David Cecchetto runs 1/2 Marathon for Open Space

David Cecchetto runs 1/2 Marathon for Open Space

Fundraising

Date: Sunday, May 23, 2010

Mission: To raise $1,000 for Open Space.

In response to the extreme cuts to British Columbia arts funding, past Open Space Programming and Board committee member David Cecchetto conducted a personal fundraising drive. His goal was to raise $1, 000 towards programming funds for the Society.

David writes "As most of you know, arts programs in British Columbia are facing a 92% cut over the next year and half, cuts that are particularly aimed at the more "experimental" artistic communities (if you haven't heard about this, there is an informative article by Dániel Biró here, which also includes links to other sources of information). I was thinking about this during my daily walk to the public library, wondering just what a change of this proportion would feel like if it were immediately tangible, when I passed an advertisement for the forthcoming Olympic games (which themselves play an interesting role in the controversy) and had a thought: the ratio of future to current arts funding in BC—i.e. 8:100—is roughly equivalent to the relation between my daily 1500 metre walk to the public library and a 1/2 marathon (which is just over 21km). Thus, I have decided to perform my own personal marking of this cultural crisis by subjecting my body to a proportional degree of stress, and have committed to running a 1/2 marathon this coming May 23. To be clear, I have never run anywhere even close to this distance (nor, prior to arriving at this decision, really run at all).

The analogy between the two situations ends here; clearly, the 1/2 marathon has a much better chance of leaving me in good health than the government's cuts have of leaving behind any kind of viable experimental arts community. However, I remain hopeful that my relatively small effort might nonetheless do some good: to wit, I am asking that you consider sponsoring my run by donating $20 or more to the fund that I have set up to benefit the New Music program at the Open Space Artist-Run Centre in Victoria. Reaching the goal of $1,000 will significantly off-set the artists fees for one upcoming performance...a small but helpful achievement. Of course, if the goal is exceeded, all the better!"

-David Cecchetto

As of March 29, David was able to raise $605 of his goal of $1000.

Open Space thanks David for not only contributing to the Open Space programming budget, but for raising awareness of the BC funding cuts in a proactive and public manner.