Artsy type - November 20

Yes logo

Following the Victoria Jazz Society’s announcement that they’ll be holding a contest to design the poster for JazzFest 2009, the folks at the Islands Folk Festival have decided to launch a logo contest.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the festival at Providence Farm in Duncan, so organizers thought they would mark it with something special.

“We are looking for a logo design which helps illustrate our proud history and also helps celebrate our silver anniversary,” Cowichan Folk Guild artistic director Robert McCourty said in a press release. “A quarter century of bringing music and community together is a major accomplishment, it only happens once and we’re getting ready for a big celebration.”

Deadline for submissions is December 31. Go to folkfest.bc.ca for full details and an entry form. The Islands Folk Fest takes place July 26-26, 2009.

Royally endowed

While there has been talk of how the recent stock-market crash is hitting arts organizations dependent on endowment funds (large investments that allow groups to use the interest for funding), it seems the purse strings aren’t totally closing just quite yet.

The Friends of the Royal BC Museum Foundation recently received a $350,000 grant for their endowment fund, courtesy of the provincial government’s BC Arts Renaissance Fund. The Friends themselves made a matching donation.

“In time, income generated by this endowment, held at the Victoria Foundation, will be used towards projects undertaken in support of the vision and mission of the Royal BC Museum,” May Lou-Poy, president of the Friends of the Royal BC Museum Foundation, said in a press release.

The Vancouver Foundation, which manages about $800 million in endowment funds and is Canada’s largest community endowment foundation, has repeatedly gone on record stating that the financial crisis will have a huge impact on how much it will be able to disperse to organizations, as they are only allowed to dole out interest from the investments and no part of the investments themselves. They’ve said they will continue to honour their 2008 funding commitments and make an announcement regarding 2009 funding next month.