More Than 1,000 BC Artists Join Provincial Registry

More than one thousand artists signed up for a new BC Artist Registry within a week of its launch last Wednesday by the Alliance for Arts + Culture. 

Adult artists in all disciplines who reside in British Columbia were invited to be counted in the online BC Artist Registry, whether their arts practice is their full-time or part-time career, or an avocational pursuit.

“The BC Artist Registry is based on examples in Saskatchewan and other regions,” according to Alliance executive director Rob Gloor, “and will help to advance the province’s cultural sector through quality research and advocacy.

"The long term goal is to build on basic informational tools, such as the census, to better understand the situation of artists in British Columbia,” continued Gloor. ”For example, according to Statistics Canada, there are 25,000 artists in BC, but that number only includes those whose primary source of income is their art. If their primary income is something else, such as teaching, the census does not count them as artists. Through the BC Artist Registry, we will have a platform to learn more about all artists in our province, regardless of how much their art contributes to their income.”

Through collaboration with cultural associations, funders, arts service providers, and municipalities to promote participation through their networks, the Alliance and its partners can ensure that artists from all artistic disciplines and all regions across the province have the opportunity to be counted. Then, when a partner organization wishes to conduct a survey or consult with artists, the Alliance will have the mechanism to invite a ready group of participants through the BC Artist Registry.

The Registry will be an important tool for reaching artists directly, inviting their participation in surveys and other types of consultation. 

The BC Artist Registry uses a simple online form recording an artist's name, contact information, and field(s) of artistic discipline. Joining the Registry is free, and the personal information remains private and confidential. From time to time, artists on the Registry will be invited to participate in more detailed surveys or other consultations. The Registry will be open for ongoing registration with no deadline, to ensure a growing resource for meaningful statistics and research in our province’s cultural sector.

Be Counted!

Artists from all disciplines are invited to add their names and be counted. It's simple: visit allianceforarts.com/bc-artist-registry and complete the short online form. Participation in the registry is free and your personal information is confidential.

Get the word out! 

Invite those in your network to participate and be counted by sharing the link allianceforarts.com/bc-artist-registry and spread the word on social media using the hashtag #BCartistregistry.