Stretched St. John's arts funding means less money for projects, councillor says

Some artists are noticing a decrease in their funding this year from the City of St. John's, but councillor Sandy Hickman says it's not because of lower funding, but higher demand.

Hickman, who's the chair of the city's arts advisory council, said there's $203,000 allocated for direct artist funding, which is the same amount offered last year.

But the difference this year, he said, is an increase in applications, from 112 to 152 — meaning the same amount of money needed to be dispersed amongst more projects.

"Obviously the $203,000 didn't go quite as far per individual as it would've last year," he said.

"Some projects [this year] may have gotten a little less than last year, and some may have gotten near the same. And we just did our very best with what we had."

Hickman said he's pushing for more funding to be made available for the local arts community.

"I will be requesting more money next year, in next year's budget, and that would certainly go anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000, over and above the $203,000," he said.

Hickman said he'll bring that proposal as part of the 2016 budget process, which will start in the fall.

30 per cent decrease

Ruth Lawrence, the artistic director for the White Rooster Theatre in St. John's, said it appears her company has suffered a 30 per cent cut from last year's funding.

"We have gotten used to a certain level of funding, and 30 per cent — it feels like it's a big cut, even though it's a small amount of money," she said.

"It's certainly a vital part of our overall budget. If it was to go entirely or to get cut, it really puts us in a bad position ... It certainly means that maybe there's one less artist that has to get paid."

Lawrence said to hear of Hickman's plans to try to increase arts funding in the city is certainly a step in the right direction, but there's still more work that needs to be done.

She said she did some research a few years ago about arts funding across the country.

"The city did not score very highly in terms of how it compares to other cities in Canada," she said.

"We need the city to step up to the plate in terms of the kinds of contributions it makes and actually have a look at the reality of where other cities are funding at, and aim towards that."