Gibson Centre seeks 100 per cent increase for cultural grant

New Tecumseth Free Press Online January 13, 2011
The Executive Director of the Gibson Cultural Centre in Alliston laid out a proposed five year plan last night that would see the municipal budget line item for arts and culture grants in New Tecumseth go from $100,000 to $200,000 by 2015.
Angela Drainville also requested the $25,000 cap any one group can ask for from the fund, be eliminated. In 2010, the GCC received $25,000 out of the $100,000.
Ms. Drainville’s presentation was part of the public input session council hosted last night to here comments and suggestions as part of the 2011 budget deliberations.
New Tecumseth council did not debate the GCC’s request last night. But the next budget working session for councillors is January 18.
Removing the grant ceiling would pave the way for GCC’s $40,000 request in 2011, followed by $15,000 annual incremental increases until it reaches $100,000 in 2015, which if the budget line item were doubled, would still leave $100,000 to be doled out to other cultural groups.
“We are looking at an increase simply for inflation and because of increased services,” said Ms. Drainville. “We’ve become so successful that our growth has caused us to require more funding.”
She explained that four per cent of the GCC’s budget comes from municipal subsidies, while the provincial average is 20 per cent. In Orillia, it was noted that about 50 per cent of the cultural budgets are subsidized.
The GCC, it was noted, had 35,000 visitors in 2010, about 40 per cent from out of town (they track postal codes) who took in a variety of events and performances throughout the year, including from a collection of musicians who between them had 26 Juno Awards, and other musical citations.
“So these are significant artists in the landscape of music and we’re very excited to have them here in New Tecumseth,” added Ms. Drainville. “A person who lives in Alliston, Beeton, or Tottenham can actually come to something in their own town, they’re spending their entertainment dollars here not getting in a car and driving to downtown Toronto and buying food at a restaurant down there. They’re actually spending their money here. So not only are we creating economic development bringing money from the outside, we’re actually encouraging our own citizenry to invest in our own community and dining out at home.”
She said the GCC is home to more than a dozen groups and organizations.
“The building serves as a community hall and accommodates many groups that could otherwise not afford to meet anywhere else. We subsidize these heavily, often we donate them. We have non profit organizations, and provide space at heavily subsidized rates.”
Program costs and building maintenance, including utililty costs which was at about $40,000 per year, are driving the need for more funding help.
“It’s a double edged thing for us,” said Ms. Drainville. “We pull into the parking lot and it’s full, but we know that that doesn’t necessarily translate into money in the bank, and us paying the bills. We know we’re serving the community, and we know we’re doing a great job for the community, but we’re struggling to keep up and paying for the building costs.”