The City of Victoria has dipped into its contingency funds to provide $55,000 in one-time funding that may save one arts group and give new life to another.
Council voted 5-2 to approve a $20,000 grant for the Victoria Multicultural Society to put toward operations at the Victoria Event Centre, and $35,000 for the Fernwood Community Association.
Councillors Marg Gardiner and Stephen Hammond opposed the awards.
Hammond said he was uncomfortable being seen to support a group — the Fernwood Community Association — that recently cancelled a play — Theatre Inconnu’s residential-school-set play Sisters — due to complaints over its content, and the fact the award comes so close to budget finalization.
Gardiner said she does not like the one-off style of grant that seems to pick winners and losers in the city based on who has access to councillors willing to make the funding request.
Citing rising operating costs and trouble recovering from the pandemic, the Victoria Multicultural Society wrote to council requesting urgent financial support, saying the Victoria Event Centre is in “a precarious state that is threatening our ability to remain open.” “We are deeply concerned that the VEC’s capacity as a gathering space for the Victoria arts community is at risk,” the society said.
The funding is earmarked for staff wages and rent.
The $35,000 grant for the Neighbourhood Arts Society and Collective, meanwhile, is expected to establish a more publicly accessible community asset to serve the entire city.
Currently, the city-owned building at 1923 Fernwood Rd. includes a gallery, theatre and office space, but there are plans to use the office space as low-cost community drop-in space for arts and culture.
Coun. Matt Dell, who co-sponsored the motion, said he was pitching the grant as a chance to invest seed funding in a new community centre.
He said a relatively tiny investment could have a huge impact.
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