the last year of the three-year commitment the government made to them will be honoured, but they will not know for sure for another month. “After that,” Stewardship Coordinator Brenda Lacroix said, “There is no funding for environmental groups. We get funding from gaming for core expenses and that helps leverage other projects out in the field.”
The money that local organizations receive is always just a fraction of the total value of the work done by the volunteers who are at the heart of every group and society. Lacroix added, “The big thing with the gaming cuts and the government saying, ‘Okay, we want to have a green legacy; we want to expand volunteerism,’ well, this is going to really slash on volunteer capacity if we don’t have a leadership role.”
The money is used for the basic expenses of the society and to allow government experts to come in to supervise and manage the many environmental programs the society undertakes. Most of the work, Lacroix said, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars if it were paid for, is done by the many society volunteers out in the field. However without the government backed specialists paid for through grants, the programs cannot be developed and the volunteers not utilized.
“Basically,” Lacroix said, “if they can’t send the field people out the work won’t be done.”
The Boundary Museum Society likewise relies on volunteer labour as well as paid student labour for which grants are sought. Society president Laura Savinkoff said, “Now we are even more in jeopardy; federally as well as provincially things have been cut. We didn’t even bother with the arts council because it is not going to go to little museums. It affects everybody across the board, but you don’t know how it is going to affect you.”
By changing both the rules for application and the ministries responsible for different types of organizations, the government has made accountability of the ministries and the predictability of the process difficult. “It’s still all very murky,” Art Gallery Administrative Assistant Wendy Butterfield said, “because they say they are going to fund museums and some people call art galleries museums, so perhaps they have just misnomered things. I cannot believe they have pulled funding from all the art galleries just like that. I don’t know what they are doing this year.”
“When we talk to people, we don’t really get a straight answer either,” Lacroix said.
All agreed that the work of the volunteers in all the local organizations is not appreciated.
Lloyd said, “The reason they don’t understand the extent of the volunteerism is that they don’t understand small communities.”
Lacroix had similar thoughts. “I don’t think people realize how much volunteers do in their community, and Christina Lake is a really proactive community.”