Frances Bula header image 2
← →

New culture hires on hold at Vancouver city hall

December 23rd, 2008 · 3 Comments

A sharp-eyed reader has pointed out that the Job Postings section on the Vancouver website recently saw a startling change.

Seven job competitions for the cultural planning department that were listed (almost half of the total 15 listings of open jobs) have now been cancelled.

Here’s a sample.

Notice is hereby given that Competition Number 08-0697, Cultural Planner I (Culture Plan Implementation) in the Cultural Services Department, Community Services Group has been cancelled, effective Friday, December 19, 2008.

What could it all mean? interested parties are wondering.

I say it looks like budget preparation — why start hiring people when you might have to be chopping 10 per cent. But some see it as another sign of what may be coming for the cultural planning department overall.

Categories: City Hall Talk

  • Alma Lee

    The Office of Cultural Affairs has long needed a makeover, but I don’t think anything should be done too quickly or until there is a budget from the new Mayor and Council.

  • Larry Campbell

    There goes Vision’s commitment to the Arts …

  • Someone you have never heard of

    Seriously? You think that is the end of Vision’s “commitment to the arts”? I doubt it.

    What it shows is that someone is delaying, or otherwise backing away from, the implementation of the cultural plan that has been shopped around for the past two years, and approved in early fall. The plan itself is worth a second look. It is a welcome relief to have a written plan, but this plan was written by apparatchiks and consultants, and is remarkably short on substance. Overall, it seems to have been designed NOT as an impetus to make things happen, but as an excuse to be used in the future to explain why nothing happens.

    Quick question: how many “cultural planners” does it take to operate all of the programs of the BC Arts Council? Rather than hire people with experience in arts and culture, the city has tended to value experience in municipal bureaucracy, and the effectiveness of their office has suffered as a result, for decades now. The extra bodies proposed at the OCA were likely going to have the same effectiveness, and perform the same function, as a wall of sandbags. I believe that councillor Deal and her colleagues have something different than that in mind.