Chutzpah! Festival acting managing director Jessica Gutteridge. <\/i>(photo by Tallulah Photography)<\/i><\/p>\n
After nearly 25 years at the forefront of Jewish arts and culture in Western Canada, Vancouver\u2019s international performing arts festival, Chutzpah!, faces an urgent financial crisis. And it needs your help to keep the stage lights on.<\/p>\n
Shifting priorities in government arts funding, as well as the impacts of Oct. 7 and the war in Gaza, have created a perfect storm resulting in a dramatic drop in revenue.<\/p>\n
How did this happen?<\/p>\n
Chutzpah! depends significantly on government grants. Presently, the stagnant pool of arts funding, alongside a growing number of applications, means fierce competition for fewer dollars. In addition, Jewish arts programming officially falls outside of funders\u2019 \u201cdesignated priority groups.\u201d Funders have told the festival that, this year, only 15-20% of proposals will be approved, and Chutzpah! has already been declined for several grants that it has received historically.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arts community, generally, is facing difficulties with sustainable government arts funding, as the funding pool has returned to pre-pandemic levels with more applicants seeking funding,\u201d explained artistic managing director Jessica Gutteridge. \u201cBut there are compounded challenges that Jewish performing arts and artists are facing, especially as tensions escalate locally in response to the war in\u00a0<\/span>Israel. Jewish organizations and events require additional security and access to funding is hampered by the fact that Jewish artists are\u00a0<\/span>excluded from funding priority\u00a0<\/span>categories, due to a misunderstanding that Jews are a marginalized ethnocultural group, and not solely a religious group.\u201d<\/p>\n Adding to the financial challenges, Chutzpah! opened last year within weeks of the Hamas attacks and war in Gaza, within an atmosphere of rising anti-Jewish hate that has been felt both globally and locally. Despite the festival\u2019s efforts to ensure the safety of performers, audience and staff, ticket sales suffered dramatically. With Jewish arts organizations and events in Vancouver, across Canada and elsewhere targeted with petitions and protests, the erasure of Jewish language, art and culture is, once again, a real threat. As a community, we cannot allow this to happen.<\/p>\n This is why Chutzpah! urgently needs support. The challenges the festival faces are serious, but not insurmountable, and organizers are taking several steps to try and secure its future.<\/p>\n Chutzpah! is speaking with new philanthropic foundations, exploring capacity-building needs in the short- and long-term. Increasing its capacity would give the organization more resources to diversify and grow revenue through grants, audience development plans,\u00a0<\/span>sponsorships, private donations, and more.<\/p>\n As well, the festival has established a circle of advisors \u2013 a few community members who are passionate about the arts, the Jewish community and Chutzpah! With their help, the festival hopes to strengthen its base of individual donors and identify prospective program sponsors and partners.<\/p>\n Chutzpah! is also reaching out directly to its community of patrons and supporters to share the challenges it is facing and ask for support.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been so heartened by the response to our campaign to date. We\u2019ve nearly reached 50% of our goal,\u201d said Gutteridge.<\/p>\n The goal is to raise $60,000 by May 31. There are five ways people can help:<\/p>\n 1. Contribute to the campaign<\/strong>. You can donate online directly and securely through CanadaHelps (or by cheque to Vancouver West Side Theatre Society).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 2. Help Chutzpah! grow its network of support<\/strong> by sharing information about the situation with like-minded friends\/colleagues. Add a brief note explaining why you support the festival and ask them if they might consider doing the same.<\/p>\n 3. If you or your contacts donate before May 31<\/strong>, campaign co-chair Emet Davis will match all gifts, up to a maximum of $10,000.<\/p>\n 4. Increase your own impact by offering a formal or informal matching gift challenge<\/strong> within your personal or professional networks. Simply direct friends and colleagues to the festival\u2019s donations page, confirm gifts, then issue your matching gift. Let the festival know if you do this.<\/p>\n 5. Be a sponsor<\/strong>. Sponsorships subsidize production and associated costs for festival performances. There is a range of giving levels, recognition and other benefits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWith rising costs for artists, staff and production expenses, all needed to bring the high-quality work that Chutzpah! audiences are accustomed to, we are looking to gather a small but mighty group of philanthropists and arts lovers to support us \u2013 producer-level supporters,\u201d said Gutteridge. \u201cThis group will help offset the challenges we\u2019re facing with limited government arts funding and rising costs, by financing specific content for the festival and joining us to share those programs with their\u00a0networks. We can match their artistic interests to our programming \u2013 for example, help produce a series of Israeli artists,\u00a0or step up to support an evening of klezmer music.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUntil several years ago, I only attended Chutzpah! occasionally,\u201d said Davis. \u201cTo be honest, I think I took for granted that it was a permanent fixture in our community. But, when I made a decision a few years ago to engage more meaningfully in Jewish community, the festival became part of my journey \u2013 it has deepened my knowledge and my sense of pride in my identity. Chutzpah! is about something much more than entertainment \u2013 it\u2019s about the preservation and celebration of our language, art and culture. Now more than ever, I\u2019m reminded we can\u2019t take that for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n Donate via chutzpahfestival.com or save Chutzpah! the processing fees and give by cheque to Vancouver West Side Theatre Society, mailed to 950 West 41st Ave., Vancouver, BC, V5Z 2N7.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2013 Courtesy Chutzpah! Festival<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chutzpah! Festival acting managing director Jessica Gutteridge. (photo by Tallulah Photography) After nearly 25 years at the forefront of Jewish arts and culture in Western Canada, Vancouver\u2019s international performing arts festival, Chutzpah!, faces an urgent financial crisis. And it needs your help to keep the stage lights on. Shifting priorities in government arts funding, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[31,20750,6317,23238,8039,22729,20478,22725,7971],"class_list":["post-44356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-chutzpah","tag-covid","tag-economic-crisis","tag-emet-davis","tag-fundraiser","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-jessica-gutteridge","tag-oct-7","tag-performing-arts"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}