Culture Policy

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It’s time to support our artists and the institutions that foster arts and culture in Alberta. It’s time to fuel an Alberta Renaissance.

An Alberta Liberal government will build on the many strengths of Alberta’s arts and culture sector by implementing an innovative and flexible arts and culture policy that provides stable, sustainable, generous funding for our vital arts and culture sector.

By supporting Alberta’s artists, we can secure Alberta’s prosperity and invigorate our cultural growth.

The Alberta Liberal Caucus is committed to achieving the following goals…

  • Elevate Alberta’s status as a leading cultural capital;
  • improve Albertans’ quality of life;
  • nurture Albertans’ talents and aspirations;
  • advance a stable, energized arts and culture sector;
  • transform the perception of arts and culture from “ornamental” to “essential.”

…and accomplishing the following objectives:

  • improve awareness and accessibility to arts and culture;
  • stimulate social and economic development;
  • recognize and support professional artists;
  • raise the province’s cultural profile within and outside Alberta;
  • respect and celebrate cultural uniqueness/ differences.

Generous, Sustainable Funding

The arts enrich our lives; indeed, they can help give life meaning. Great art brings joy, hard questions, understanding and new challenges. The arts are essential; they fuel civilization. And investing in arts, culture and heritage attracts investment, creates jobs and diversifies the economy.

An Alberta Liberal government would immediately double the budget of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and triple funding within three years. AFA grants support festivals, book publishers, artist-in-residence programs, emerging artists, education, community events and exhibits.

We would also review the ongoing operations and mandate of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and establish a $500 million endowment fund for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, parallel to existing endowment funds for medicine, engineering and the sciences.

For more details, read Fuelling an Alberta Renaissance.

Culture Responses & Questions

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20 April 2007

Royal Alberta Museum Renovations (April 19)

Mr. Agnihotri: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For years this government has been planning to renovate and expand the Royal Alberta Museum, but now all the hard work, imagination, creativity, and money that has been put into this project has been wasted as architects have been forced back to the drawing board.

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10 April 2007

Community Initiatives Program, continued (April 5)

Mr. Agnihotri: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government says that they want flexibility, the flexibility to break the CIP rules.

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10 April 2007

Community Initiatives Program Grant (April 5)

Mr. Tougas: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday during question period the minister of tourism, parks and recreation was asked to explain why the government broke its own rules in regard to the community initiatives program.

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10 April 2007

Other Initiatives Program (April 5)

Dr. Taft: Thank you. Mr. Speaker, this government has another multimillion dollar lottery fund that it has kept as far from public sight as it can.

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10 April 2007

Community Initiatives Program (April 5)

Dr. Taft: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mismanagement by this government has become so common that I don’t think they even know the difference.

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05 April 2007

Community Initiatives Program, continued (April 4)

Dr. Taft: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When a university sorority received an $18,000 CIP grant for posh furniture, the government broke CIP application rule 7.

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05 April 2007

Community Initiatives Program (April 4)

Dr. Taft: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday the Minister for Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture was asked why his department is breaking its own rules for the community initiatives program by allowing nonmatching grants over $10,000, but instead of answering our question, the minister dodged it and simply repeated the rules, the very rules that appear to have been broken so often.

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04 April 2007

Community Initiative Program (April 3)

Mr. Agnihotri: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The community initiatives program, CIP, application guideline states very clearly that if a group cannot raise matching funds up to $10,000, it will be considered on a nonmatching basis.

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