Impact of TAC Funding

The Case for Municipal Arts Funding

"We must put creativity at the heart of Toronto’s economic development strategy." -- Mayor Miller, Agenda for Prosperity, February 2008.

City support for Toronto’s artists and arts organizations increases investment from other levels of government, increases employment in the arts sector, creates more performances, festivals, screenings, readings and exhibitions produced in Toronto and ensures greater arts accessibility for all ages and incomes in all Toronto neighbourhoods.

Grants allocated by Toronto Arts Council directly support:

Creativity:

• 900 new works of art are created annually with support from TAC.

Economy:

• 15,000 artistic and administrative staff are paid by TAC funded organizations
• $52,000,000 is generated annually in ticket sales.
• For every $1 granted to an arts organization by TAC, $16.64 is received from other levels of government, the private sector or earned revenue.

Arts Access:

• 18,000 performances, exhibitions, events are presented annually.
• 7.5 million people including 1.5 million children and youth attend TAC supported events annually.

Arts Space:

• TAC funded organizations maintain or support over 400 spaces in Toronto including purpose-built theatres, concert halls and galleries and also present programs in parks, churches, schools, libraries, community centres and non-traditional spaces.

Community Engagement:

• 22,000 volunteers spend over 550,000 hours working for TAC funded organizations

Toronto currently lags in arts funding:

Geographic comparisons: Toronto spends $16 per capita on arts and culture (2005). This is half the amount spent in Canada’s other major cities: Montreal spends $33 and Vancouver $26 per capita. These amounts are significantly less than comparable figures for major American and European cities.

Time-weighted comparisons: Toronto’s support for the arts sector, as a percentage of total budgets, has been steadily declining since 1990. In 1990, City Council funding equaled 9% of arts organizations’ budgets through grants provided by TAC and Metro. Today, TAC is granting less than 6.5% of total arts organizations’ budgets.

The Request

In order to meet its Culture Plan ten-year spending target as well as to satisfy the matched growth recommendation in the Martin Prosperity Institute Report, Toronto Arts Council’s Board is requesting a city funding increase of 77% over five years.

Increased funding to TAC will result in five major outcomes:

• Increased employment of artists/arts workers
• Increased investment in Toronto from other funders & the private sector
• Increased innovation and creative output from Toronto’s arts community
• Increased access to space for artists to create and present work
• Increased access to arts programming for Torontonians of all ages and in all neighbourhoods as a result of more arts events, reduced ticket prices and more free programming

Increased TAC funding will also increase funds invested from other sources. With every dollar granted by TAC to arts organizations generating an additional $16.64 in other revenue, the annual impact of this funding increase on Toronto and its arts community will be over $25 million.

The impact on Toronto’s neighbourhoods and communities of increased arts funding includes:

• creation of a more beautiful city
• promotion of understanding between cultures
• provision of opportunities for at-risk youth
• attraction of business
• increase of citizen engagement
• support for underserviced neighbourhoods
• increase of tourism
• reduction of crime
• increase of volunteerism
• improvement of the economy
• creation of community pride
• increase in community organizational capacity