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15 · Wednesday, January 6, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Meeting between two groups scheduled for Friday afternoon Continued from page 14 Martini-Miles said she is interested in seeing CommUnity Arts Space work with the Town in the coming months to ensure arts groups are getting their fare share. It also wants to help arts groups get ready for tenancy. "We all need to prepare over the next two years. The more information we have, the more we can prepare for what is at stake, because groups have to be ready to take on some of the responsibility of coughing up rents, conforming into a larger organization and larger maintenance facility, all the things they don't deal with right now," she said. It is the proposed partnership between CommUnity Arts Space and the Town that has the Oakville Arts Council concerned. "When we reviewed it, it seemed the contents of the memo to their constituents was basically duplicating some of the communication efforts that the arts council is involved with," said Behune. "Our concern was that there would be duplication of activities and we wanted to be sure the arts council's mandate and its role in the town was reinforced to our members." The Oakville Arts Council says it is the voice of the arts groups in Oakville, with four broad goals of advocacy, communication, enabling and sustainability. There are currently more than 250 members, encompassing about 50 non-profit arts groups that represent 3,000 individuals, 50 for-profit businesses like galleries, and 150 individual artists, who are mainly visual artists. Besides conflicting mandates, another concern of the Oakville Arts Council is duplicate funding requests, particularly Ontario Trillium grants and operating money from the Town. "By having two organizations perceived as representing the community to the Town, then if there are limited dollars, where do the dollars go?" said Behune. "We're much too small of a town to have two organizations with the same objectives and the same goals approaching the Town with the limited budget that they have, or even the Trillium Foundation." CommUnity Arts Space received a $215,000 Ontario Trillium grant, divided over three years, in 2006. The money was designated to help the group in its goal of a shared arts space. It also included money for operational costs of the organization. The funding has run out, so CommUnity Arts Space has applied for another grant to cover its costs, this time from the Town through the Oakville Arts Council. Martini-Miles said she does not see a possible funding conflict. "Currently, we are not receiving any money," Martini-Miles said. "Our Trillium grant has run out, so currently, I'm doing this out of the love of my heart. I'm not getting any salary, neither is Sherry (Fox, administrator and community liaison) and our board is volunteer, so we are a volunteer group. I'm not sure what they mean by saying this would put their funding into jeopardy." While the two groups try to find a solution, both acknowledge there are many questions and concerns among local arts groups, which appear to be stuck in the middle. "Groups have contacted us and lots of them are very confused...," Martini-Miles said. "As it says in our representation agreement, we are not dispensing any funds nor will we in the future. We don't have any money and we don't have anything to give away. Whether they get funding from the arts council or not is not at all affected by this. We're just saying we will be your representatives on space, like we have been so far." The Oakville Arts Council encourages arts groups to wait until executive director Whittington meets with Martini-Miles before responding to either representation request. Any decisions reached will be posted on the arts council's website. Behune said she was optimistic an agreement could be reached. Some of the suggestions put forward by the arts council's board of directors include: · forming a joint operating group to provide information to the Town of Oakville's planning process; · creating an interlocking board structure with one board member from each organization sitting on the other board: · developing a joint communications strategy including such things as a newsletter; · discussing fundraising roles in both organizations. "It is really up to CommUnity Arts Space to communicate with the arts council about what their objectives are so we can support them to the membership," said Behune. "We would love to have a joint strategy." However, Martini-Miles was not as certain of a positive outcome when she spoke with The Beaver last week. She said she is worried about the future of CommUnity Arts Space if its member groups do not support it. "Saying we cannot ask the groups to sign this agreement means we cannot continue, because if we are not recognized as representative of the groups, then the Town has no obligation to involve us in any of the talks," she said. blueheel dance studio | 626 burnhamthorpe rd w | www.blueheel.ca blueheel dance studio | 284 church street | www.blueheel.ca 905-849-0008