As Royal City Musical Theatre prepares for the spring 2016 production of Fiddler on the Roof, it was a bit shocked to learn it may not be getting a grant from the city to help put on its annual show.
Council recently received grant recommendations from the arts and culture grant committee, which considered 18 funding requests totalling $41,924 and had only $20,000 to disperse. The committee recommended no funding for Royal City Musical Theatre, which had requested $4,500 and received $3,000 in 2015.
Chelsea Carlson, executive producer of Royal City Musical Theatre, said the city’s financial support is “invaluable” to the organization.
“We continue to pursue additional funding sources, provincial and federal arts councils, and other foundations. We are very unique because we are what is often referred to as a semi-professional organization. We are really based in the community, we provide opportunities for young people to gain experiences and opportunities for professional artists to work and mentor young people,” she said. “But you know, that makes it really challenging to access grants at the federal and provincial level that are offered to professional arts organization because we are not a purely professional arts organization.”
Valerie Easton, artistic director and choreographer with Royal City Musical Theatre, said the group does what it can to stay solvent, but that’s increasingly challenging with the low Canadian dollar and inflation. She said the group values the city’s annual grant.
“I think Royal City Musical Theatre is Royal City. It’s for New Westminster,” she said. “We talked a few years about making New Westminster the cultural capital of B.C. I would like to think that Royal City has a place in that.”
John Davies, past chair of Royal City Musical Theatre Society and the past vice president of the New Westminster Symphony Orchestra, said he’s served on the city’s heritage grant committee so he values the work of volunteers and recognizes it’s “a thankless task” as they often get more money in grant requests than funds to distribute. He urged city council to review the application and see if there are ways the city can continue to support Royal City Musical Theatre.
Davies told council Royal City Musical Theatre Society, the New Westminster Symphony Orchestra and Royal City Youth Ballet are arts “treasures” in the city.
“These are all assets that we have to take a great deal of pride in and nurture them and make sure that we nurture them and ensure they stay here in New Westminster,” he said.
Council approved $4,500 to the Royal City Musical Theatre, with council members commending the society for its productions and contributions to the community.
In addition to Royal City Musical Theatre, the arts and culture grant committee recommended no funding for the New Westminster Symphony Orchestra, which had requested $2,575 and received $1,500 last year. Council approved $1,500 toward the symphony orchestra’s 17th annual Nutcracker dance concert with the Richmond Academy of Dance.
On the heritage front, council amended a grant request approved by the heritage grant program committee, which had recommended the city give $14,095 to the New Westminster Heritage Foundation - even though it had only requested $10,000. Council approved $10,000 for the heritage foundation.
Council also approved child care, amateur sports, environmental, community and city partnership grants. Along with the festival grants, the city will dole out more than $800,000 in grants for 2016.
