artists

Tomorrow, Wednesday, sees the next stage of the “grey square action” against the proposed cuts to arts funding. Arts groups in Vancouver are planning a city-wide protest (although organizers are claiming that it is not a protest) with art workers and supporters of the arts being asked to dress in grey and move through the downtown core throughout the day in what is being termed a “Grey Relay”.

Protesters - rather, grey square participants - will form a static human square for each leg of the relay and then march in single file to the next designated location. Details of the timetable for the relay and locations can be found here. If you are planning on attending, you’re asked to contact movingjac [at] gmail.com as the logistics of the event are a bit more complicated than an ordinary protest rally.

The final square will take place, rather appropriately, Library Square. According to organizers at 3:00 pm the square must disband and dissolve quickly. According to their dedicated Facebook page, rather than being a protest it's “about art and artists taking their space.”

“We are aiming for a visual of the grey mass of art workers and supporters moving out into different parts of the city, working and making art in and amongst the people. Walk purposefully out into the world and know that you are the glue that holds it together.”

As reported extensively here on PLANK during the summer, arts groups learned of funding cuts to programs run by both BC Gaming and the BC Arts Council with the total in cuts projected at being in excess of 90% by the 2011-2