For those who want to stay right up to date with what’s happening in the City on COVID-19, please join me daily on the City of Victoria’s Facebook page at 2:30pm. And please share this link and information with your friends and neighbours. We’re getting lots of emails with lots of questions and we’ll do our best to answer them and keep you and the media up to date with these live daily updates. I’ll also post the videos here from now on. This video is my address from Tuesday. We’ll be back Wednesday at 2:30pm.
News from the federal government
Today, new federal regulations came into force that allow law enforcement agencies to issue tickets to individuals who do not comply with orders under the Federal Quarantine Act. The Quarantine Act covers people arriving in or departing from Canada, providing measures for screening, health assessment and medical examination of travelers.
Also this morning Prime Minster Trudeau gestured towards help for small businesses with respect to rent relief and also supports for people who don’t qualify for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. We were also glad to see the tourism sector mentioned in the Prime Minister’s remarks this morning. We’ll look forward to seeing what’s to come – hopefully well in advance of May 1st. I meet with business leaders twice a week; during this morning’s call they stressed that the pressure of rent coming due May 1st is being felt keenly by business owners in the city.
News from the provincial government
The Province announced over the weekend that they are partnering with Creative BC to launch Showcase BC. Showcase BC will be an online hub to for live performances and entertainment. This program comes with new grants for BC musicians, including one-time micro-grants of $500 to emerging artists and $2,000 to established artists for livestreaming, songwriting and professional development. Head here to learn more and to stream, search for, and submit made in BC performances.
Last week the Province also invested $3 million in public libraries. While libraries are closed digital resources are still available and growing – ebooks, audiobooks, and other content. The fantastic staff at the Greater Victoria Library are keeping the shelves well stocked and this provincial funding will provide a bit more assistance to do so. Don’t have a library card? Not to worry, you can head to the library’s website to sign up for a library card online and start reading, watching and learning.
News from the City
The City’s news today also focuses on arts and culture. Although the world may look and feel different right now, art – whether visual, performance or music expression – will always be here to help us better understand ourselves, others and our surroundings.
Later this week the City will be launching a call for entries to the 2020 City of Victoria Book Prizes. And currently, the City is looking for the eighth installation of artwork to be displayed in the Commercial Alley Art Gallery. The artist or artist team selected to present their work will be contracted from August 2020 to August 2021.
This competition is open to artists who are residents of the Capital Region, including the Gulf Islands. Visual and multi-media disciplines are accepted. Submissions closed at the end of today. What I find so wonderful is the significant amount of interest in the program this year. We’ve received more applications than ever – which speaks to the power of art to carry us through these challenging times.
News from the community
Keeping on an arts and culture theme, CHEK TV has announced a free online concert happening this Friday night featuring all Vancouver Island artists, including the City’s own artist in residence Kathryn Calder, and headlined by David Foster and Randy Bachman.
At 8pm on Friday CHEK you can tune in to ‘Rock for Relief: A Living Room Concert for Vancouver Island’ commercial free on TV, YouTube, and CHEK’s Facebook page. The concert will also raise funds for the Greater Victoria Rapid Relief Fund, and the Island Response Fund. Thanks in advance to all the artists (who we know are rehearsing hard right now) for generously donating their time and their talents to this important event.
Finally, a special thanks to everyone who was so respectful and thoughtful on walks in Beacon Hill Park or along Dallas Road this weekend. As I mentioned last week, city staff were on-hand in parks to talk to folks about physical distancing and recreation, and they reported back that residents are looking after each other out there. Let’s keep that up!