An important piece of the visual arts picture in St. Albert will plead its case for survival before city council on Monday.
The Visual Arts Studio Association of St. Albert (VASA) is set to run out of money by the end of this year, facing funding threats from all sides – including seeing a 45-per-cent cut to its grant funding from the city this year. VASA also has not yet seen half of its expected funding from the province for 2019.
VASA president Carol Watamaniuk said members of VASA will be appearing before councillors at their regularly scheduled meeting to ask for more funding next year and said $16,000 would be a “drop in the bucket” for a city budget.
“It’s a very small amount to a city and to a province (but) it’s enormous to a non-profit organization like VASA,” Watamaniuk said.
“We won’t be getting through the year without running out of money.” She added VASA has already dipped into its reserves, having gotten board approval to do so.
This is the first funding year since changes to St. Albert’s outside agency operating grant took effect, changes that were made in an apparent effort to make the granting process more transparent. The revised program has a $9-per-capita funding pot each year, and the community services advisory committee makes recommendations to council about how to divvy up the money.
While some organizations saw deep cuts of up to 45 per cent, overall the amount available was upped by almost $15,000 to $594,700, and two new organizations received funds: Stop Abuse in Families and Family Resource Centre.
Watamaniuk said VASA had all their ducks in a row budget-wise, and were already living “to the bone,” when they were blindsided by the outside agency grant program.
She added while the Art Gallery of St. Albert fills an important role in the city – and receives lots of funding to do so – VASA plays a vital role filling in the gaps. That includes running programs for people with disabilities and at-risk students, and providing low-cost gallery space to emerging artists.
“It fills a gap in our community, and I just don’t understand why there isn’t more money,” Watamaniuk said.
For the current funding year, VASA received $27,378 for the outside agency grant, down from $50,000 received last year. Watamaniuk said they have already been told to expect approximately $27,000 in 2020.
VASA has had its funding cut by both the city and Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the association is also facing serious fundraising challenges due to its lack of charitable status, as well as policy changes from the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission prohibiting arts organizations from holding raffles.
If VASA is not able to secure more funding, Watamaniuk said they would have to consider “drastic steps” that would involve pulling back the community benefit of the organization, and essentially operating purely as a rental gallery space.
This fall, council is expected to review reports from non-profit organizations on how changes to the outside agency grant program impacted them.
