was very pleased to see that your newspaper has provided some supplementary clarification on the Cultural Mapping Project. (“Strengthening our arts and cultural life in the region”: Sooke News Mirror, Feb. 15, 2011).
In addition to your article, and with an honest interest to see this great project succeed, I would like to offer a sincere suggestion to the project’s organizers and to our council’s members.
Considering that the Cultural Mapping Project in the city of Hamilton, a city with half of a million residents, is the model for the Sooke project, it is obvious that our district is going to need any extra financial help it can get to pay for it. With a maximum population ,of 20,000 residents from Beecher Bay to Port Renfrew as we presently have, we cannot compare our project to the one serving a metropolis.
Therefore, to convert the already promised dreams in reality to our: orchestra, choir, theatre, dancers, writers’ groups, community gardens, and future public art gallery and art information centre we need to find the answer to the dilemma: Where the money is going to come from?
In my humble opinion, a political solution such as joining forces with other groups, in this case with other municipalities, is the right approach to take.
The fact that so many volunteers and non profit groups are all collaborating on this project speaks very highly of our people’s interest. Nevertheless, the reality that the art business is one of the most negatively affected industries in this moment remains on the table.
The only way I can see this project succeeding in a moment of global recession, where the price of food is going up and where more and more people are requiring government help, is to work together with the other art groups in other municipalities. The Sooke district alone cannot pay for half of the Cultural Mapping Project’s bill.
Margarita Dominguez
Sooke