Penticton arts community seeking council support for an art advocate

PENTICTON – The City of Penticton's arts community would like to have an advocate for art and cultural activities.

The Arts, Creative and Cultural Innovations Committee has recommended city council strongly consider contributing towards an arts officer. The position is intended to facilitate the collaboration of all arts organizations and promote arts, culture and creativity in the city.

The committee came to the conclusion a position of arts officer/advisor was needed following review of the B.C. Alliance for Arts and Culture website.

In a report prepared for council, the committee said the position would be inclusive of all the city’s arts groups, and understood a business case and job description would need to be prepared prior to budget deliberations.

City council arts group liaison Coun. Judy Sentes said the city’s various art and cultural groups were coming together lately.

“I think this is a very thoughtful recommendation that the committee is bringing forward… I can tell you, more recently the Shatford Centre did hold a ‘visioning.’ This is one of their vision statements, so I think it is worth looking into,” Sentes said.

Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said Shatford Centre representatives would be making a pitch to council, possibly at the next meeting. He made a motion to refer the matter to staff to continue looking into the issue, which council accepted.

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