Canada Council welcomes $25 million funding renewal

Canada Council welcomes $25 million funding renewal

Ottawa, June 26, 2009 ’Äì Canada Council for the Arts welcomes today’Äôs announcement that the Government of Canada has renewed for five more years the $25 million in annual funding scheduled to sunset at the end of the current fiscal year. This represents total funding of $125 million over the next five years. Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages James Moore made the announcement in Vancouver, and Canada Council Director and CEO Robert Sirman was there to hear the good news.

’ÄúThis funding confirmation couldn’Äôt come at a better time,’Äù said Mr. Sirman. ’ÄúIt gives the Council a solid base for planning the implementation of the third year of its Strategic Plan 2008-11, and helps stabilize the arts sector during a particularly challenging economic period.’Äù

Today’Äôs announcement recognizes the important role of the arts in Canada and the value which the Council’Äôs support of professional arts practice brings to all Canadians. According to Statistics Canada, there are approximately 600,000 cultural workers in Canada of whom over 140,000 are practising artists. Further, a study by the Conference Board of Canada reported that the economic impact of the culture sector was $46 billion. A special examination of the Canada Council in 2008 by the Office of the Auditor General reinforced the efficiency and effectiveness of the Council’Äôs work with the finding: ’ÄúThe systems and practices we examined had no significant deficiencies. In fact, the Canada Council’Äôs systems and practices have contributed to its success in several areas.’Äù

Canada Council for the Arts

Canada Council for the Arts is a federal Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957. The role of the Council is to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. To fulfill this mandate, the Council offers a broad range of grants and services to professional Canadian artists and arts organizations in dance, integrated art, media arts, music, theatre, visual arts, and writing and publishing. It also promotes public awareness of the arts through its communications, research and arts promotion activities.

The Council administers the Killam Program of scholarly awards, the Governor General’Äôs Literary Awards and the Governor General’Äôs Awards in Visual and Media Arts. The Canadian Commission for UNESCO and the Public Lending Right Commission operate within the Council. The Canada Council Art Bank, which has some 17,400 works of contemporary Canadian art in its collection, rents to the public and private sectors.