The Calgary Queer History Project is staying with the Fairy Tales Film Fest theme, as you still have two days of Festival offerings to attend!
In the festival’s early years, ticket sales and sponsorships funded the completely volunteer run event. This was done in large part to avoid the drama of homophobia in public arts funding that had been happening throughout Alberta in the 1990s.
Queer cultural programming deserves the access to the same funding sources as every other cultural event – something that seems self-evident now. However, as recently as 14 years ago, there was still a strong censoring aspect in the community. The offended tax-payer argument is a perennial one, if you consider the recent drama about funding public art in Calgary. The basis of which is: if I personally do not like an artwork it should not be funded.
We are happy to report in 2014, Fairy Tales received public support from all three levels of government. The below editorial by Calgary Sun columnist, Rick Bell, on June 16th, 2000 gives one the tenor at the latest fin de siècle.
Thank you everyone who support us in the recent Telus StoryHive competition. Although we did not make it to the final 10 – we were close – we received a lot of positive feedback and regard for the project going forward. Stay tuned.
[KA]
Calgary Gay History 