STRATEGIC PRIORITIES AND THE ARTS ECOSYSTEM – Fall update

Happy Fall! It’s pre-budget submission time (again).

While normally we would only send our thoughts about federal budgets in the spring time, we have a second opportunity now as a community to present our recommendations for better federal investment that will serve Canada through arts and culture, and we hope you will join us.

We have included below the rationale we issued in the spring for our singular focus on the Canada Council as a budget ask. As world events continue to unfold, from trade wars to rising costs, this increased baseline of support for Canada’s cultural creators and for the organizations that present the resulting work to their communities the world is more urgent now than ever.

The Coalition also has vital policy recommendations in our submission, from Cultural Infrastructure based on our policy brief this summer, to Social Safety Net modernization to principles of authorization, remuneration, and transparency for artists in relation to AI.

We ask that you join in our call today for this increase. By issuing a prebudget submission, and sending a copy to your MP, you help us to remind our government that the Canada Council for the Arts ensures that the voices of artists, from Calgary to Quebec, from Haida Gwaii to Bonavista are heard.

And remind our government that Canadian Culture is worth supporting.

Our submission makes the strong and primary request of the additional and permanent new investment of $140M for the Canada Council for the Arts.

You can see our submission and use our handy template put your own logo and contact information in and submit it here before September 08, 2026 at 23:59 ET.

Please note, the government will do the translation of the full pre-budget submission, but the four recommendations are here:

Recommendations

Recommendation 1:

That the Government of Canada allocate a permanent annual increase of $140 million in funding to the Canada Council for the Arts.
We believe that a new and permanent annual increase of $140M for the Council directly aligns with the Government of Canada’s Build Canada Strong priorities and agenda.
As Canada prepares to mark its 160th anniversary, this investment would create a meaningful and lasting legacy for this important national milestone to the following ends:

Empowering Canadians

Employment

Protecting Canadian sovereignty

Recommendation 2:

That the Government of Canada ensure that, within the Direct Delivery and Community streams of the Build Communities Strong Fund, cultural infrastructure projects under $25M not be subject to matching fund requirements, and that there be a minimum allocation of Building Canada Strong funds dedicated to cultural infrastructure, ensuring that rural and urban communities across Canada are served by cultural facilities.

This recommended change is supported by a national study of cultural organizations undertaken by the Coalition in July and works hand in hand with the first recommendation to ensure that while the funding to organizations and artists increases, the facilities in which that work is created and disseminated are part of the solution.

Recommendation 3:

That the Government of Canada ensure the principles of authorization, remuneration, and transparency (ART) are in place for artists for the use of their work, whether auditory, literary or visual, in all contexts, including for the training of generative artificial intelligence technologies and for any AI outputs.

Recommendation 4:

That the Government of Canada accelerate the reform of an Employment Income Modernization framework to better reflect the realities of artistic and cultural work.

Rationale:

Why is the Canada Council for the Arts our first and unified priority?

First, is it the direction of the membership of the Coalition, and we want to continue the momentum we have been building over the past year, which so many of you have joined us to champion.

Second, because the Arts and Culture Sector is a broad tent that needs a strong and well-funded arms-length public funder. The voices developed through the Council’s microgrants, project funds and outreach programs allow emerging talent to develop. The operating funding they provide for organizations both large and small allow us to invest in that talent and bring new voices to our galleries, our stages, our communities. All of our organizations and communities are served by the dynamic arts ecosystem that robust federal funding can and should support, and the diversity of voices within it that reflect Canada in all our complexity.

The Canada Council has told the Coalition that they will be using the additional funds primarily to fund organisations, large, medium and small from Coast to Coast to Coast, both for core funding and for other strategic priorities led by the organizations themselves, whether for touring, sector innovation or composite grants to ensure they are being responsive to the needs of the community in all fields of practice.

By focusing on the Canada Council for the Arts in our combined and individual prebudget submissions, we can show that as a sector we value the full ecosystem, and that we are a collective force to be reckoned with. Coming together to share this one strong ask, with one voice is how we will be successful.

You wrote in unprecedented numbers in the fall with over 50,000 letters going to the government to communicate your belief in a strong arts sector, and as a result of your combined efforts, the Canada Council got a small down payment on a larger investment, and was not subjected to the cost cutting of other places in the government.

Now is the time to push as one once more:

to remind the Federal government that we are here, and that the sector and the country needs this investment now.

We know that there are different funding mechanisms and proposals in the mix, and that some might be a good fit for your particular organisation, but we encourage everyone to support this request at this moment for the benefit of the entire Canadian arts ecosystem. We support all efforts to secure increased funding options for arts organizations, but want to lead with the broadest potential impact for the sector.

What do we commit to you as part of this request?

The Canadian Arts Coalition commits to continuing to advocate with the Council to ensure it is accountable to the sector and delivering on its promises to our community;

We commit to supporting the needs of the sector beyond this ask, both in policy and future budget requests, and putting the strength of the coalition behind those requests, and

We commit to giving our members and the wider sector the tools to advocate for our individual and collective work in our home communities, provinces and territories, and the country.

We know that these are difficult times and we are all part of the coalition because we believe in the power of the collective to make the Canadian Arts and Culture sector stronger and able to make changes both in federal investment and in policy to safeguard our collective needs.

If you aren’t already a member of the coalition, we hope you join, and if you have membership in another organisation which is a member, we invite you to become an affiliate member.

We welcome you to the tent!