Dear Editor,
In Response to Ms. Dodgson’s letter to the Townsman April
14:
It is unfortunate, Ms. Dodgson, that you did not contact a
member of the Arts Council prior to writing your letter. I thank you for writing it however. The information contained within your letter
is very typical of what many people in Cranbrook choose to believe and so much of
it is just plain wrong.
Cranbrook and District Arts Council is a society and not a
business. As such it cannot make
‘profit’ as a regular business can. Any
funds considered to be profit must be put back into the service that we
provide.
CDAC has not asked to be given the Fire Hall as a gift. We wish to provide a service, tourist attraction
and economic stimulator in this heritage building much as the Studio Stage Door
does. The City was donated the Masonic
Lodge and the Cranbrook Community Theatre Society have restored it, maintained
it at their expense and provide a service and economic generator to the City in
return
The new council has removed the funds once promised for the
restoration of this heritage building and Cranbrook and District Arts Council
has offered to take the restoration on, at no cost to the City. We have, in fact, been exploring every avenue
available for funding and have so far been successful without any help from the
City.
The Cranbrook and District Arts Council is much more than a
place where art is sold. Visit sometime.
Cranbrook and District Arts Council Society has been in
existence for forty years, not ten and prior to that under the guidance of Ms.
Muriel Baxter it was the Kootenay Fine Arts and Craft Society, giving it a
history of 70 plus years in Cranbrook.
We do raise money. People who have attended one of our
functions such as a music recital, bought a calendar, attended an art sale,
belonged to one of our groups or participated in one of our events know that.
Grants are paid to many organizations including the City of
Cranbrook. The Spray Irrigation upgrades
would not have been possible without two thirds grant funding from the Federal
and Provincial Governments and to date that would mean the City has received approximately
20 million dollars in grants for that project.
That is a pretty big hand out. The funding we receive from grants set
aside for Arts and Culture are miniscule by comparison and if we don’t get them
in Cranbrook, they go to Fernie, Kimberley and elsewhere. You can see the positive
result of that in those communities.
Using your argument that we should buy the building, maybe
minor hockey should buy the Memorial Arena and library users should buy the
library.
You may have voted for this Mayor and Council but do you
sincerely believe that they are all comfortable revoking an agreement, that was
years in the making, included two previous Councils and one on which many
volunteers have put hours of volunteer time into? CDAC for its part has acted
in good faith in order to preserve a heritage building that would remain in
city hands and become a needed amenity accessible for all taxpayers? They will not give up now.
Sincerely
Jenny Humphrey.
CDAC Volunteer
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