Press and Media Resources

This Press Room has been provided to give journalists, researchers, and all interested parties quick and easy access to information about Toronto Arts Council and its sister organization Toronto Arts Council Foundation. Additional articles and documents can be found on our downloads page. Also, check out our publications section for published material available through TAC and TACF.

PREMISE

A great city fosters a vibrant cultural scene and recognizes the importance of the arts to the quality of life of its citizens. Strategic municipal arts investment is a key factor in generating a healthy city economy, promoting cultural tourism, creating training and employment opportunities, and seeding the cultural industries.

Press Releases

Shortlist Announced for 2007 Toronto Arts Council Foundation Awards August 13, 2007

2007 Toronto Arts Council Foundation Awards Jury Announced July 30, 2007

Toronto Arts Council Foundation Awards Call for Nominations July 9, 2007

TAC announces grants to 343 arts organizations June 27, 2007

TAC Elects New Members to Board of Directors February 13, 2007

Toronto Arts Council Foundation Award Recipients October 5, 2006

United Way and Toronto Arts Council Foundation support programs in high-poverty neighbourhoods
August 1 2006

Toronto Arts Council Awards Grants to 33 Media Artists January 17, 2006

Toronto Arts Council Awards Grants to 33 Music Creators and Composers December 6, 2005

Toronto Arts Council & TAC Foundation Elect New Members to Boards of Directors November 17, 2005

Toronto Arts Council Awards Grants to 54 Visual Artists November 15, 2005

Toronto Arts Council Awards Grants to 77 Writers - September 13, 2005

Claire Hopkinson Appointed TAC/TACF New Executive Director - June 28, 2005

The Creative City, Block by Block: Creators and Communities

An artist-led symposium on imagining neighbourhood change report

Symposium Report: April 2007-06-21

Executive Summary: April 2007

Statistics

7,500,000: Number of people who attended TAC supported exhibitions,
performances, festivals

18,000,000: Number of performances, exhibitions, festivals produced by
TAC grant recipients

1,535,000: Number of above attendees who were children or youth

75%: Percentage of TAC grants less than $10,000

33,000: Number of volunteers working on behalf of TAC grant recipients

1,028,000: Number of hours dedicated by volunteers to TAC grant recipients

21,000: Number of resident artists in the City of Toronto

$23,500: Average earnings of Canadian artists (lowest 25th percentile of average earnings)

100,000+: Number of Torontonians directly employed in the culture sector (or 8% of the workforce)

$17: Number of dollars received from other sources
for each dollar granted by TAC

City of Toronto Support for the Arts

Source: Department of Economic Development, Culture and Tourism, City of Toronto, June 12, 2002

THE IMPACT OF ARTS FUNDING

For every dollar granted through Toronto Arts Council, an additional $13 is raised from other sources.

Quotes

“The ability to attract creative people in arts and culture fields and to be open to diverse groups of people of different ethnic, racial and lifestyle groups provides distinct advantages to regions in generating innovations, growing and attracting high-technology industries, and spurring economic growth.”

Competing on Creativity: Placing Ontario’s Cities in a North American Context
Meric Gertler and Richard Florida, November 2002

“I’ve never had a grant and I’m not looking for a grant... But I’m dependent on what arts granting agencies do. Over the last 30 years I’ve built an organization of people who have come out of the non-profit sector, and I am now employing 1,345 people. With another 10 years’ investment in the arts, Toronto could become an exporter of major shows.”

David Mirvish, owner of Mirvish Productions

"Public funding … is a primary means of conferring artistic legitimacy - through the peer review common to many public funding mechanisms - thereby enhancing an arts organization’s ability to raise private funds, to succeed both artistically and commercially, and to generously pay back the public for its support."

“Given that creativity has emerged as the single most important source of economic growth, the best route to continued prosperity is by investing in our stock of creativity in all its forms, across the board. This entails more than just pumping up R&D spending or improving education, though both are important. It requires increasing investments in the multidimensional and varied forms of creativity – arts, music, culture, design and related fields – because all are linked and flourish together.”

“Toronto’s arts, culture and heritage help define our City and make it a great place to live, work and visit. Major cultural capital projects are driving a cultural revitalization but we must take action to ensure this momentum is not lost. As Mayor I will provide the leadership that will help all Torontonians benefit from this cultural renewal.”

“Any city that aspires to greatness must be internationally competitive. But, great world cities have always been more than just economic powers. They have also been centres for the arts, creativity and innovation – a reminder that quality of life and living standards are tightly linked.”

For the latest arguments in support of increasing arts funding, go to Toronto Arts Council’s latest budget submission.