The Kevin Files: Further Victoria Fringe Funding Slashed Mid-Festival

Intrepid Theatre - organizers of the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival - have released the following statement:
 
In the midst of the biggest Victoria Fringe ever, provincial budget cuts announced yesterday have stripped the festival of another $101,000 of funding. This follows Thursday’s cuts to the organisation’s Direct Access gaming funds of $35,000.
 
Run by Intrepid Theatre, the Victoria Fringe is poised for the biggest year ever in its 23-year history, with record attendance for the first five days.
 
With yesterday’s budget cuts, by 2011 a staggering 90% will be cut to all arts and culture organizations in BC – that means investment in arts will drop from ten cents in every $100 to less than a penny. For Intrepid Theatre, this will amount to a $101,000 cut, nearly half the budget for of Intrepid’s year-round theatre programming.
 
“These decisions mean the death of small arts organizations and massive cut-backs to organizations like us,” says Intrepid’s General Manager Ian Case. “We will be forced to make major changes. Two of the five major programs we run will either be cut or significantly reduced. We have already had to cancel most of our programming for January through March next year.”
 
The Fringe alone attracts 20,000 people and pumps at least 2 million dollars into the economy in spin-off spending at hotels, restaurants, bars etc in Victoria. According to the government’s figures, they earn $1.36 for every dollar they invest in the arts.
 
Intrepid has a proud history of bringing international live theatre to Victoria. They produce the annual Uno Fest, an international presenting series of alternative theatre and the annual Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival. Intrepid also runs the Metro Studio and Intrepid Theatre Club, two small venues for alternative performance in downtown Victoria.
 
These cuts will deprive Victoria of the world-class alternative theatre and lead to the first significant deficit the company has faced in over a decade.
 
“We are devastated by the news. I’m still in shock,” Case says. “We are already receiving Uno Fest applications. Sadly the festival, if it goes ahead at all, will have to exist in a radically reduced form.”
 
By 2011, arts funding for the entire province will be under 4 million dollars.