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Diversity of BC

February 7, 2022


BC artists are featuring the vibrancy and diversity of the province’s arts and culture sector, with some groups benefiting for the first time from the latest round of BC Arts Council grants.

“BC’s rich cultural diversity gives people an opportunity to experience artistic traditions from all around the world and to promote inclusion and understanding in our communities,” said Lisa Beare, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture. “One of our goals in increasing BC Arts Council funding to record levels is to provide a platform for expression for artists and arts and culture organizations that were previously under-served, in order to showcase the variety of creative perspectives and voices of BC artists.”

The BC government is distributing more than $9.8 million in provincial funding through 394 grants in more than 50 communities in the latest round of funding administered by the BC Arts Council.

“The BC Arts Council’s renewed strategic vision focuses on strengthening arts and culture funding opportunities for all the people of BC,” said Susan Jackson, chair of the BC Arts Council. “Not only are we supporting more artists and organizations than ever before, we’re focused on making sure groups not previously funded have access to our grants.”

Part of the council’s new strategic plan to enhance arts and cultural development throughout the province is to increase equity, diversity and access. The result is more first-time recipients, such as the Royal Academy of Punjab Society, which offers bhangra classes for all ages, genders and backgrounds, as well as creating collaborative, inclusive events that build cultural bridges in the community.

“We’re delighted to receive provincial support for our upcoming event Folk Lok Live: Borderless,” said Hardeep Singh Sahota, director of the Royal Academy of Punjab Society. “The Folk Lok Live series is a way for us to come together and celebrate our rich culture and history by sharing our stories, dance and music. This year, we are connecting the Pakistani and Indian Punjabi community by celebrating the shared pre-partition heritage because we strongly believe that art can be a mechanism for social change.”

The BC Arts Council, an agency of the provincial government, allocates grant funding for arts and culture throughout the province. BC Arts Council grants are administered through a peer-review adjudication process. Grant recipients represent a diverse group of artists and arts organizations including Indigenous groups, scholarship students and community arts councils.

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COVID-19 Health & Safety Plan
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Royal Academy of Punjab

Covid-19 Health and Safety Plan

Safe Physical Distancing: The dance floor has been marked into safe distance zones whichare at least 2 metres apart or more. Only one person is permitted per marker, and please stayin your marked area.

Hand washing: Please wash your hands or sanitize before your class and after your class.Use the sinks in the washrooms (one person at a time)

Masks: The most recent recommendation from Canada’s public health is that of wearing anon-medical masks or face covering as an additional layer of protection, even when physicaldistancing is active at the studio.

We recommend you wear a mask while attending a class if you are comfortable doing so, but do take it offif you experience dizziness or a shortness of breath while wearing it.

Our Cleaning and Disinfecting Protocols: We have implemented enhanced antibacterialand antiviral cleaning and sanitizing protocols for all common areas and surfaces, includingwashrooms, light switches, door handles. etc. This includes increasing the frequency thatthese items are cleaned (number of times per day) as well as the timing (before and afterclasses).

If You Feel Unwell: If you are experiencing symptoms such as fever, chills, a cough, sorethroat, stuffy or runny nose, etc, or if you are in proximity with someone who is ill, please stayhome and DO NOT attend classes (This will be strictly enforced).

Class Times: We are staggering our class start times with a break between classes to allowfor cleaning and sanitization as well as to prevent large groups from congregating in thestudio during class cross over.

Limited contact: Staff and students are asked to please refrain from high fives and hugs forthe time being from public health advisors.

Travel: If you have recently travelled internationally, please stay home, self - isolate yourself,and refrain from attending the classes. Also, if you have travelled across different provinceswith-in Canada, it is mandatory to let us know in advance.

PARENTS: You can help! Please help your children read and understand these guidelines if youdecide to send them for their classes at the studio.We have given the full control to ourparents to make the decision of whether to send the children to the studio or continue theirclasses on ZOOM. We recommend to encourage the students to take safety as a priority andthen learn to keep themselves safe.