Alcan takeover bid threatens arts sponsorship

Numerous local arts groups and festivals could be at risk of losing sponsorship should Canadian aluminum producer Alcan fall victim to the $33-billion hostile takeover bid launched May 7 by its U.S. rival Alcoa.

Alcan, headquartered in Montreal, currently supports such organizations as the Vancouver International Children's Festival, Arts Umbrella, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, and the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.

"When one company that has been supporting various arts organizations is taken over by another, it's really up to that other company to decide whether or not they're going to continue funding those organizations," UBC law professor Joel Bakan, writer and cocreator of the 2003 documentary The Corporation , told the Straight . "They'll have different priorities, just like other aspects of Alcan's business plan. Alcoa will have different priorities and different ideas about what to do with its philanthropy dollars."

Alcan has been the title sponsor of the dragon-boat festival for the past 10 years, according to festival chair Jas Kasli. Kasli would not reveal the size of Alcan's sponsorship, but told the Straight it amounted to a significant sum of money. "They give us financial contributions...and from what I understand, by the time they make the investment it's double what they give us, because they make a lot of internal investment as well and bring in their teams from Kitimat."

Kevin Lowery, a spokesperson for Alcoa, said it's impossible at this point to predict which organizations would continue to receive sponsorship dollars should the company take over Alcan. "We don't own the company yet and we don't know what those sponsorships are," he said. "I can tell you that we are very active through both our foundation as well as the activities that the company does, and we would see absolutely no reason why we wouldn't continue to do that, if not more," he added.

Bakan stressed that corporate sponsorships have to do less with philanthropy than marketing. "Corporations don't do this because they're nice guys and gals," he said. "They do it because they feel that it will brand them in the community or position them in the community or have good effects in terms of their reputation that can ultimately–perhaps indirectly, but ultimately–be justified on business terms as somehow promoting the interest of the company."

According to Alcoa's Web site, the company sponsors numerous environmental, health, and sustainability initiatives in Canada but does not sponsor any arts organizations in the country.

Bakan noted that if a company focused on branding itself as a pro-environment organization takes over a company that has focused on the arts, "the priority of company A to continue to brand itself as pro environment rather than pro art is going to end up being a problem for the various arts groups that were supported by company B."

Should the dragon-boat festival lose its Alcan dollars, said Kasli, it would be a "significant loss". "We would have to definitely get someone to come in and buck up and be a title sponsor." But he remained optimistic: "Given the climate and the industry here in Vancouver, sponsors come and go. That is part of the game for any organization. We would survive and we could continue on."

On May 22, Alcan urged its shareholders not to accept Alcoa's buyout bid.

> Jessica Werb

Arts Club youth program secures funding for another year

The Arts Club Theatre Company has received $10,000 from the RBC Foundation, which will go toward supporting a second year of the theatre company's LEAP: Playwriting Intensive program for aspiring young playwrights. Last year, 14 students from Grades 10 to 12 participated in a pilot of the four-month program, which includes classroom discussions, visits to Arts Club performances, feedback from professional playwrights, and a public reading of student-written work by professional actors. "It's brought some really new energy to us," Howard Jang, general manager of the Arts Club, told the Straight . "I'm surprised how much we gained from it as a company." For more information about LEAP, visit www.artsclub.com/leap/ .

> Jessica Werb

Money from the wings

In another windfall for a local theatre company, Pi Theatre announced at the May 20 opening of its latest show, Arabian Night , that it has received a whopping $100,000 infusion from an anonymous private donor. The gift has been earmarked for The Eighth Land , a Pi production slated for May 2008. The William Maranda play is an "environmental tragedy" set on Easter Island, told in the style of classical Greek playwright Aeschylus.

> Brian Lynch

B.C. birthday cash for local museums

Tourism, Sport and the Arts Minister Stan Hagen has announced a new $350,000 grant program for museums and heritage organizations in B.C. The grants, to be awarded in sums of up to $10,000, will be to help in planning exhibits and events to commemorate 2008's 150th anniversary of the founding of the Crown Colony of B.C. For details and application guidelines, visit www.museumsassn.bc.ca/ .

> Jessica Werb

New festival to explore the art of song

The Vancouver International Song Institute is hosting a new art-song festival from June 17 to 27. Held at UBC, Song: The Audible Soul will be geared toward singers, pianists, music teachers, and serious listeners and will include lectures, master classes, and evening concerts. Guest artists and faculty will include Canadian vocalists Tracy Dahl, Benjamin Butterfield, and Tyler Duncan. For more information, visit www.visi.ca/ .

> Jessica Werb