Pi Theatre

Archive for January, 2012

Do you like eating delicious food, sampling artisan beer, and making new friends? Then join us for our upcoming Pi Dinner Circle, on February 10th, 2012.

This dinner circle is a six-course meal, held in the home and studio of a prominent Vancouver theatre artist. Each course will feature an artisan beer pairing by local brewmaster Claire Connolly.

Tickets are only $100, and include dinner, beer pairings and a tax receipt for $35. We can also offer a dinner-only option for $80.

Past dinners have sold out quickly and seating is quite limited. If you would like to book your tickets or if you would like more information on the evening, please email info@pitheatre.com or call 604-872-1861.

Please consider joining us for what is sure to be a wonderful evening.

As many of you know, in 2009 it was decided that adult arts and cultural organizations would no longer be eligible for funding through Gaming grants. Pi was just finishing the last year of a three year commitment from Gaming as the cuts were announced. Between Gaming eligibility changes and cuts to the BC Arts Council, Pi lost over 20% of our funding between 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. The past two years have been undeniably challenging. We’ve been incredibly fortunate in our fundraising, and are hugely grateful for our amazing community of supporters for helping us get through.

After a months-long public review that engaged 1,700 British Columbians across the province, Premier Christy Clark announced last week that adult arts and cultural groups will again be eligible to apply for gaming funding. We are heartened by this news, as we are by the admission that the cuts were “a mistake”. The total amount available to charities through gaming grants is still 13% lower than 2008 levels so there is still a great deal of uncertainty, but we believe that this is an important step in a positive direction.

We attended and spoke at the Vancouver stop of the review, and were assured by both the leader of the review (the affable Skip Triplett) and by other presenters that adult arts organizations are a integral part of life for people across the province. We are proud to be part of such a vital and resiliant community and we want to thank everyone who has contributed to the ongoing success of the arts in BC.

You can read the full report generated by the review here and you can read what Pi had to say at the Vancouver session here.