Parksville council will take some time to review a sponsorship request by the Oceanside Community Arts Council (OCAC) to support area BC Culture Days activities this fall.
OCAC proposed five events, including a Ukrainian cultural festival, an art banner treasure hunt, a collaborative art exhibition, the Bedazzled Bra Breast Cancer Awareness Project and a film festival. BC Culture Days runs Sept. 23 to Oct. 16.
Hosting five events would designate Parksville as a hub and make it eligible for additional marketing, publicity and media coverage provided by Culture Days National, according to a presentation by Jennifer Bate, McMillan Arts Centre (MAC) executive director.
Bate said the event planners hope the Island Shorts film festival will engage local young filmmakers.
“This is a festival that will be of interest to young people that create TikTok short videos,” she said, during council’s June 20 regular meeting. “We’ve got two amazing judges.”
The plan is to award the top three films, as well as the ‘People’s Choice’. The winners will be announced on Oct. 17 and screened at the MAC, according to Bate. The festival’s theme is to be determined.
Council voted to defer the item to its next regular meeting on July 4, to allow members more time to consider the proposal.
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The budget for all five events, including administrative and advertising costs, is $25,940, according to Bate’s presentation. Bate added the budget items were divided so that if OCAC does not receive the full requested amount, it could cancel one of the events, if necessary.
A motion by Coun. Marilyn Wilson to support the project with council contingency funds was defeated.
“I think the community really does need some more arts and culture,” Wilson said. “I think we’ve been locked away so long and this is a really interesting, healthy project that I think will stimulate a lot of minds and bring a lot of people to Parksville.”
Coun. Teresa Patterson asked if grant funding was available.
The city’s chief administrative officer, Keeva Kehler, said the COVID Relief Grant-In-Aid Program funding has been used up, but there is an option to use the council contingency fund of $25,000 a year. Kehler added very little, if any, of that fund has been used so far this year.
Coun. Adam Fras said the event plans look good, but he would rather defer the item to the next meeting to allow more time for consideration.
Fras’s motion passed with Wilson and Patterson opposed.