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::OTHER NEWS::
LE Newsletter - January 12, 2012
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Toronto Lags In Municipal Funding For The Arts: Study
Source:
www.globeandmail.com - By James Adams
(Jan 11, 2012) A study of
municipal investment
in culture in five
major Canadian cities indicates that Toronto, our largest
metropolis, is faltering in efforts to increase per capita
funding while the others - Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal and
Calgary - demonstrate a more robust commitment to the arts.
Prepared by Hamilton-based Hill Strategies Research in
association with the five municipalities, the report, released
this week, compares data gathered between 2006 and 2009.
Toronto's civic government spent $19 per person on culture in
2009, a 12 per cent increase from 2006, whereas Montreal's tally
was $55, up 34 per cent from 2006, and Calgary's $42, a 55 per
cent increase.
Indeed, per capita-wise, Toronto ranked last in 2008 and 2009
among the five cities surveyed and third, behind Montreal and
Vancouver, in 2006 and 2007.
In 2003, Toronto city council agreed to try to reach a per
capita investment in culture of $25 by 2008. At that time, the
city's per capita investment, in both operating and capital
expenditures, was $14.64. By 2008 the statistic was only $18.
The $25 target was affirmed again by council in votes in August
2010 and May 2011 - but based on the Hill Strategies report, it
could be the early 2020s before that goal is reached, if ever.
Council, in fact, is facing a 10 per cent cut to Toronto's arts
budget proposed by the city's budget committee.
According to Hill Strategies, the five-city average in per
capita municipal investment for 2009 was $35, an increase of 46
per cent from 2006. Pacing that statistic was Calgary, which saw
its per capita cultural investment grow by an impressive 175 per
cent (to $42 from $15), the largest, on average, of the five
cities surveyed.
The report also found that in 2009, 34 per cent of all "cultural
workers" in Canada lived in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary
and Vancouver, with the B.C.'s largest city having the highest
concentration (7.2 per cent), followed by Montreal (6.4 per
cent) and Toronto (5.9 per cent). The overall average for
"cultural workers" in the Canadian labour force is 3.3 per cent.
The study also touched on library spending: $53 per capita was
invested in library operations in the five surveyed cities in
2009. Only two cities - Toronto and Vancouver - topped that
national average, with $69 and $61 per capita, respectively.
However, municipal support for libraries seems largely sluggish
or flat: Vancouver's per capita investment in libraries for 2006
was only $60, Montreal's budged only 16 per cent, to $43 from
$37 three years previous.
Net per capita municipal investment in culture in five
Canadian cities:
Montreal: $55 (2009); $41 (2006)
Vancouver: $47 (2009); $33 (2006)
Calgary: $42 (2009); $15 (2006)
Ottawa: $28 (2009); $15 (2006)
Toronto: $19 (2009); $17 (2006)
Source: Hill Strategies Research Inc. |
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::ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WITH A CANADIAN TWIST::
