Regina Art Gallery and Floral Conservatory could be cut from 2026 civic budget
CBC
Regina’s Floral Conservatory and an array of local arts groups could lose their funding from the city in next year’s budget, according to a list of potential savings options presented to city council.
The 2026 budget forecast published on Nov. 20 said city council will have to raise property taxes by 15.69 per cent to maintain current service levels. That would correspond to a property tax increase of $33 a month for the average homeowner.
To reduce the tax hike, the city administration listed 131 services that could be cut.
Among those listed was the Neil Balkwill Arts Centre, which houses the Art Gallery of Regina, and the Community Investments and Grant Program (CIGP), which provides money to numerous cultural organizations, including the art gallery.
“Shocked is the word,” said Sandee Moore, the gallery’s curator and director. “It would be really difficult to move to a new location and find a facility like the one we have.”
The city’s forecast document says closing the arts centre would save $250,000 per year, and reduce the monthly tax bill for average homeowners by $0.53.
It says eliminating the CIGP would save $5.37 million, or $11.33 per month for the average homeowner.
The Art Gallery of Regina offers free admission. Moore said it has several other funding sources, but the loss of its physical space and city funding would lead to a crisis.
“There were a lot of stressful phone calls and emails floating back and forth around the community over the weekend,” said Don Young, who directs the Cathedral Village Arts Festival.
Young said the festival gets $10,000 a year from CIGP and is housed in the Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre.
Ending city funding for that community centre and converting into a community-funded operation is another proposed cut. Ending municipal funding would save the city $140,000 a year and the average homeowner $0.29 a month.
“If we were out of this building, I don’t know what we would do,” Young said.
“The general feeling is that if you want to have nice things, you have to pay a little bit of money for it,” he said, lamenting the loss of other festivals like the Regina Folk Festival and Regina Fringe Festival.
The folk festival was permanently shut down earlier this year, while the fringe festival was cancelled for 2025.
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