Let's keep those letters coming!

A big shout out to the many artists and arts organizations who have sent letters to Minister Krueger in the past few days. To all those organizations who haven't participated yet... now is the time to act. We all know how much we depend on the BC Arts Council, and how damaging the 40% cut will be to our organizations and artistic practice.

There is action happening on several fronts right now. Concurrent to this, the heads of the seven largest institutions in the city have demonstrated leadership by composing a strongly worded letter to the Premier that will be co-signed by several dozen high-profile members of the business community and hand-delivered to his office by the end of the week. For it to be most effective, the Minister's office needs to be flooded with letters demanding a reversal of the cuts. It is terrific that the boards of these institutions are so involved. We encourage everyone to follow their lead and get your boards engaged with the issue. Advocacy is most effective when it comes from outside our community. We have also enjoined several high level philanthropists with ties to the Premier to make their dissatisfaction known. We hope this will have an effect.

A few members of the community have set up a Facebook group for this initiative. Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/wall.php?id=103103702403 We've been asked whether we will be organizing a public event. At this time, we are not planning a rally, but we would happily help promote such an event if it came out of the community. If you are organizing an event, drop an email with details to pboychuk@allianceforarts.com and we will help get the word out. There is a precious window of time to get these cuts reversed.

Act now!