City doles out $280K in one-time grants

Brandon City Council gave out $280,000 in one-time grant funding over the weekend as part of budget deliberations.

The grants are going to eight organizations and one city initiative, and had no impact on raising property taxes as they were funded through a 2025 operating surplus.

One of the recipients was the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, which received $40,000.

“An extra $40,000 gives us that kind of flexibility,” artistic director and curator Lucie Lederhendler told the Sun on Wednesday.

“This is the first time that we’ve ever received any cash funding from the city, and it’s a really touching vote of confidence in our value,” she said.

Other grants approved by council include $25,000 each for the Daly House Museum and the Brandon Downtown Development Corporation, $20,000 each for the Helping Hands soup kitchen and Brandon General Museum and Archives, $18,500 to the Community Wellness Collaborative and $1,500 to the Western Manitoba Regional Library.

An additional $30,000 was put aside for the city’s reconciliation initiatives.

As well, up to $100,000 in funding was approved for the Brandon Downtown BIZ, contingent on how much money the BIZ is able to fundraise. The grant was provided as an amendment to the funding already in place for the organization, but was still considered one-time funding, city spokesperson Merrilea Metcalf said.

The art gallery had requested $40,000 for three years, but council approved only a one-year commitment because the money was drawn from a surplus, and there was no guarantee another surplus would exist in following years.

Coun. Shaun Cameron (Ward 4) said at Saturday’s budget meeting that he would like to see administration look at adding a memorandum of understanding for future budgets, in order to continue the art gallery funding.

Lederhendler said the gallery is trying to plan for the succession of its managing director, Kevin Conlin, who is getting closer to retiring.

She said Conlin is so integral to the operation that the art gallery has found itself dependent on him.

“What we’re trying to do is really strategically restructure so that those positions are what keep the gallery going, and not his very specific niche expertise, and that requires a lot of very subtle mentoring,” she said.

The mentoring that goes into the position is the reason for the three-year funding request.

Not receiving the multi-year funding now means the gallery will change its approach to hiring and mentorship, Lederhendler added.

“We don’t have a safety net that can cover three years, but we do have one that can cover one.”

She said the gallery works hard every year to submit a balanced budget, but “there just is no money for an extra salary.”

Daly House Museum curator Eileen Trott said the additional funding will allow the museum to meet its summer student obligations and purchase additional supplies.

“We’re very appreciative of the city giving us that increase for 2026. It means a lot to us,” Trott said.

She said there are a lot of costs that come with operating a museum that people don’t typically think about. Those include buying materials to help maintain its collections and sustaining the garden.

If Daly House hadn’t received additional funding, it would have had to cut back on the number of summer students and the exhibits it was planning to bring in, and would have to increase it fundraising so a fence can be repaired.

Having summer student positions is an important resource for the museum, Trott added.

“Given that we know we’re a small community, there’s not much opportunities for people who are interested in working in the heritage sector to gain experience that might help them with their future careers,” she said.

“Being able to offer a position that gives a person an overall view of what it’s like to operate a small museum is a wonderful way of getting these people’s toes wet in the field.”

Helping Hands’ $20,000 grant was requested by the organization as one-time funding on top of its annual $30,000 grant. The group also asked for a $15,000 lump sum to create a strategic plan.

Over the weekend, the amount for the strategic plan was reduced to $2,500, though council decided to deny that portion of the funding in a split vote.

Coun. Shawn Berry (Ward 7) expressed concern with the $2,500 request as it was significantly smaller than the original $15,000 request.

“When you come and ask for $15,000 for a plan and find out it’s only $2,500, you’ve kind of lost a little bit of my confidence,” he said, adding that organizations making requests should be providing an accurate number for what’s needed and not ask for an inflated total.

Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Ward 2) said while he didn’t disagree with Berry, he has seen huge differences in costs for strategic plans when he has applied for them.

Requests for comment from the Brandon Downtown Development Corporation and Community Wellness Collaborative weren’t answered by press time on Wednesday.

» alambert@brandonsun.com