Victoria, Kelowna and Quebec City have the most vibrant arts and culture scenes, new index finds

Mid-sized cities have topped a new index that measures the concentration of arts and culture organizations in 22 Canadian communities, along with arts participation and economic impact. 

The inaugural Arts Vibrancy Index – a collaboration between Business / Arts, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canada Council for the Arts – found that Victoria, Kelowna, Quebec City and Halifax ranked above major cities in an overall measure that combined arts and culture indicators and economic indicators. 

Sherbrooke, Que. and St. Catherines-Niagara, Ont. had the highest proportion of arts and culture businesses as a share of overall businesses. Kelowna, B.C. and Moncton, N.B. ranked just above Vancouver and Calgary in terms of arts and culture revenue per capita. Victoria, B.C. ranked first in arts and culture jobs per capita. 

“People might simply think that larger metro cities like Toronto and Vancouver would rank at the top [of the Arts Vibrancy Index] because they have a higher population and more industries in their communities,” said Jasleen Trehan, a staff economist at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. 

The Arts Vibrancy Index combines several data sources from Statistics Canada and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Data Lab. 

The rankings combined economic indicators – revenue, jobs, sales tracking and business sentiment in all industries – with arts and culture-specific indicators, including tourism / foreign visitors per capita. 

The final Index ranks only 22 Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) due to data availability, despite Canada having 41 large urban centres. 

Ranking reveals economic benefit of arts and culture investments

The ranking has allowed the researchers to explore whether local economic conditions in a given community or CMA are supportive of a thriving arts and culture ecosystem, Trehan added. 

For instance, instead of just basing the rankings on the number of arts and culture businesses, measures of arts jobs, arts revenue, and tourism per capita show participation in those arts organizations as well. 

According to CEO Aubrey Reeves, data and research have become increasingly important for Business / Arts, which connects arts and culture organizations with opportunities in the business sector. 

A previous report called Artworks released by the same group of organizations found that the federal government provided $309 million in grants and funding to arts and culture organizations in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. 

It has been important to publish both the Artworks report and the Arts Vibrancy Index before the federal budget, Reeves said. 

“I have a really strong mission to see arts organizations and people working at them across the country engaging with their elected officials much more to talk about the value of arts and culture,” she added. 

Trehan hopes that this research will also reach those who work in policy, investors and local chambers of commerce.  

“The social impact that we see from this sector is not separate from economic growth,” she said. 

“Communities that feel connected, purposeful and more resilient are more attractive to workers and visitors.”

The Arts Response Tracking Survey which is run by Business / Arts found that three-quarters of Canadians “believe that attending arts and culture events positively impacts their sense of belonging in Canada.” 

In addition, the Artworks report found that “arts and culture represents an outsized presence in rural Canada compared to the population.” 

In 2022, more than half of the arts and culture non-profits in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan were located in rural areas. 

Putting the impact of arts and culture into language that resonates with the business community and policymakers in the public sector shows that “the arts aren’t simply asking for support,” Reeves said. 

“We are, in fact, an undercapitalized growth sector and there is an enormous return on investment.”

The Artworks report found the Canadian arts and culture sector contributed $65 billion in direct GDP and $17 billion in federal and provincial tax revenue in 2024.