Arts and culture can dramatically improve mental health and community cohesion – why aren’t arts organizations a priority for donors?
Why It Matters
The arts and culture sector is still recovering from pandemic shutdowns, with many prominent festivals, institutions and venues across Canada having to scale back or shut their doors entirely.
People who engage with arts and culture in their communities – like attending sports games, watching live music, or spending time at museums and art galleries – are more likely to have better mental wellbeing indicators and favour cultural diversity, according to new research.
A survey released on Oct. 21 also showed that those who felt less isolated or lonely were more likely to donate money, goods, or food items to charity.
CanadaHelps commissioned market research firm Ipsos to do the survey, focusing on arts and culture activity among Canadians.
However, despite the numbers showing that arts and culture impact mental health, these groups tend to be lower on the list of causes that Canadians marked as important to them.
Only 6 per cent of respondents put it in their top five.
And in a bit of an ironic twist, the most important case for Canadians was mental health support and research, at 39 per cent of respondents.
How is the arts and culture sector surviving these pressures?
Roughly a quarter of Canadians said they attend an arts and culture event annually, such as a sporting match, live music show, theatre or festival.
However, several respondents said they never attend certain events: 60 per cent said they never go to art galleries, while 55 per cent never go to the theatre.
Dance shows, orchestral and opera performances, film festivals and book signings were even further down that list.
“The hit that arts and culture charities took during the pandemic is still ripping through, and it’s going to take some time to fully recover,” said Nicole Danesi, senior manager of strategic communications and brand at CanadaHelps.
Canada-wide, arts and culture institutions have reported a downturn in revenue and alarming financial positions: Montreal comedy festival Just for Laughs filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, while Bell Inc stepped back as lead sponsor of the Toronto International Film Festival after 28 years. Rogers took their place as “presenting sponsor” of the festival.
Calgary’s Grand Theatre – the oldest theatre in Western Canada – was at risk after failing to reach a lease agreement with its landlord.
On Thursday, it was announced that the theatre would stay in the same building and become a hub for other community arts organizations.
“Arts and culture – whether it’s movies, plays, or concerts, make us feel different things, learn about each other and hear each other’s stories,” Danesi said.
“I think it’s so important in this very polarized, disconnected and isolated world.”
When survey respondents were dissected further by their income, there was an interesting trend: 29 per cent of people making under $40,000 were likely to engage in one cultural activity per week (excluding watching films / television and listening to music), which drops to 15 per cent of those making between $40,000 and $60,000.
It rises again to 25 per cent of people making between $60,000 and $100,000.
Households with two people were most likely to engage in arts and culture activities.
While 4 in 5 respondents identified as white, they also made up the overwhelming majority of people who said they could engage in an arts or cultural activity at least once a week.
Newcomers – regardless of how long they had been in Canada – were also less likely to attend arts and cultural events than those born in Canada.
“It’s challenging to position the value, the need and the essential qualities that arts and culture organizations bring to Canadians,” Danesi said.
“It’s hard, especially for organizations that are applying for funding to translate that feeling into a hard ask for fundraising dollars.”
How to change the narrative
Jacob Zimmer is the artistic director of Whitehorse’s Nakai Theatre. For him, keeping the theatre alive is also about telling local and often underrepresented stories.
“In the Yukon, arts work across distance and in relation to a special place in the world. We are north of the cultural industries and so our impact and responsibility is first local,” Zimmer said.
Maintaining that impact is a particular challenge in northern communities in the depths of the affordability crisis.
“Artists and makers cannot afford to live and create here, and small cultural businesses can’t compete with franchises or survive unregulated rental costs.”
However, the CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts said it’s up to the arts and cultural communities themselves to change the narrative about the sector’s current fundraising difficulties.
In an open letter posted to CCA’s website in October, Michelle Chawla urged arts and culture leaders to contact decision-makers in their communities.
“As I meet with decision makers across the country, I’m leading with the impact story instead of the crisis,” she said.
The sector contributes $60 billion annually towards Canada’s GDP and employs more than 850,000 people, said Chawla.
“The arts attract businesses, which invest in communities. They draw tourists from all over the world, with arts and culture tourism having three times more economic impact than other types of tourism.
“I’m also talking about how the arts give Canadians a sense of belonging. The arts create experiences of shared joy, and they bring us together to talk about difficult topics that might otherwise divide us,” she wrote.
Chawla added that leaders need to emphasize to all levels of government and funders how significant public investment is to the arts community.
“Tell this story to your audiences, volunteers and donors, too. And encourage them to tell their decision makers how much the arts matter in their lives.”
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