Toronto’s new cultural action plan, which proposes a 10-year road map for the local arts industry, doesn’t mince words when describing the current state of the sector: “Culture in Toronto is in a state of crisis,” it says at the top of the 76-page report.
It’s a crisis that was fomented under a perfect storm. First came the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered arts organizations across the city, leaving companies that relied on a steady stream of in-person audiences in a tailspin. As the sector slowly reopened, these same organizations were then met with inflationary pressures and a cost-of-living crisis that led to a mass exodus of artists from the sector. At the same time, arts funding across all levels of government has remained stagnant, while other sources of revenue from private and corporate donors have largely evaporated.
The numbers are striking. During the pandemic, roughly 13 per cent of all live music venues in the city permanently closed. All were licensed clubs or small venues with an audience capacity of under 300. Most of these closures never made the news. But this quiet toll has extended to other parts of the cultural sector, too: shuttering performance venues, artist studios and rehearsal venues throughout the city, rendering the industry a shell of its former self.
The city’s ambitious new action plan, which replaces a previous iteration from 2011, aims to reverse those trends. Among its key priorities is a multimillion-dollar proposal to boost funding to the Toronto Arts Council, the city’s primary cultural grants body. If passed, it would represent a generational increase to the organization’s budget.
But questions remain about whether the funding injection would actually help the industry to recover after nearly half a decade of cuts and setbacks. Proponents of the multi-year plan also face an uphill battle winning political and public support amid competing visions about what role the city should play to support the beleaguered cultural sector.
“It’s a pretty difficult time to be a new company right now, trying to create something sustainable in the arts,” said Victor Pokinko, the executive producer of Toronto’s Bad Hats Theatre, which is still relatively new to the scene having been established less than a decade ago. “We’re having to be scrappy about it, relying on the funding that exists but also trying to figure out new models for sustainability that other companies haven’t had to deal with in the past.”
The Toronto Arts Council, which offers funds to artists and cultural organizations in the city, currently operates with a grants budget of approximately $23.8 million. That figure has remained relatively unchanged over the past five years and through the pandemic.
Meanwhile, demand for that limited pool of resources has only climbed. Last year, there were more than 2,600 applicants seeking grants, of which 35 per cent were successful. A decade ago in 2014, there were just under 2,300 applicants, of which 43 per cent received funds.
“The demand has definitely outstripped the budget that we have,” noted Kelly Langgard, director and CEO of the Toronto Arts Council. She estimates about $12 million worth of “grant-worthy” projects go unfunded each year because of the limited pool of money.
It’s a similar story at the two other major grants bodies available to artists in Toronto. Last year, the Ontario Arts Council budget stood at $57.1 million, similar to the previous four years (except for a one-time boost at the start of the pandemic). Similarly, the Canada Council for the Arts grants pool received an injection of funds at the start of the pandemic before slipping in 2022-23 to a figure below 2020 levels.
The recommendation in the city’s new cultural action plan would see the Toronto Arts Council’s grants budget increased by $2 million each year over the next five years, bringing it to over $30 million by 2029. The increases would also be pegged to inflation.
If adopted, the proposal would fulfil a key pledge of Mayor Olivia Chow’s 2023 election campaign. It would also come after years of dogged lobbying by the council, pressing city councillors to increase its funding.
Shelley Carroll, the city’s budget chief and co-chair of the advisory panel that helped develop the action plan, said the investment is important to support the industry.
“We knew post-pandemic that the culture sector was struggling more than most and that they have a different path to recovery because audience patterns have changed,” she said. “So we knew we were going to have to press the reset button for the culture sector.”
But this “reset” is likely to face stiff opposition amid a broader, ongoing conversation about how public funds should be used — if at all — to prop up the industry.
Arts funding is one of the most contentious issues, behind policing, each budget season. Last year during the public consultation process, there was nearly an equal share of those who said investments in the arts should be increased and those who said funding should be slashed.
Those who support greater funding are likely to point to the economic benefits of these investments. According to the arts council, in 2019, every $1 of grant money issued to the sector resulted in $15 of impact to the local economy. There’s also the argument that investment in the arts helps foster a better quality of life for the city’s residents.
“We’re at a point where Torontonians are feeling very isolated from one another, and the sense of belonging and safety in our communities is down,” said Kelly Wilhelm, head of the Cultural Policy Hub at OCAD University. “We need to look at those issues with a holistic lens. Absolutely, it’s about good infrastructure, the provision of policing and other security services, but it’s also about having a place where people are able to express who they are and be welcomed into places where there’s celebration and engagement.”
Some have even argued the city’s proposal doesn’t go far enough. The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, which represents theatre, dance and opera companies in the city, said the investments are “a welcome start” but is pushing the city to front-load the Toronto Arts Council budget increase, with a full $10-million boost starting this year.
Others have been quick to criticize the cultural action plan. Shortly after it was released, the Toronto Police Association, which is lobbying the municipal government to increase investments in policing, said the proposal was “not the answer” to support community well-being.
There will also undoubtedly be questions about whether the arts sector is too reliant on public money. Since the pandemic, funding models in the industry have significantly shifted. Philanthropic donations and corporate sponsorships are on the decline, driving cultural organizations to increasingly lean on government grants for support. But it’s often when the arts sector is most in need of financial assistance — during periods of economic stress — that governments are least able to provide it.
The recommended boost to the Toronto Arts Council budget is part of a proposed $35-million investment in the sector over 10 years. It includes calls for one million square feet of new cultural space in the city, with a focus on neighbourhoods outside the downtown core.
Public support will be key to the success of a long-term plan such as this one. Daniel Silver, a professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough whose research focuses on social theory, cities, culture and cultural policy, said this effort to bolster cultural access across the city could help win more public support.
“People need to see the investments in their neighbourhoods and see that their lives are meaningfully improved in one way or another,” he said. “So I think it’s good that the city is really focusing on this kind of wider delivery, but now they actually have to deliver.”
Time will tell whether Toronto will follow through on the proposal. A decade is a long time in politics and an action plan is just that: a plan. But the development and implementation of this document will certainly revive the age-old debate about the value of arts in our city and how, if at all, the sector should be prioritized.
