Arts may get increased funding

The Alberta arts community may recieve a financial boost in the next provincial budget, the community development minister says.

Gene Zwozdesky was speaking to delegates at the Canadian Conference for the Arts, being held in Edmonton this week.

"The fact is, I do have a request in that has succeeded through nine of 10 stages," Zwozdesky said, adding that cultural and arts events are often overlooked in Alberta's budgets. "In our province, unfortunately, we haven't seen an injection, an increase, in the arts (funding) for 12 or 15 years, so I'll keep working on it."

The Canadian Conference for the Arts is the country's largest arts and culture advocacy group, with more than 250,000 members. More than 100 of them have gathered in Edmonton for the conference.

Zwozdesky also promised to fund a study to examine the economic impact the arts have on the province.