Penticton Art Gallery curator Paul Crawford persuaded City Council to top up his operating grant from $55,000 to $125,000.

(DAN WALTON / iNFOnews.ca)

Funding to the Penticton Art Gallery has been restored to $125,000 after City Council originally decided to tighten the belt.

Gallery curator Paul Crawford requested a $130,000 operating budget for the year but only $55,000 was approved. The decision was unanimous and followed the staff recommendation.

After the gallery’s staff and board expressed their disappointment in the funding cut, Crawford was invited to speak to council during a meeting this morning, April 3. 

He told council it may have seemed like the gallery was in stronger financial shape than it is, having posted a healthy $81,000 surplus last year. But that was by far the largest surplus posted in his 17 years as curator, and it’s dwindling fast, he said.

“I have no option but to fight for 100% of the money back, and even ask for more because I don’t think you’ve been giving us enough for what you get from us,” Crawford told council. “There isn’t a middle ground here, we need $125,000, and we probably need more.”

Councillor Amelia Boultbee said “immense” public pressure had been put on council over the issue and that it was effective, but she was defensive of the recommendation proposed by city staffers, who Crawford said had acted recklessly.

“Are we setting precedent that the loudest people just get the money?” Boultbee said. “The information we were provided was that you had funding from other sources and your demonstrated need was $55,000, which by the way is a lot of money. I think there’s a little bit of entitlement in this room as to how much public money people should be getting.”

Councillor James Miller appreciates the formula that led staff to recommend a much smaller budget for the galley, however it “maybe ignored human element that’s involved,” he said.

Councillor Helena Konanz appreciated Crawford’s impassioned presentation, however the information he offered did not demonstrate a greater financial need than what staff recommendation.

Mayor Julius Bloomfield agreed with Konanz.

“We really don’t know much more now than we did four hours ago,” he said.

Some councillors wanted to wait to get more information before deciding to grant a larger sum of money, but ultimately they voted to increase funding to $125,000 – the same amount as 2022. Councillors Konanz and Bloomfield were opposed.

For the long-term, city staff were also directed to add the art gallery as a permanent line item on council's annual budget, instead of making them go through the grant application process every year. However, that will require subsequent approval by council.

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