My Letter To The Finance Committee re: Arts Funding

To: The Finance Committee

Thank you for taking the time to read this email and watch the attached video.

Attached is a short promotional video I made for the Victoria Fringe Festival. On the first day of this year's festival, cuts to Gaming funding were announced and Intrepid Theatre lost $35,000 from its budget. More funding has now been cut which means that Intrepid Theatre will have to cancel some of its programming. Programs like these allow emerging artists to perform and develop their craft which then enable them to reach professional levels and tour the country and beyond as representatives of this province. They employ numerous staff from box office to backstage. They generate revenue for local restaurants and hotels. They bring this sleepy city alive.

I could not have made this video without the resources provided to me by CineVic, The Society for Independent Filmmakers. I made my first films with the help of MediaNet, an organization that has already had to let one staff member go and that will have to close its doors in the coming years if funding is not reinstated. I am an emerging filmmaker who has been given awards for short films through both the Art Gallery and The Community Arts Council. With this support I was encouraged to continue. Because of the current cuts to gaming and arts funding, these grassroots organizations will close and emerging artists will be forced to leave the province to develop their careers elsewhere. Five years ago I moved here to Victoria from Toronto to pursue filmmaking and to immerse myself in the arts because what I kept hearing was that "Victoria is an artists' haven". Why would we destroy this?

As you can see in the video, the Fringe Festival attracts artists from all over the world bringing something very special to this city. The arts cannot thrive in a province with no funding. Please, to keep events like the Fringe Festival from disappearing, and filmmakers and artists like me from leaving the province to start and pursue our careers elsewhere, reinstate funding to the arts, in its entirety, immediately.

Yours truly,


Pippa Hirst


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy09eVZJopQ