Halifax Rally for the Arts seeks to save arts and culture sector from major funding cuts

Author Sharlene Gandhi

Nova Scotia’s arts, culture and heritage organizations rallied Wednesday to protect funding to the sector following the province’s recent budget cuts. 

The budget cuts include an end to Visual Arts Nova Scotia’s program to bring professional artists into schools and classrooms. Arts Nova Scotia will see a 30 per cent reduction in funding. Both the Arts Equity Funding Initiative and the Creative Industries Fund will see reductions as well.

As the budget has not yet passed, several arts organizations are encouraging the community to contact the Premier and their MLA. 

The Halifax Rally for the Arts took place outside Province House, and several additional rallies were planned at the same time in Truro, Yarmouth and Sydney. 

According to recent research by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Business / Arts, Halifax ranks above major Canadian cities on arts vibrancy, including arts and culture revenue, jobs and tourism per capita, and the proportion of overall businesses in the arts and culture sectors.

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  • Sharlene Gandhi is the Future of Good editorial fellow on digital transformation.

    Sharlene has been reporting on responsible business, environmental sustainability and technology in the UK and Canada since 2018. She has worked with various organizations during this time, including the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University, AIGA Eye on Design, Social Enterprise UK and Nature is a Human Right. Sharlene moved to Toronto in early 2023 to join the Future of Good team, where she has been reporting at the intersections of technology, data and social purpose work. Her reporting has spanned several subject areas, including AI policy, cybersecurity, ethical data collection, and technology partnerships between the private, public and third sectors.

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