Steinbach Arts Council opens Giving Campaign
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Steinbach Arts Council has opened its Giving Campaign for the giving season.
“We’re a registered charity. We’re one of the largest rural arts programming charities in Western Canada. We do a huge amount of work in our region. I think our community is lucky to have a resource like this,” said executive director David Klassen. “We believe in it and every contribution is tax (refundable). We’re a charity and we’re proud to pour all of our donations back into our programming.”
SAC has held this fundraiser for the past three years and is looking to raise between $100,000 and $125,000. More than 40 percent of its budget is raised by fundraisers, grants, and donations. Klassen said this keeps the organization on its toes.
“We need to raise a lot of funds to make this organization possible and a lot of people don’t realize that. We get support from the city and many corporate partners but the opportunity to ask for private donations is a part of that whole system and it makes our world go around.”
Money donated goes back into programming to pay for classes such as the visual arts, concerts, workshops, and to pay for staffing and the building. It keeps costs low while offering quality programing and instruction.
Since 2019, the number of classes and workshops has doubled. In order to meet demand, SAC has invested more into the instructors and managing its space to squeeze extra classes in. Klassen said there is still a waiting list, but SAC is able to accommodate more requests more often now because of careful management of class and studio space.
SAC has expanded its visual arts programs, culinary classes, pottery programs, and after school arts programs, which are free for kids from Grade 5 to 12.
“It should be noted that we don’t have any funding now that sustains those classes for us. When we talk about where the money goes, it would also help support those costs which we don’t recover any revenue generated from those classes, so our instructors and supplies and facility all costs us money to run those classes,” said Klassen.
To donate to SAC visit steinbacharts.ca.