By Charles Campbell, Today, TheTyee.ca
Fight back against a government that's singled you out for brutal budget cuts.
Why has the provincial government singled out the arts for the most brutal budget cuts it has inflicted on any sector of the economy? 
The numbers are remarkable -- a decline in core funding over two years of more than 88 per cent, from $19.5 million down to $2.25 million, according to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture service plan released after the budget update on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, NDP culture critic Spencer Herbert figured that when cuts to gaming funding are included there is a 92 per cent overall cut over the same period, from $47.8 million in 2008-09 down to $3.7 million in 2010-11.
The government can be expected, of course, to protest that it's not so bad, restore some funding and hope the begging artists will put their caps back on and shuffle away meekly to their garrets, just like Oliver Twist. And so it came to pass on Wednesday, when the province restored at least some of the gaming money that had been promised and then taken away. How many groups will have their funding restored? And for how long? It's not entirely clear, and arts administrators, who spend their lives waiting for a letter telling them they'll get money they've already spent, can be forgiven their skepticism (more)
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