November 26, 2013
The Canadian Arts Coalition has released its first analysis of the federal budget, A Missed Opportunity: Analysis of the 2013 Federal Budget from the perspective of the cultural sector.
This analysis offers an overview of federal funding to key cultural institutions, with a focus on the Department of Canadian Heritage. It also examines possible opportunities for the arts and cultural sector in other expenditure priorities announced in Budget 2013 and it provides a detailed analysis of expenditures of key programs across the arts, heritage and cultural industries.
Funding to the Canada Arts Presentation Fund held steady in 2013/14 at $29 million. The program “gives Canadians direct access to a variety of quality artistic experiences by providing financial assistance to arts presenters and the organizations that support them” (Department of Canadian Heritage website). Funding to this program has not been affected as yet by the Budget 2012 cuts but it is up for renewal next year. If it is not renewed, the program will sunset at the end of the 2014/15 fiscal year.
Funding to the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund remained unchanged at $27.4 million. The program aims to “improve physical conditions for artistic creativity and innovation’ and to ‘increase access for Canadians to performing arts, visual arts, media arts, and to museum collections and heritage displays” (Department of Canadian Heritage website). While funding to this program has not been directly affected by Budget 2012, it is scheduled to sunset in 2014/15 if it is not renewed.
This analysis of the federal budget was prepared for the Canadian Arts Coalition, with the collaboration of members of the Coalition’s Research and Policy Committee.