Four Prince George groups have received more than $100,000 in total from the provincial government's community gaming grant program.
The Prince George Symphony Orchestra received $56,000 for concert and education programs.
"These funds will go toward employing our outstanding professional musicians for our 44th season's main stage concert series," PGSO general manager Jeremy Stewart said.
"In addition, we will use part of the funds for Sistema Prince George, a music education program designed to increase access to music education opportunities for children and youth."
The Prince George Youth Volleyball Club received $25,000 for its operations and offsetting travel and gym costs.
"Volleyball BC events are generally held eight or more hours away, making travel and accommodation extremely expensive for our teams. PGYVC uses some of the funding to help keep travel costs down," PGYVC president Dan Drezet said.
"The majority of the grant money is used to pay for gym time, the club's biggest cost. This results in lower registration fees for all athletes, including the younger members and recreational members that do not travel, but rather compete locally."
The Prince George Mardi Gras of Winter Society received $16,080.
"The Mardi Gras of Winter Society puts on the Mardi Gras Snow Daze Winter Festival every year, and since people are stuck inside during the long winter months, the festival offers lots of fun activities for people to enjoy," Mardi Gras treasurer and past president Aileen Snow said.
The Bel Canto Choirs Association received $10,000 to help fund the 2014-15 season.
"The funds will help the choir acquire new music for our library including a musical that the children's choir will share with other schools in the district this fall," Bel Canto artistic director Melanie Nicole said. "Our collection of Canadian repertoire will expand also, as the Youth Choir and Northern voices will perform a concert featuring Canadian composers and songwriters."
The grants come out of the provincial government's gaming revenues. Application information and guidelines are found at gaming.gov.bc.ca/grants.
