Sudden loss of grant funds shocks local arts groups
‘It’s really disappointing that the rug was just kind of pulled out from under us’
Arts groups in Calgary were stunned Thursday by the provincial government’s decision to put a grant program that was vital to their funding on hold.
The Community Initiatives Program provides funding to “new community-based programs, initiatives, events and publications” up to a maximum of $75,000.
More than 130 Calgary-based organizations received funding from the grant program in the 2018-19 fiscal year. The recipient list includes everything from arts groups and the Epilepsy Association of Calgary to the Calgary Lawn Bowling Club and the Calgary Minor Soccer Association.
One of those groups was Sled Island, and the annual music and arts festival’s staff spoke with a government program officer as recently as May 11 about their application and submitted an application on Thursday.
They had no indication that the grant program was about to be delayed until they received an email back instructing them to click on a link to see changes to the program.
Those changes? That applications for the grant that were received going back to January were cancelled, and future applications will no longer be considered until further notice.
“I can understand that at this certain time there are services that are being deemed more essential than arts and culture. I understand that,” said Maud Salvi, executive director of Sled Island. “It’s really the manner that it was done, which it seems like it was done completely on the down-low. Nobody knew.”
While Sled Island’s June festival has been cancelled due to the pandemic, there is ongoing programming that is occurring and plans underway for next year’s event.
The grant money Sled Island was requesting added up to around 10 per cent of the festival’s budget. That percentage is significantly higher for the Beltline Urban Mural Project (BUMP) — a fourthyear project which aims to showcase art and promote tourism in the vibrant area of Calgary’s core.
The BUMP festival had applied for a grant in January and was expecting to hear back from the provincial government about its application by July. The festival is scheduled for late August and had been working to adapt its plans so it could move forward with social distancing and COVID -19 prevention protocols in place.
Like Sled Island, BUMP was caught off-guard by the decision to pause the CIP grant program.
“What’s disappointing is there wasn’t even a conversation with us about whether we were looking to cancel this year,” said Peter Oliver, the president of the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association.
“I’m sure some projects that were maybe going to be funded might have been looking at cancellation, but we certainly weren’t. We were in a position to adapt to the public gathering restrictions and the core of our project, which is the murals, is still able to go forward. It’s really disappointing that the rug was just kind of pulled out from under us.”
In a statement, Alberta Minister of Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women Leela Aheer said the government’s decision was based on where the resources could best be used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since our government began its COVID -19 response we have spent countless hours speaking with numerous charities and non-profits,” Aheer said in a statement. “They overwhelmingly told us that in order to survive the pandemic and continue to provide essential frontline services, more operating funding was required. After review of many Community Initiatives Program (CIP) project-based grants, we saw that many of them were not able to move forward during COVID-19 due to number of delivery and public health factors.
“As a result, we have temporarily reallocated money from the CIP Project-based grant to the CIP Operating grant to help struggling small- and medium-sized frontline charities and non-profits maintain their core operations and continue to provide important services to the most vulnerable during the COVID -19 pandemic; this was based upon needs not cost savings.
“(Two million dollars) in funding was reallocated to CIP operating for a total of $8 million that is now available to help these organizations. All further intakes for other CIP grant streams will be paused until further notice so we can prioritize funding to support those front-line organizations experiencing increased costs and demand for services due to COVID -19.”
I can understand that at this certain time there are services that are being deemed more essential than arts and culture. ... It’s really the manner that it was done.