Brace for cuts to arts: Alberta minister

Arts groups should brace for a drop in provincial funding this year, Alberta's culture minister says.

Economic realities will likely mean fewer dollars for artists and cultural groups, Lindsay Blackett, the minister of culture and community spirit, said Friday.

However, he tempered the warning by saying cutting down in inefficiencies may help ease the crunch.

"We think through administrative efficiencies and tweaking some things, we can save 10 to 15 per cent that we have to look at and not have to adversely affect any of those groups," Blackett said.  

The Alberta government provided $36 million for arts and culture last year.

"I don't think anybody realizes how labour-intensive the cultural sector is, and we run on a very tight wire," said Anne Green, head of Calgary's Wordfest.

The book festival, which depends on government funding, would likely not survive even a small cut to its budget, Green said, adding most arts and culture groups are already bare-bones operations.

"If we operated our businesses the way big business runs its big business we would be out of business, because we are not allowed to carry the kind of debt load that big business carries," she said. "We run very tight business models. We run very tight ships. There is not a lot of fat in our organizations; in fact, in my organization there is no fat."