Hard times coming for not-for-profit organizations

Kimberley Daily Bulletin

September 2, 2009

Yesterday brought confirmation of what many in the not-for-profit sector of the economy have been fearing for weeks when BC’s budget announcement included the news that the share of revenues from casinos and lotteries that have traditionally been provided to the not-for-profit organizations by the BC Gaming Commission will now be cut off.  This creates a double whammy for arts organizations as the provincial government has already announced massive cuts to the arts in BC.  This is not the appropriate place to enter into a discussion of the economic philosophy, or lack of it, displayed by our provincial government.  Suffice it to say that a significant economic generator in BC, the arts sector, has now been badly crippled.  Locally, lottery funds from the BC Gaming Commission have provided the bulk of the funds used to pay wages for many of the staff in the arts sector and it is likely that arts councils and similar organizations will find it difficult, if not impossible, to find funds elsewhere with which to pay those wages.  Volunteers are undoubtedly going to have to step up to the plate to provide some of the services usually provided by staff but I anticipate that many programs will have to be cut.

Festivals, concerts, exhibitions, workshops, all could suffer as a result of this loss of lottery and arts council funding.  Can we blame these hard times to come on the global economic recession, the extent of which caught our provincial government napping?  Or is it a matter of provincial government priorities which see the high cost of the Winter Olympics as justification for cut-backs elsewhere?  Whatever the reason, it is a serious blow to the arts and to others in the not-for-profit sector and shows a serious lack of understanding by the provincial government of the importance of this sector to the economy of areas like the East Kootenay.