SOFA rally to encourage investment in education
Arts advocacy group Save Our Fine Arts (SOFA) is holding a rally and forum on June 12 to make the case for sustainable funding for arts education.
“The purpose of [the rally] is to get into a constructive dialogue with guest panelists about why arts education matters” says SOFA co-chair Murray Ord.
The rally includes a panel discussion of the significance of arts education. SOFA has invited Calgary Arts Development president and CEO Terry Rock CBC radio host Tim Tamashiro Calgary Board of Education chief superintendent Naomi Johnson University of Calgary drama professor Patrick Finn and BKDI architect Peter Burgener to participate in the forum.
SOFA says the event was precipitated by recent cuts to arts education particularly Mount Royal University’s decision to terminate its jazz program as a cost-cutting measure when the provincial budget slashed post-secondary operating grants by roughly seven per cent.
Ord says fine arts is the easiest thing for public institutions to cut because it’s seen as a “frill” expense. SOFA’s goal is to convince decision-makers and the public that the arts are as valuable as other subjects and must be preserved.
“It’s not something just to be discarded and the first thing to just sort of be lopped off the budget” he says “[Let’s] find creative solutions to ensuring that fine arts education… is front and centre to our education system and remains a priority not a frill…. There are many many people who feel this way and we want to get this message out… starting with the Government of Alberta and certainly the school board” says Ord.
Rise Up! A Rally for Arts Education will be held from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Max Bell Theatre in the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts. Doors open at 6:30. This is a free event.
