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BC Arts Legacy

The BC Arts Legacy Fund provides an annual grant or grants for local artists, preferably involving young or emerging artists, to create or perform a work of art. As a way to ensure that this Arts Legacy funding benefits artists working in all disciplines, the granting focus changes each year, rotating among music (2021), dance (2022) theatre arts (2023), literary arts (2024) visual arts (2025) media arts (2026). Applications are received and adjudicated during Osprey’s Community grants cycle.

BACKGROUND
In the 1990s, Nelson hosted the BC Festival of the Arts, a showcase and workshop for young  and emerging artists from across British Columbia. In receiving the privilege of hosting this event together with the accompanying financial assistance from the provincial government, the local host organizing committee agreed that any profit generated by the festival would be turned over to the City of Nelson as a legacy to be used for a purpose consistent with the festival objectives.

The City of Nelson subsequently agreed to endow the BC Festival of the Arts Legacy proceeds with the Osprey Community Foundation for the purposes of providing an annual grant for local artists, preferably young or emerging artists, to create or perform a work of art. Osprey has supplemented the original endowment with matching funds from the Vancouver Foundation and the Columbia Basin Trust.

Notes About Donations to This Fund

  • In order to properly recognize all donors for their contributions, Osprey Community Foundation will share your name and donation amount with the fund advisor/honouree family if applicable, unless you have indicated that you would like to remain anonymous.
  • Donations to this fund will support the charity’s general charitable purposes. Statements about the fund’s purpose or how donations will be applied are reflective of the charity’s current intent and are subject to change and the final authority on any distribution rests with Osprey Community Foundation.
  • All donations to this fund will be permanently endowed.
"I’m very gratified to see my work re-machined—it becomes a larger part of language—from silent reading to spoken to a more dimensional work … and that listeners of the radio drama and readers of Diamond Grill, and viewers of the web based High Muck a Muck get to think deeply about racism, from within, as history, and as it is today. "
Fred Wah, Author of Diamond Grill