Federal arts and culture funding: 29% of Ontarians think it's inadequate, 18% feel it's adequate

It’s well established that Canadians value the place of arts and culture in their communities, and believe that governments should invest in it.*

What is less well established is whether Ontarians and Canadians think that arts and culture is adequately funded. A recent poll commissioned from Nanos Research for The Arts Advocate Report found that 29% of Ontarians think that federal funding for arts and culture is inadequate. The number is a little less nationally.

Only 18% of Ontarians think it’s adequate. This means that most people are somewhere in the middle.

The question becomes ‘what does this mean for Ontario and Canada’s cultural sector’. A few thoughts come to mind:

First, celebrate that 3 in 10 Ontarians really do pay attention to federal arts and culture support and figure out how to build on this foundation.

Second, and most important, the arts and cultural sector needs to significantly raise public awareness and understanding about the role of public funding in allowing artistic pursuit and activity to enrich individual lives and communities - - most Ontarians and Canadians really have no idea of either the importance or the limited extent of public cultural funding.

Third, those naysayers populating the media comment boards disparaging fat-cat artists paid through public sources are few and far between – less than 2 in 10 Ontarians! Don’t dwell on them.

*Last year, the Ontario Arts Council released an Environics poll showing 8 in 10 Ontarians feel that the arts are important to their own quality of life. 81% say they believe public investment in the arts is a good thing.