Shared Goals
The BC Coalition of Arts, Culture, and Heritage is working together to advocate for the following goals:
Transformational Change for BC's Arts, Culture, and Heritage Sector.
This is a moment of change that includes a vision for inclusive and clean growth, sustainable foundations, and actions to address the health and climate emergencies that impact the heart and soul of the economic stability of our province.
Photo: Decent Work in BC's Museums, Heritage Sites, and Culture Centres session at the 2022 BC Museums Association Conference
A Sustainable, Inclusive, and Vibrant Future.
In the immediate term, our sector needs sustainable funding, but it also needs a new, visionary community-driven action plan to ensure that the future of the arts, culture, and heritage sector is built on the foundational principles of inclusive, green, and equitable growth.
Photo: Graphic Recording from the BCMA 2023 Gathering in Haida Gwaii, by Kara Sievewright. Session: Discussion in circle: T’alang ‘waadluxan – You’re Messing With Our Lives
Many Voices, Speaking With a Shared Message
British Columbia's arts, culture, and heritage sector is a massive employer, economic driver, and trust source for community education but rarely receives the attention of the government. The BC Coalition of Arts, Culture, and Heritage hopes to change this and advocate for a more sustainable future for our sector.
Photo: Julia Chirka, Artist at her studio in 221A’s 1654 Franklin Street Studios. Photo by Sungpil Yoon. Courtesy of 221A.
Current Requests for Provincial Support
In November and December 2023, the BC Coalition of Arts, Culture, and Heritage sent the following letter to the Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Sport, the Premier, and several other key officials in the Government of BC. Below are the Coalition's three strategic requests - the full letter can be downloaded here.
Increase annual BC Arts Council budget to $55 million.
For a nearly 20-year period between the early 2000s and the late 2010s, BC’s provincial government invested less in culture than any other province in the country. Actions have been taken by the province in recent years and through the pandemic to remedy this chronic underinvestment, however, the compounding impact of COVID-19, high inflation, and a general affordability crisis threaten to erase any gains we’ve made in the past five years. We call upon the Government of BC to fulfill its 2017 election promise to double the BC Arts Council's budget and raise this amount to $55 million to account for inflation. Increasing the annual BC Arts Council budget to $55 million will provide a valuable long-term investment in BC's arts, culture, and heritage community.
Photo: Decolonized money exhibit from the Bill Reid Gallery
Maintain COVID-era investments in arts, culture, and heritage.
On the ground in communities, the sector continues to rely on pandemic-focused support to sustain its existence – special one-time BC Arts Council funding delivered in 2023 prevented catastrophic closures in our sector. We understand that pandemic-level investments are not intended as a sustainable, long-term plan, but these funds have been a lifeline for a sector that has been in crisis long before the pandemic. We call upon the Government of BC to maintain the current financial, pandemic-recovery funding ($34.5 million annually) to be distributed by the BC Arts Council and its partner agencies, in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 fiscal years. In the immediate term, maintaining COVID-era investments helps to stabilize the sector and ensure the survival of our cultural organizations and events until longer-term plans can be put in place.
Photo: Two Rivers Gallery
Work with the sector to develop a provincial arts, culture, and heritage action plan.
No matter how hard individual artists or cultural organizations work, the system in BC that has been built over decades does not work - it inevitably leads to burnout and the slow impoverishment of our province’s cultural legacy. We call upon the Government of BC to work with our sector to initiate an inclusive and resourced action plan development process that will create a new vision for the sector, along with sustained funding models supported by economic and infrastructure development planning. An action plan for our sector will leverage the impact, creativity, and innovation of BC's arts, culture, and heritage sector to build a sustainable, healthy, and resilient future to support all British Columbians.
Photo: 2023 BC Museums Association Gathering in Haida Gwaii
Help Us Share This Message
If you support the above three requests and want to help magnify this message, contact us and the BC Coalition of Arts, Culture, and Heritage will add your name or your organization's name to the list below.
Coalition Members
With an ever-growing list of individuals and arts service organizations, representing thousands of arts, culture, and heritage workers and volunteers, the BC Coalition of Arts, Culture, and Heritage is bringing together many voices to speak with a shared message. If your organization would like to join this list, please contact us.
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