Talking about the arts...

C'mon, people… let's start talking about arts and culture during this election! We’re trying, but not everyone running for office wants to engage in this important discussion. We tried to arrange a live debate between candidates from the different parties regarding their respective arts and cultural platforms - no luck. We then tried a blog-discussion – you can re-visit the discussion to see what transpired. Thanks to all who participated.

You may also participate and continue the discussion and we urge candidates for all the parties to engage. The beauty of the blog debate is that there is a public record and opportunity for on-going conversation. There were questions raised that have not yet been responded to. We hope that these are addressed in the next few days. It is great to learn that an event at the Firehall Theatre is being planned for May 7th at 11am where the NDP will discuss their cultural platform with the arts community. We hope that this inspires the other parties to also engage with the arts community. Many British Columbians care about arts and culture and do not see thousands of jobs and important economic drivers as “non-essential”. We need to attend as many candidate debates as possible and ask questions about art and culture.