Nova Scotia Arts Coalition thrilled with Ottawa's arts budget

The federal budget proposes roughly $5 billion over the next five years towards several initiatives to promote Canadian culture. That includes the $300 million Canada 160 Fund to revitalize the country's arts, culture, and heritage sectors. For more on this, we're joined by Chris O'Neill with the Nova Scotia Arts Coalition. So first off, what was your reaction when you saw that emphasis on culture in the budget? Absolutely thrilled. So I have been doing arts advocacy for a number of years, and it's sometimes it can feel a little bit like you're walking into the wind. And so to have a federal government really focused for the first time in a number of years on the importance of culture to our sovereignty, to our sense of identity. I think there's a lot that this budget and that And that this government got right in terms of Actually, just pulling culture out as something to celebrate, I think, was really, really important. What do you think they got wrong? Well, there's a couple of things. So, again, the 160 celebrating the nation's culture is really, really important. There's some festivals, there's some other kinds of things, CBC, other kinds of funding that are really important. There's one central piece, which is the creative credit. Which is aimed at supporting individual artists through a tax credit, and the theory of that is great, it doesn't exist yet, and so we will absolutely be advocating for it to exist, however the big piece from our perspective at the Coalition, and we're hearing this echoed across Canada, ...is that we had been advocating for $140 million for the Canada Council for the Arts, and, you know, this is a little bit inside baseball, but essentially... Like the Nova Scotia Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts funds the largest swath of activity in the country. Everything from the small independent artist who is Who is, who is, an emerging artist to Stratford Festival to Neptune Theatre, everything in between. And so, That has been underfunded for a number of years and especially with inflation and the kinds of rising costs that we're all facing, that was the mechanism that actually would allow that tax credit to work. So in other words, if you are an arts organization and your core funding has not increased in It's been a very long time. It means that your buying power, your hiring power is diminishing every year. Well, so I'll take off my Arts Coalition hat for just a second and put on, I run an arts organization in Nova Scotia. It means that we can hire fewer artists. Well, those are the same artists that are now supposed to be getting this tax credit. So really, those things are supposed to go hand in hand. And the government, while it didn't cut the council, it gave it $20 million over three years. Yes, of course. But that's for the entire country, and that's for a huge amount of activity that is just simply not being funded at an adequate level. So I think for me, And for the coalition, what we're saying is there's still a chance to actually put that money into the budget, which is very small when you think about the national budget, but it would make all that difference in terms of cultural sovereignty, job creation, and in every riding of the country. So there's still an opportunity to fix that, and it would actually do what the government is saying it wants to do in terms of cultural sovereignty, in terms of our identity and it would create this generational impact. Now the Prime Minister defended the budget today calling it a record investment and suggesting it's now up to arts organizations to be creative with how they use it. So what is your response to the idea that the onus is now on the sector and not the government? So I would say a couple of things. One is that again I want to give all the kudos. I think it's really important that this is a part of the national conversation. Thank you, all. However, we are creative, we've been creative for a very long time, we make do on a shoestring, but if they want that kind of generational impact, they want that kind of activity to happen, not just in central Canada, but also in the regions, which is what then gives us that sense of Canadian identity, then it's really important that it's not just seen as a market force, Most arts organizations in this country are non-profits, which means that we do a lot of the social good work that happens through arts and culture that is well documented in terms of impact on, again, people's sense of identity. People's sense of mental health and physical well-being. Again, these things are really, really well documented, and I think that by focusing only on the individual artist, there's a huge opportunity that's missed there. Now, some would say, given the precarious nature of the Canadian economy, the amount in the federal budget for arts is substantial. And I would say that some of that is so remember some of that, like 600 million of that for for media that was already earmarked. So that you sort of take that piece out again, lots of credit. I'm excited. But the other thing that I would say is that the tax credit right now doesn't exist. So I want to you know, I'm looking forward to working with government. I think it's a really solid base that we can work with them on. Thank you, everyone. But arts and culture is part of the fabric of building a nation. Thank you. If the federal government essentially abstains from really robustly funding where that work happens, which is through arts institutions, whether it's the galleries, the theaters, the dance companies, the facilities that allow work to come into our communities, then it's missing the boat. And so, again, it's giving lots of credit and at the same time saying this is a single piece that you've missed. And there's an opportunity to put it right back in. It's not going to make any kind of significant difference to the budget. However, it makes all the difference because we are so creative, because we do do so much with so little, that literally the impact will be generational. All right. Well, Chris O'Neill, we'll have to leave it there. Thank you very much for your insight. We appreciate it. Thank you so much.