Christy Clark adds $15 million to gaming grants, but eligibility remains unchanged

Arts organizations hoping for changes to gaming grant eligibility rules before the upcoming May 31 deadline for applications were offered little hope today by Premier Christy Clark.

At a news conference today held at West Side Family Place in Point Grey, Clark made good on her campaign promise to add $15 million to community gaming grants. But Clark confirmed that only groups currently eligible for the grants would be benefiting from the boost.

“We are looking at changes to it [eligibility], but we just haven’t had time to do that as of today,” Clark said. “We wanted to move as quickly as we could for that infusion of $15 million and find it right away.”

Clark said she would be moving to set up a commission to review the governance and funding formula for gaming grants, but conceded the process would take months.

“The commission will be reviewing the eligibility. That will be part of their task,” she said. “It will be within the year—we hope that they’ll be able to report out to cabinet early in the fall.”

Clark added that the additional funding announced today is “not the total solution, but it’s the first step in getting there.… Unfortunately it wasn’t able to come as quickly as all of the groups would have liked.”

via the georgia straight
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