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Just in time for grad! Prom dresses become phalluses in Calgary – and get sorta censored

Going to Venice, dah-link? Yeah, me neither. But there is a free official Venice send-off party this Thursday that’s a little easier to get to.

The Canadian government has decided to dole out $6 mil in matching funds to arts groups like Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Banff Centre, the Calgary Philharmonic and the Edmonton Folk Festival; not much vis arts except MANIF Quebec, but nice to see.

The Ontario government boosts the Ontario Arts Council Budget by $5 million, bringing total funding for the year to $60 mil. I'm glad to see this; last year the OAC spread $40 million among 1,300 individual artists and 874 organizations across Ontario. But why's their funding jump less than the ROM's or the AGO's?

The feds are set today to release a few mil for "tourism-drawing arts events" like the Toronto International Film Fest as part of a newly created “Marquee Tourism Events Program”. Sadly, the monies can’t go to regular operations or deficits but must be new programs or new marketing initiatives.

After dropping out of many sponsorships due to tobacco advertising restrictions, Imperial Tobacco is getting back into the arts funding game with yet another new Canadian arts prize—the Arts Acheivement award. This one is worth $75,000 and goes to organizations, not individuals.

The Star's Murray Whyte has a nice profile of Canada’s Venice commish Barbara Fischer

The Globe's Sarah Milroy pans a new exhibit of native art at the AGO, but gives props a new exhibit of young BC artists at the National Gallery

The Coast's Sue Carter Flinn notes that dogs are having their day at gallery in Halifax

An arts centre opens in Vancouver’s contested downtown eastside

BC arts groups say funding has been frozen in the face of an election

Vue Weekly's Amy Fung says Edmonton’s art scene is “No Killer, All Filler”

Image of Kristin Ivey's "The Phallus Series" from The New Gallery