OSOYOOS TIMES-September 9, 2009

By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times

Four days after it received word it would not be getting $90,000 in community gaming grants for its 2010 and 2011 seasons, the Osoyoos Desert Centre learned the money would be coming after all.
In a surprising announcement on Sept. 2, the B.C. Housing and Social Development Ministry said the government is “fully funding organizations that received three-year community gaming grant commitments.”
Luckily, the Osoyoos Desert Society, which operates the desert centre, had entered into a three-year agreement with the province for a guaranteed $45,000 in grants each year for 2009, 2010 and 2011.
The money is used for educational and restoration programs at the centre.
Although society President Roger Horton said no official notice has come from the province, ministry spokesman Seumas Gordon confirmed the centre would see the cash.
“If they have a multi-year agreement, it will be honoured,” he said.
Horton said he was “relieved” to hear the news and added that the centre will not be cutting hours or tours for the rest of the 2009 season.
The society had looked into cutting hours, discontinuing guided tours, relying more on volunteers and seeking out other fundraising opportunities at an Aug. 31 board meeting after it was initially told through a letter from the ministry on Aug. 27 that the money would be coming.
Horton said, however, that the society has learned from the events of the past week-and-a-half that it cannot rely on provincial money past 2011 and will continue to look for ways to streamline the desert centre’s operations and find other sources of money.
The province’s change of heart on community gaming grant funding affects programs and services provided by 540 community, arts and environmental groups which received the same three-year deal as the desert centre.
The ministry had said on Aug. 28 that it could not find millions of dollars needed to fulfill such commitments.
But Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman reviewed letters from groups being affected by the cuts and changed his mind, Gordon said.
The money that will be used to honour the three-year commitments will come from provincial budget contingency funds, he added.
Osoyoos Arts Council treasurer Tony Brummet said his organization does not have a three-year agreement with the province and there’s uncertainty about whether funding from the government will come for 2010.
He said the council received $4,500 from the BC Arts Council in March to boost the council’s year-end standing.
That money, Brummet added, would be deducted from any funding the council receives for 2010.
The council will be applying at the end of this month for its 2010 funding from the province, he said.
Last year the council received $6,900 and it usually applies for anywhere between $7,000 and $9,000.
Gayle Cornish, curator of the Osoyoos Museum, said the province’s cutting of funding to organizations that do not have a three-year agreement is “savaging the cultural sector.”
“They care about business but they don’t give a hoot about quality of life,” she said, adding that the museum has already been affected this year from provincial belt-tightening.
Cornish said she applied for a $25,000 Direct Access Gaming grant from the B.C. Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch in May and learned last month that the request had been denied.
No reason was given, she said, and not having that cash will mean the museum won’t be able to hire a part-time staff member.
Cornish also said that a number of other galleries and museums that don’t have a three-year agreement with the province for grants were also denied such funding.
The government’s Sept. 2 budget figures indicate that provincial money for arts and culture will decrease by more than $9.6 million from the $11.9 million pledged for that sector in the February budget.
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