Victoria announces nearly $400k in grants for arts, culture venues

Victoria City Hall is shown. (CTV News)

The City of Victoria is awarding nearly $400,000 in grants to several non-profit arts and cultural organizations.

The grants include funding for upgrades to performance and rehearsal spaces, and efforts to make venues more accessible to artists and audiences.

Seventeen organizations were approved for the funding, with the largest grants of $50,000 each going to the Open Space gallery, the Société Francophone de Victoria and the White Eagle Polish Hall.

Open Space and the Polish hall will use the funding to install elevators, while the Société Francophone de Victoria will use its grant for an outdoor lift and other accessibility upgrades.

In all, 20 organizations applied for the city grants, with the Victoria Event Centre, the Khalsa Diwan Society and the African-Caribbean Cultural Society being denied in their requests.

"The arts and culture sector was hard-hit by the pandemic and high market rents continue to make it challenging for these groups to thrive," said Mayor Lisa Helps in a statement Tuesday.

Other grants include awards for new LED lighting in the Baumann Centre and Alix Goolden Hall, and staging and shared office improvements at Theatre Skam’s arts hub at 846 Broughton Street.

The city says the arts and culture sector contributes $435.8 million annually to the local economy and employs 5,588 people.

A full list of recipients of the $395,879 in grants is available here.