On behalf of our members, and the 7000+ visual artists who live and work in the province, CARFAC Ontario submitted the following recommendations to the Government of Ontario that artists will be looking for in the 2024 provincial budget.
Recommendation #1
We recommend that that the Government of Ontario increase investment at the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) by $3 million per year starting in 2024-25.
Of the $27 billion provincial GDP contribution from arts and culture, approximately $5.5 billion comes from arts education, performing arts, festivals, original visual art, craft, books, and sound recordings–sectors that are heavily supported by the OAC.
Committing to multi-year investment that aligns with increasing population growth and inflation projections is critical for the sector’s pandemic recovery. Growth of Ontario’s culture sector since 2010 was reversed by the pandemic. Between 2010 and 2019, Ontario’s cultural economy saw a real per capita increase of 4%; this was followed by a 7% decrease in 2020. Job trends in the sector follow a similar trajectory, increasing by 8% between 2010 and 2019, only to decrease in 2020 by 11%. Investment in the OAC is an efficient and cost-effective way to counteract these trends. For example, following conversations with OAC we know that in 2023-24 $37 million in annual operating support will be provided to 550 arts organizations, which will result in $900 million in additional revenues for these organizations. Investing in the OAC continues to represent the most effective way to both support the sector and produce powerful economic return for the province.
Recommendation #2
As a no-cost market-based strategy to improve the labour environment for creators, and to strengthen Ontario’s cultural economy, we recommended that the Government of Ontario work with Ontario’s artists and arts organizations to launch a consultation process to evaluate and improve the Status of Ontario’s Artists Act.
The Status of Ontario’s Artists Act can strengthen Ontario’s arts and culture economy by undergoing modernizations that promote equitable pay, and provide adequate labour conditions for artists and creators across all disciplines. Such improvements are important, especially given that 65% of Canadian artists are self-employed, which is significantly higher than the self-employment rate of the overall Canadian labour force (14-16%), and given that the median income for visual artists is approximately $20,000, with many artists living under the low-income cut-off. And as the rapid release and commercial adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence products continues to disproportionately impact artists through the unauthorized use of their intellectual property as well creating labour disruptions, the Government of Ontario should act now, and use this available tool to improve socioeconomic conditions for all artists in the province.
Recently, Quebec enacted significant updates to its Status of the Artist legislation that now provides artists with better labour protections, sets out basic required terms for commissioning and presentation contracts, and enables professional arts associations to negotiate collective agreements.
Artists are vulnerable to exploitative labour practices; for example, we hear from many artists who are offered licensing and presentation opportunities where no written agreement is provided. When conflicts arise, professional guidance, mediation, and legal support often falls to artist associations like CARFAC. And while the CARFAC-RAAV Minimum-Recommended Fee Schedule is understood nationally as the industry standard for paying visual and media artists, with federal institutions required to use these guidelines when engaging artists, the current Status of Ontario’s Artists Act does not afford creators such protections. Strengthening current legislation can reduce both labour exploitation and the inefficiencies associated with remedying conflicts.
Working toward improving the Status of Ontario’s Artists Act legislation should begin with sector-wide consultations, which can be developed in collaboration Ontario’s Provincial Arts Service Organizations, and other stakeholders.
CARFAC Ontario News 