It was heartening to see in Budget 2021, released yesterday, the Government responding to the needs expressed by the arts sector through the Budget consultations. In particular, Minister Freeland’s Budget responds to recommendations made and endorsed by the Coalition to:
- Dedicate sector specific funds
- Extend income support programs, including CRB and CEWS
- Address systemic racism in arts funding
- Invest in festivals, live music and presentations
- Incent increased charitable donations
The Canadian Arts Coalition welcomes the following measures outlined in Budget 2021:
Canadian Heritage to establish a $300 million Recovery Fund for Heritage, Arts, Culture, Heritage and Sport Sectors to promote recovery from the pandemic for heritage, arts, and sport sectors by investing $300 million over two years, starting in 2021-22.
· Support to be provided to major festivals with $200 million through the regional development agencies.
· Support local festivals, community cultural events, outdoor theatre performances, heritage celebrations, local museums, amateur sport events, and other events with $200 million through Canadian Heritage.
· New investments to festivals and performing arts series at Canadian Heritage: $49.6 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Canadian Heritage for the Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage Program ($14 million over two years, starting in 2022-23), the Canada Arts Presentation Fund ($16 million over two years, starting in 2022-23), and the Celebration and Commemoration Program ($19.6 million over three years, starting in 2021-22).
· Help for Canadian musicians, concert venues, producers, and distributors with $70 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, in the Canada Music Fund. This includes up to $50 million in 2021-22 to help the live music sector, including music venues, weather the pandemic.
· $15 million in new funding to help upgrade arts and heritage organisations to meet public health guidelines through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund.
· Investments to support the National Arts Centre’s collaborations with equity-deserving groups to help relaunch the performing arts sector ($6 million over two years, starting in 2021-22).
· Extension of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy and the Lockdown Support until September 2021. The subsidy rates would gradually decline over the July-to-September period to target sectors that are slower to recover.
· $3.9 billion over three years, starting in 2021 22, for a suite of legislative changes to make EI more accessible and simple for Canadians over the coming year while the job market begins to improve. The changes include maintaining uniform access to EI benefits across all regions and support for multiple job holders.
· Take further steps to build a stronger social safety net by launching consultations on future, long-term reforms to EI. Consultations will examine systemic gaps exposed by COVID-19, such as the need for income support for self-employed and gig workers; how best to support Canadians through different life events such as adoption; and how to provide more consistent and reliable benefits to workers in seasonal industries. Any permanent changes to further improve access to EI will be made following these consultations and once the recovery is fully underway ($5 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to Employment and Social Development Canada).
· $100 million to Destination Canada for marketing campaigns to help Canadians and other visitors discover and explore the country.
· Launch public consultations with charities over the coming months on potentially increasing the disbursement quota and updating the tools at the Canada Revenue Agency’s disposal, beginning in 2022. This could potentially increase support for the charitable sector and those that rely on its services by between $1 billion and $2 billion annually.
· Support access to high-speed Internet in rural and remote communities with $1B over 6 years in the Universal Broadband Fund.
· Funding to implement a Disaggregated Data Action Plan to fill data and knowledge gaps. This funding will support more representative data collection, enhance statistics on diverse populations, and support the government’s, and society’s, efforts to address systemic racism, gender gaps—including the power gaps between men and women—and bring fairness and inclusion considerations into decision making ($172 million over five years, starting in 2021-22, with $36.3 million ongoing, to Statistics Canada).
The Canadian Arts Coalition is grateful to the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Canadian Heritage for responding to the needs expressed by the arts sector.