September 09 2009

Last month, Cineworks, a British Columbia’s non-profit and charitable arts organization, became concerned that it would not receive the $45,000 from the provincial gaming revenue fund it has consistently received over the past number of years. On September 2, 2009, a reversal was made to the cuts for organizations with multi-year contracts but Cineworks is not one of those organizations.

Cineworks is a proud member of The Pacific Region Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA), a national association representing 84 social-profit artist-run centres and over 15,000 artists across Canada. “While Cineworks has not received official notice of these cuts,” says Cheyanne Turions, programmer at Cineworks. “There is no reason to assume that we will be immune.”

In order to encourage innovation and excellence in the media arts, Cineworks requests the $45,000 from the provincial gaming revenue fund be immediately confirmed. The recent Provincial Legislative funding cuts will immediately reduce programming initiatives and limits Cineworks’ ability to further support independent filmmakers. Cineworks continues to strive for strong support of a wide range of film, digital and expanded cinema projects.