Dear AMAAS Members:
During the first week of March, 2015, Alberta’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, the Honourable Maureen Kubinec, held a series of meetings with stakeholders in advance of the provincial government’s presentation of the 2015/2016 budget, which will take place next Thursday, March 26.
Staff and Board representatives from the 12 organizations that form the Alberta Partners for Arts and Culture (APAC) attended these meetings.
At the meetings with Minister Kubinec in early March, we were informed that the 2015/2016 provincial budget will propose a reduction to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism from 5% to 9%.
Together, the memberships of APAC’s 12 organizations comprise more than 7,000 Albertan individuals and organizations—urban and rural, emerging and established, creators and administrators.
We need your support in advocating for continued, sustainable investment in Alberta’s arts and culture sector. Please consider supporting us with any/all of the following actions:
- Share with us how you have been impacted by the sustained cuts to arts funding since 2010
- Share with us your plans, hopes, and dreams for the arts industry in Alberta
- Write or call your MLA (or constituency candidates should an election be called) to stress the value of increased, sustainable investment in our sector in each and every provincial budget
Together we can imagine and lead a cultural renaissance in Alberta.
The Alberta Partners for Arts and Culture is a coalition comprised of Alberta’s eight Provincial Arts Service Organizations and four Cultural Industry Associations. We came together in a spirit of partnership after the 2012 Alberta Culture Forum in Red Deer to determine how we could be of greater service to each other, the Alberta government, and our fellow Albertans.
APAC are:
Tom McFall, Executive Director, Alberta Craft Council
Bobbi Westman, Executive Director, Alberta Dance Alliance
Suzanne Trudel, Executive Director, Alberta Magazine Publishers Association
Sharon Stevens, Executive Director, Alberta Media Arts Alliance Society
Bill Evans, Executive Director, Alberta Media Production Industries Association
Chris Wynters, Executive Director, Alberta Music
Brenda O’Donnell, Executive Director, Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta
Kieran Leblanc, Executive Director, Book Publishers Association of Alberta
Sylvie Thériault, Directrice générale, Regroupement artistique francophone de l’Alberta
Keri Mitchell, Executive Director, Theatre Alberta
Chris W. Carson, Executive Director, Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC
Audrey Seehagen, Executive Director, Writers’ Guild of Alberta
