Correspondence from I. Alexander & M. Dalzell re: CRD Arts Funding

Re. October 1, 2024 Council Agenda Item 7(a): Business Arising: Amend View Royal Arts Funding

Your Worship and Councillors:

As long-time residents of View Royal, we wish to express our strong desire to see our Town continue, and as possible increase, its support for the arts in the Capital Regional District, and to convey our dismay at any initiative that would weaken or diminish that support.

The creative and performing arts are an essential lifeblood of any thriving community. The recently released 2024 edition of the Victoria Foundation’s Vital Signs report continues to give Victoria a “B” rating in the Arts and Culture field, which ranks among the top indicators of community health according to survey respondents. The report observes: “Arts and culture make a community a vibrant and enriching place to live. An active and diverse mix of cultural offerings increases our sense of satisfaction with our environment and community pride.”

As a small municipality, we in View Royal rely on the cultural institutions, creative and performing artists, and performance facilities based in other municipalities within the CRD, as well as our own. In 2023, the CRD Arts and Culture Support Service disbursed $2.6 million to 93 local non-profit arts organizations and artist-led partnerships. These grant recipients employed 5,297 arts workers, and put on 9,460 events and performances, which were attended by 929,000 participants and audience members. Many of those artists and audiences live in View Royal.

All this good work costs each taxpaying household in our Town just $24 per year. We would happily contribute more than this towards this cause.

For all these reasons, we strongly urge that View Royal commit to continuing its current Level 1 contribution to the CRD Arts and Culture Support Service, and redouble its efforts to encourage other West Shore municipalities to join us.

We would also point out that continued support for the Arts and Culture Service is by no means at odds with long-term aspirations for a dedicated performing arts facility on the West Shore. In fact, the two are synergistic. An arts centre is only worthy of the name to the extent that the community supports the creative and performing artists who fill it with life.

In recent years, there has been much discussion about the potential creation of a fully regional CRD Performing Arts Facilities Service, which might take over the currently sub-regional arrangements for providing public funding to help support the Royal Theatre and MacPherson Playhouse, and which would also be the natural foundation for the establishment and operation of additional facilities, such as a West Shore performing arts centre.

We would encourage View Royal to join with others who have supported such an initiative in the past, and work towards bringing it to fruition.

To close on a personal note: when we moved to View Royal from Toronto seventeen years ago, our friends there expressed concern that we would miss the range and quality of arts offerings that we had previously enjoyed. It was with considerable pride and satisfaction that we were soon able to report that there were more cultural events happening in Greater Victoria than anyone could possibly take advantage of!

Please do not take any steps which would undermine the rich variety of our community’s artistic life, and please do everything in your power to provide additional support for it.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Alexander & Marilyn Dalzell