Community in Focus: Arts and Culture

Arts Champions Summit 2021: Reframing the Arts

The Capital Regional District (CRD) hosts a biennial Arts Champions Summit to celebrate the accomplishments of the regional arts community and discuss issues of relevance. The objectives of the 2021 Summit were to develop a deeper community understanding of equity in the region’s arts and to solicit input from marginalized communities on the development of an equity lens for granting and operations.

The free online event drew 110 attendees from across the region and beyond. Key themes that emerged were:

  • Sharing power and developing trust-based partnerships
  • Space as a limiting factor
  • Accountability and urgency
  • Removing systemic barriers from all funding
  • Value and desire for CRD arts funding

These themes informed the implementation of the CRD’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion framework, which will guide the application of the equity lens to project-based and operating grants, budgeting, and outreach, as well as the application and adjudication processes.

Source: Capital Regional District

 

Creativity and the Arts during COVID-19

During the pandemic, B.C. residents valued the positive impact of creative activities on their mental health, particularly residents who identified as female, living with a disability, or living below the median income level, according to a study commissioned by BC Alliance for Arts + Culture. The study also found that arts organizations across B.C. worked through the pandemic with the specific aim of supporting their community’s well-being by offering public programs such as affordable arts-based child care, online singing groups, and outdoor gatherings and that these programs were considered a lifeline to various communities. The study suggested shifting the focus of cultural policies and practices in B.C. to provide wider access to arts-based initiatives that support community well-being.

Source: BC Alliance for Arts + Culture