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Douglas’ arts funding gets slashed by student union at last week’s AGM

    

Jay Schreiber
arts editor

hat’s right, folks; the arts world
on our campus took another blow
last Wednesday, when the DSU
decided to rethink how the Performing
Arts Fund is to be used.

The Fund, which has existed
relatively untapped for the last few years,
is a culmination of student fees that are
collected at the beginning of each year by
the college and like years past has failed
to prove useful.

This money, by default, belongs
to you, the students and community
members of Douglas College’s arts world.
At the AGM held last Wednesday, the
student union set a motion to cut the
fund back to about one sixth of what
it currently is, and keep it there, with
any surplus to be directed into building
improvements and general revenue,
whatever that means.

So how much money are we talking
here? According to the financial statement
handed out at the union’s meeting, the
Performing Arts Fund had reached
$586,007 by 2009. That year alone,
$94,264 of it was collected from student
fees and added to the large sum of money.

My own immediate reaction to
this was shock and anger that the DSU
would be shaving off close to a half of
a million dollars from the arts fund, but
after the initial impression subsided, I
began to look into the reasons why this
is happening. What could posses the

students union to take that much money
from the members of the college they
represent?

Truth is, the fund hasn’t really
been used very much by anybody in the
school and has sat, collecting thousands
of dollars over the past few years, to
reach a ridiculous amount that eventually
has to be dealt with. Students in the arts
at Douglas College simply don’t use
that money, so in part the blame is to be
passed on to them.

In the years 2008 and 2009, a

sent their direction. If any students wish
to take out money from this fund, I’m
sure the new yearly ceiling of $100,000
income will likely cover it.

The DSU isn’t really clear when it
comes to how students’ money is spent
however. As it stated in the AGM report
handed out last Wednesday, under the
heading performing arts, their mission
is to be “committed to fostering and
encouraging student productions that will
give Douglas students the experience
they need to succeed in their field.” I have

“It is a shame that the DSU is so out of touch with the arts
students of Douglas College; we can only hope that things
turn out better next year with an election of the new student
government.”

grand total of $1,600 was retrieved from
the fund to be used by performing arts
students for whatever expenses they
sought. This comes out of the $181,943
collected during that two-year time span,
a difference of $180,343 that will likely
just sit in a bank account and gain interest
along with the other years of income the
fund has received.

Although it is the students
responsibilities to use this money, I can
see the DSU’s point in re-directing where
the money goes. To be fair, if a group
of people aren’t going to use a large
sum of money that rightfully belongs
to them, then once the sum reaches an
astronomical amount it’s only courteous
to the other students to have part of it

major issues with this previous statement.

If the DSU actually cared enough
about the students at Douglas College,
then it would have been nice of them to
let members of the performing arts know
that this money actually existed. Asking
anybody in the arts wing (third floor north
on the New West campus) if they know
about this money commonly results in the
response, “That’s great! Now where is the
DSU?”

Anyone who was a part of the arts
community last year may know about
the cuts to our programs which saw
sections of classes being slashed as
well as performing groups temporarily
disbanding over lack of funds. Could the
DSU not have seen the harm this caused

the very students that they represent and
possibly stepped in by meeting with the
program coordinators to strike up a deal
to use some of the rarely touched money?
I’m sure the students would have been
just fine with that.

Looking at the DSU’s relationship
with the center for sport, recreation and
wellness, it is apparent that things look
quite favorable for them. In the AGM
report, “through the DSU funding the
college, it is able to provide services
such as varsity athletics, recreation
& intramurals, health and wellness
promotions, fitness center...” The list goes
on. Why then can the student union not
fund the arts so that students can go to the
classes that they need?

On the surface level, all the DSU
has done for the arts students is provide
lunches once or twice a month, and a few
low-population pub nights. Our school
doesn’t have a U-Pass yet, and most
arts students are too busy practicing to
hang out in the DSU building which just
underwent major renovations.

To the students of Douglas College’s
art programs, I urge you all to get a share
of this money while you still can for
whatever your creative heart desires. It is
rare in our profession that such funds are
readily available, so get your hands on it
before the motion to remove the money
goes into effect sometime around 2012. In
the mean time, it is a shame that the DSU
is so out of touch with the arts students of
Douglas College; we can only hope that
things turn out better next year with an
election of the new student government.

 

 

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