Western Magazine Awards sees modest grant eliminated by BC government

The bad news in BC just keeps on coming. Now, it seems, the government contribution towards the Western Magazine Awards has been eliminated. Last year, the awards received a grant of $3,500; this year, they were budgeting for $4,000. But they've been told that even this modest grant has been cut. 

Information about the latest cut was part of a press release last week from the Coalition for the Support of Writing and Publishing in BC. The organization was launched as a response to a 100% cut in funding to three B.C. organizations, including the British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers (BCAMP), BC BookWorld and the Association of Book Publishers of BC.

In two weeks government will debate the budget estimates for 2010/11 in which support for the BC Arts Council has been reduced by 90%, putting in jeopardy grants for writers, the publishing of cultural titles and support for literary periodicals.

Rhona MacInnes, BCAMP executive director, is concerned that the cuts to the BCAC will erode BC’s ability to produce excellence on a national and international level. “Literary and cultural magazines are where writers cut their literary teeth, they are incubators for great writing,” she says. The Western Magazine Awards, where this excellence is also recognized, have just been notified that their funding has been eliminated.

The release noted the irony that, as the government is slashing arts and cultural funding, nine of the books nominated for the 2009 Governor-General's Literary Awards are written by BC authors and eight are published by BC publishers.