Standing Committee on Finance Releases Budget 2021 Consultation Report
/On Friday, August 21, the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services released its unanimous report on the Budget 2021 Consultation. Volume one of the report, which can be found in full here, details input from the arts, culture and heritage communities (pp. 22) and ends with the following recommendations (pp. 26):
The Committee recommends to the Legislative Assembly that the provincial government:
Arts and Culture
17. Recognize the value of the arts and culture sector during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing recovery funding for the sector.
18. Support long-term recovery, innovation and adaptation in the arts and culture sector by providing increased, flexible, multi-year funding through the B.C. Arts Council, incentivizing individual and corporate donations, offering tax breaks for patrons to reengage in arts and culture activities, and working with other levels of government and community partners to increase investments in arts and culture infrastructure.
Digital Media, Music and Film
19. Provide multi-year funding for Amplify BC.
20. Invest in Creative BC to build the industry and leverage federal funding, including funding for domestic production.
21. Maintain existing film and production services tax credits and renew the book publishing tax credit, and review tax credits periodically for competitiveness with other jurisdictions.
22. Explore measures, such as tax credits or hiring incentives, to address inequities and barriers for underrepresented groups in the arts, culture and digital media industry.
Public Libraries
23. Provide sustained and reliable annual increases to the provincial operating grant for public libraries, including funding for training and professional development, and support the delivery of library services in Indigenous and rural communities.
24. Encourage collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation to promote reconciliation programs in libraries.
[Cut image: Andrew McNee and Lucia Frangione in the Arts Club’s production of Misery. Image: David Cooper.]
