TheMuseum dodges major funding cut following lengthy regional council debate
CBC
TheMuseum in downtown Kitchener will receive the same amount of funding this year as it did last year after a regional council debate during a committee meeting Tuesday.
In a report presented at the administration and finance committee meeting on Tuesday, staff had suggested providing TheMuseum with $132,563, down from $385,725 last year.
That proposal came after council's 2024 budget deliberations last December. At that time, regional council decided to put four arts organizations into one category for funding. The amount the four would split was going to be the amount TheMuseum had received in 2023 but cut by 10 per cent.
TheMuseum's chief executive officer, David Marskell, argued the cut in funding could seriously impact the organization's ability to operate.
On Tuesday, Coun. Jim Erb brought forward a motion to set funding at $292,275 — a roughly 25 per cent cut from 2023.
Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic amended Erb's motion to fund TheMuseum with the amount of money they received in 2023 and suggested council revisit how to deal with this funding pot later this year.
The amended motion was carried 13-3.
Vrbanovic said he wanted to see TheMuseum receive funding because he hears from people they need things to do in the city.
"I can tell you that the thing I regularly hear from employers is we need to be a cool place for people to live," Vrbanovic told his fellow councillors. "And a cool place for people to invest. We got a lot of great qualities, but we got some work to do on this front."
The other three organizations that had been put together in the same category for funding were: Drayton Entertainment, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery and the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery.
Council approved giving Drayton Entertainment $261,291, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery $100,000, and the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery $93,587. The money for this funding will come out of the tax stabilization reserve.
During Tuesday's meeting, there were questions from other councillors about equity, since the other three arts and culture organizations wouldn't get the same increase.
Vrbanovic pointed out that TheMuseum would be losing money it typically relied on where the other organizations were receiving money they normally wouldn't get, seeing it as a "newfound bonus."
"I think the point that I'm making by the motion, and why it's 2024 specific, is that we're already two months into 2024," Vrbanovic said. "And to be proposing what really amounts to a 25 per cent cut to an organization already one-sixth into the year, quite frankly, can be devastating for an organization."
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