British Columbia's artists to gain support towards challenges of COVID

Those who work in the arts who have found hardship during this last year of COVID can now draw on a new program from the BC Arts Council, which will offer up to 12,000 dollars for participants to learn new skills or adapt their practices.

As they rolled out the program this week, the BC government made note as to the challenges that have been faced by the members of the province's artistic community who have seen reduced opportunities to practice their craft or to make a living.

“Together with the arts sector, we are working hard to make sure that dancers, writers, painters and other artists can continue being resilient and finding innovative ways to keep creating through COVID-19. We’re building on our support for arts and culture in British Columbia by helping artists adapt their work, ensuring our province has a strong creative industry to enjoy when the pandemic is over.” -- Melanie Mark, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. 

The Pivot funding is being provided through the Arts Council and will be available to a wide range of artists and cultural workers, among those on the list of those who qualify are:

Dancers and choreographers 

Visual artists; writers 

Actors 

Multi-media artists 

Arts administrators

The application period is open until February 16th  

You can explore further notes and access application form here.

The BC Arts Council will adjudicate and award the grants  in the early spring period.

Learn more about the program here.

For more notes from Victoria see our Legislature Archive page.