I am writing in response to your March 15th editorial "Arts groups must learn to stand in line." I recognize that editorial was penned by the Glacier Media Group and not specifically for Prince George, but nevertheless it is sadly misinformed.
You condescendingly claim that "artists don't pay their own way." Nonsense! A professional artist who is paid with public funds for an exhibition at Two Rivers Gallery is paying his/her own way as certainly as a surgeon paid with public funds for exercising his/her skills in the operating theatre at the hospital.
Arts organizations learned to stand in line a long time ago. it is misleading for you to characterize the plight of charitable organizations across B.C. as the special pleading of arts groups.
The BC Association for Charitable Gaming aims to represent all charities that access gaming funds, not just arts groups. In fact, of the $4.6 million in gaming grants to Prince George organizations in the year 2009-2010, less than six per cent went to arts organizations.
The charitable organizations that receive gaming funds form a very important part of our economic and social structure; they are public safety organizations like Prince George Search and Rescue, public health infrastructure like the Prince George Hospice Society, social services like Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Prince George as well as environmental conservation workers like the Recycling and Environmental Action and Planning Society.
These organizations deliver critical public services much more efficiently and economically than either the government or the private for profit sector could manage.
This is because many of the dedicated professionals who work in the charitable sector do so for a fraction of what they would earn in the corporate or government sectors. They do this because they find it particularly meaningful to contribute to our collective well being even if it entails personal disadvantage.
Perhaps charitable organizations, rather than learning to stand in line, need to learn to stand up and be counted for their tremendous contributions to our society.
Peter Thompson
Managing Director
Two Rivers Gallery
