Received in my inbox this morning a link to the City of Vancouver’s new arts advisory committee, a topic that was laconically debated at my local this morning amongst househusbands, posties, actors and construction workers. Some felt the committee was a waste of taxpayers’ dollars, while others, such as myself, argued that municipal committees have been known to save dollars, even increase them through thoughtful recommendations.

Of those partisan to an arts advisory committee, some were upset with certain members of the group, one of whom performed the vomit induction gesture at the mention of Graeme Berglund and Becki Chan -- the former a faux mystic libertarian who applies centuries old carpet selling techniques to the promotion and distribution of art objects (The Cheaper Show), the latter a “spatial designer” and member of the cultural brokerage house Cause + Affect, who are known for marketing condominiums and their corporatization of the Pechu Kucha presentation method.

For my part I was happy to see Graeme and Becki on this committee, since they will find themselves amidst some of the committee's more critically-engaged, socially-responsible membership, active thinkers like VIVO's Amy Kazymerchyk and Neworld Theatre's Marcus Youssef. Indeed, my "positive spin" (with apologies to Vancouver is Awesome) is that Graeme and Becki will, like Vancouver taxpayers, benefit from the composition of this group and come to know the city less as market state step-and-fetch-its than as proprioceptive participants.