Correspondence from Ian Case Re: View Royal CRD Arts Service Funding
Email from a resident advocating for the retention of Tier 1 arts funding.
From: Giggling Iguana Prods Sent: November 12, 2025 10:20 AM To: Sid Tobias mayortobias@viewroyal.ca Cc: John Rogers JRogers@viewroyal.ca; Ron Mattson RMattson@viewroyal.ca; Alison MacKenzie amackenzie@viewroyal.ca; Mayor And Council Email mayorandcouncil@viewroyal.ca; Gery Lemon GLemon@viewroyal.ca; Damian Kowalewich DKowalewich@viewroyal.ca; Don Brown dbrown@viewroyal.ca Subject: Re: View Royal CRD Arts Service Funding - please vote to keep it at Level 1! Importance: High
Hello Mr. Mayor,
I’ve copied the rest of Council on this reply because I think it’s important that there is a mutual understanding of the proposed Regional Arts Service.
To start, looking at other municipal and regional funding models across the country, our region does not “punch above its weight” in terms of funding amount. We are lower in our per capita funding and this is in a region where there are more per capita artists than anywhere else in Canada.
The new service is a Performing Arts Facilities Service - it will fund infrastructure which may eventually include an eventual Westshore Arts Centre/Hub. I am very much in favour of this initiative. I attended CRD meeting that discussed the creation of this new service and have followed it closely.
However.
This does not replace the existing Arts Service which provides grants to artists and arts organizations to create art in our region. This is the funding that helps to pay individual artists working in the region, exactly those same folks who have difficulty choosing between heat and food. Again, if we reduce funding to artists and arts organizations to help them create art, what will go into the buildings the new Performing Arts Facilities Service pays for. Most likely it will be shows like the $344 per ticket Tina Turner experiences that Councillor Brown referred to in one of his replies to me.
Again, the two services serve separate functions. They have different participating jurisdictions. The proposed Performing Arts Facilities Service supports the operation and maintenance regional theatres. The Arts & Culture Support Service supports local arts groups to produce and present arts activities.
The proposed Performing Arts Facilities Service does not add participants to the Arts & Culture Support Service or change its funding formula in any way. If View Royal reduces its funding of the Arts & Culture Support Service, it will be reducing funding that goes directly to artists and arts organizations that employ them.
Reviewing the report provided by staff in support of this motion, I’d point out three aspects to consider:
- This report includes detailed financial implications but almost no service implications. Cutting back on arts granting will significantly reduce the availability of arts experiences for View Royal residents.
- The rationale that View Royal needs to cut the Arts and Culture Support Service Funding because it may pay for a new Performing Arts Facilities Service is premature. The new proposed service has not been finalized; it still must go through elector approval and adoption by the CRD Board. This process will continue through 2026 and we don’t know the final outcome.
- Another part of the rationale is that View Royal taxation is better spent on the increased costs of the West Shore Parks and Recreation centre. The View Royal tax contribution to this centre in 2024 was $768,644. The CRD arts costs in 2025 for View Royal were $125,273 and this report proposes a 70% cut to that contribution. A more balanced approach to arts and recreation would be to scale up funding for arts, not to cut it back. I don’t want to set arts and culture up against parks and recreation. The two should be considered to be hand in hand in supporting and enriching the lives of our region.
A final key point I want to reiterate is that the proposed Performing Arts Facilities Service has not been adopted and still has several processes to go through before it becomes final (elector approval, review by Inspector of Municipalities, and adoption by the CRD Board). It is still in process and my understanding is that the earliest it would come into activity would be 2027.
I hope you will take these points into consideration when you deliberate on this motion. I urge you to vote against the motion and to retain Tier 1 funding for the the Arts and Culture Support Service.
Sincerely,
Ian Case
On Nov 12, 2025, at 7:36 AM, Sid Tobias mayortobias@viewroyal.ca wrote:
Ian
Thank you for the email. As you are aware View Royal has punched above its weight to help funding the Arts within the Region. The CRD Board has now approved a Regional Arts Service. Now all municipalities will pay in lessening the burden to View Royal.
At question is to continue funding our present requisition through the service as well as paying our current amount. I believe that the current tiered system will likely be absorbed by the service eventually.
In short this is not about not funding the arts. It is about revisiting our current commitment on top of the new service.
I also will disagree with you on the impact to taxpayers as we have families in our Town choosing between heat and food and every bit we can do to ease the issue of affordability is the responsibility of Council as much as providing essential services.
I am a strong supporter of the arts and now that we have all other municipalities sharing the load I am also in support of rationalization of our funding.
Sid
Sid Tobias MSM, CD, MA Mayor
Town of View Royal | 45 View Royal Avenue | Victoria, BC V9B 1A6 Main: 250.479.6800 viewroyal.ca | Facebook | Bluesky
From: Giggling Iguana Prods Sent: Sunday, November 9, 2025 6:04:30 PM To: Sid Tobias mayortobias@viewroyal.ca Subject: View Royal CRD Arts Service Funding - please vote to keep it at Level 1!
Dear Mayor Tobias,
My name is Ian Case. I have been a resident of View Royal for over 20 years and an active artist, arts administrator and advocate for over 35 years in the Region. I supported and spoke to View Royal Council when the motion to move to Level 1 CRD Arts funding was put forward. View Royal residents are active participants in regional arts and cultural as artists, patrons, sponsors, donors and supporters. Council recognized this at the time and agreed to move to Level 1 regional funding.
I must express my frustration that this motion has been put forward to Council yet again. I spoke to Council in September 2024 against a similar motion. If it were not for poor health, I would be standing in front of you on November 12. The fact is that I’ve spent altogether too much time speaking to Councils in CRD municipalities asking them to protect arts funding that makes our community a better place to live in. This could have been time spent creating art and making our community more vibrant, healthier and engaged – all benefits from an active arts community.
As a View Royal resident and a regional artist, I ask you to reject the motion put forward by staff. CRD regional arts funding contributes to the strength, health and wellbeing of the region. CRD Arts supports over one hundred arts organizations throughout the region. That funding supports thousands of individual artists who contribute to the vitality of the region and to their municipalities through taxes.
I also urge Council to look realistically at the numbers. A cut to the level of CRD Arts funding is not going to balance your books. Sadly, arts funding regionally is what I refer to as “mist in the bucket – not even a drop in the bucket”. You will not rescue any of your other budget lines by making this budget adjustment, but you will impact the lives and livelihoods of many artists in View Royal and the rest of the CRD. You will be sending these folks the very worst message – that their contributions to our community are not of value. I don’t believe that is a message you wish to send, but it is what will be received if you vote in favour of this motion.
I urge you to reject this motion and to continue to support regional arts funding through the CRD at Level 1. I am happy to speak further about this should you wish to reach out.
Many thanks,
Ian Case 31 Iguanas View Royal Resident and Artist