Update: Canadian Province Backs Off Plan to Cut Arts Grants
September 3, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
British Columbia’s government has reversed a decision to withhold some $18-million in pledged grants to arts organizations to help close the province’s budget gap, The Vancouver Sun reports.
Earlier this week, the government announced plans to cut the distribution of provincial gambling revenues, including some funds tied up in three-year commitments to cultural groups.
The Housing and Social Development Minister, Rich Coleman, said Wednesday that arts groups that had received the three-year pledges had cause to complain about the earlier move. But he said the government will end the practice of making three-year commitments, intended to help recipients do long-term planning, and return to year-by-year grants.
