In a few hours I'll be heading off to Vancouver airport for the flight back to the UK. It's raining out there, real writing weather. So I thought I'd set down a few quick thoughts about the event I've just attended, the <a href="http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/" target="_blank">Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival</a>. This is my last public event of the year and I have to say far and away the best. In fact the best in many a long year.

If you're a resident of British Columbia who doesn't know about the festival please read this too, because this festival, along with many other of your arts institutions, is in peril. And it really is something special, trust me. Here are a few reasons why.

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	<li>Vancouver has catholic tastes. The author lineup runs the gamut, from literary to popular, poetry to kids' workshops. There are plenty of big names, like Sarah Waters, Margaret Atwood and John Irving. But there are plenty of lesser known names from Canada and beyond.</li>
	<li>Vancouver is fun. Events brimmed over with enthusiasm and good humour.</li>
	<li>The festival never forgot that it was for Writers and <em>Readers</em>. This wasn't some closed, annual cliquey club. The public was brought in as equal participants everywhere I went, asking good, intelligent questions, staying around to chat afterwards. Authors weren't stuck on lofty pedestals. We were all in this together.</li>
	<li>Location, location, location. The whole event takes place on Granville Island, a curious former industrial enclave of the city that's now a burgeoning arts community. It has theatres and other venues of varying sizes, a great market, restaurants, cafes. You could attend the whole thing without setting foot off the island. A more perfect location for an arts festival it's hard to imagine.</li>
	<li>Volunteers. A whole army of them, always with a smile, involved, engaged and ever ready to help.</li>
	<li>Organisation. The administration side was as smooth as I've ever seen, everything from gathering authors together pre-panel to making sure the mikes work. Even the festival brochure was a work of art.</li>
	<li>Great moderation. If there was any of the 'one question, pass it down the line' school of panels here I never saw it. The moderators were great, letting the conversation just freely enough to be improvisational but keeping a light rein so that it stayed in focus.</li>
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I don't think anyone who attended this festival could be in any doubt about its worth. Yet the British Columbia government is threatening to make swingeing cuts in its support to arts events like this, and there are only a few weeks left in which this can be overturned. You can <a href="http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/community/advocacy" target="_blank">read some of the background here</a> and a briefing document is attached at the end of this article.

Leaving aside cultural and social issues let's talk money, since that's what politicians seem to care about most. During the four days I've been on Granville Island the festival has packed this place to the seams. I've met people who've flown from all over North America for this event. They filled the hotels, bars and restaurants, they shopped in the market, they spent and spent. Lots will come again -- I know I asked them. And lots will go further afield too when they return. This was my first visit to Vancouver and I have to say when that magic space appears for a holiday British Columbia is going to be high on the destination list because, thanks to the festival, I've got an inkling of what's here.

Arts events like this are living endorsements for the communities they serve, just as much if not more than expensive and flashy advertising and public relations campaigns. They give back much more than the little they take. I do hope the powers that be in British Columbia see the light and begin to realise how lucky they are to have treasures like this on their doorstep. There are plenty of other places in the world that must wish they were half as fortunate.

There... off the soapbox now. A simple thanks to Artistic Director Hal Wake and his staff and volunteers for a fantastic time. Good luck with the future.

<a title="culture-matters.pdf" href="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/vanc.jpgwp-content/uploads/2009/10/culture-matters.pdf">Culture matters</a>