Summary of the Grouped Arts Evaluation 2013-14 to 2017-18

Summary of the Grouped Arts Evaluation 2013-14 to 2017-18 [PDF Version, 1.3 MB]

Evaluation Services Directorate
August 20, 2019

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List of acronyms and abbreviations

PCH: Canadian Heritage
GBA+: Gender-Based Analysis Plus
CAPF: Canada Arts Presentation Fund
CCSF: Canada Cultural Spaces Fund
CCIF: Canada Cultural Investment Fund
G&C: Grants and Contribution
O&M: Operations and Maintenance
CATF: Canada Arts Training Fund

Overview

The Grouped Arts Evaluation examined the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of three Arts Branch programs, as required by the Financial Administration Act and the Treasury Board Policy on Results (2016).

Programs description

Canada Arts Presentation Fund (CAPF) provides grants and contributions (G&C) funding to organizations that professionally present arts festivals or performing arts series, as well as their support organizations.^{Footnote 1}

Canada Cultural Spaces Fund (CAPF) provides financial support to eligible organizations for the improvement, renovation and construction of arts and heritage facilities, for the acquisition of specialized equipment and for feasibility studies for cultural infrastructure projects.

Canada Cultural Investment Fund (CCIF) provides funding to eligible organizations to help them build and diversify their revenue streams and encourage private sector investment through endowments, promote partnerships, improve their business practices, and increase their recognition in the community through strategic initiatives.

Total G&C and O&M (Operations and Maintenance) expenditures from 2013-14 to 2017-18

CAPF: $185.7M
CCSF: $304.0M
CCIF: $115.1M
Total: $604.8M

Relevance

There was a demonstrated need for each of the programs.

CAPF

Increased access to a variety of professional artistic experiences across Canada.

Percentage of CAPF approved applications: 86%

Percentage of CAPF-surveyed recipients who reported that the program had helped them “to a great or moderate extent”: 83%

On average, the CAPF achieved its annual targets for distribution of funding among disciplines, 2013-14 to 2017-18.
Discipline	Target/Baseline (Annual)	Achievement (Annual Average)
Music	71%	71%
Theatre	44%	45%
Dance	41%	39%
Literature	11%	11%
Visual Arts	13%	10%
Media Art	9%	9%

CCSF

Responded to the demand for modern arts and heritage spaces that reflect changing cultural, accessibility, and technical equipment needs.

Funded organizations featured programming that included a variety of disciplines, programming for young audiences, and those located in rural or remote regions.

Percentage of CCSF approved applications: 75%
Most users were satisfied with the improvements to working spaces and equipment: 91%
CCSF exceeded its target of 70% of project funding that is non-CCSF: 73%
Percentage of CCSF recipients who could not have gone ahead with their project as planned without CCSF funding: 96%

CCIF

Encouraged private funding in arts organizations, and helped arts and heritage organizations improve their business practices, capacity and partnerships.

Percentage of CCIF approved applications: 87%
Number of organizations reached annually through the Strategic Initiatives component: 2,317 (higher than the target of 1,100)
Annual average in endowment income that was disbursed to arts organizations: $22.5M (greater than the $10 million annual target)
Percentage of funding sources that were not public-sector with 56% of funding coming from earned revenues and 22% from private-sector sources: 78%

All programs

The three programs aligned with PCH and federal government priorities and responsibilities by:

Supporting access to Canadian arts and culture experiences, community investment, and advancing the use of digital technology.
Supporting cultural industries and infrastructure, celebrating heritage and diversity, and supporting indigenous arts and heritage.

These programs also complemented other sources of federal, PT, and municipal funding.

Performance and efficiency

The arts programs achieved their expected long-term outcomes while delivering their programs efficiently and within the established service standards. The 2017 results showed increased achievement when compared to 2012.

Grouped Arts Programs’ achievement of long-term results

CAPF: Canadians participated in artistic events (attended at least one arts performance in the last year).

2017: 87%
2012: 83%

CCSF: Canadians had good or very good access to cultural spaces.

2017: 44%
2012: 43%

CCIF: Canadians donated to arts or cultural organizations (made a donation of money, goods, or services in the past year).

2017: 31%
2012: 26%

CAPF/CCSF/CCIF/CATF^{Footnote 2}: Canadians appreciated artistic experiences (arts and cultural events were important in terms of their quality of life and that of their families).

2017: 69%
2012: 66%

The CAPF, CCIF and CCSF were delivered efficiently, and the costs incurred were consistent with ratios reported in past evaluations.

The programs met service standards for acknowledging receipt of applications.

Though all programs struggled to meet service standards related to the timeliness of funding decisions in the initial years of the evaluation (2013-14 to 2014-15), all three improved their timeliness in the last two years (2016-17 and 2017-18).

Some program design challenges remained such as:

Continued barriers accessing program funding among smaller and underserved organizations^{Footnote 3} due to:

a lack of awareness of funding opportunities,
organizations not being considered professional under program guidelines, and
limited organizational capacity.

Issues with processes for performance data collection, monitoring, reporting, and reliability due to:

unclear indicators and outcome statements,
methodological inconsistencies,
gaps in data collection, procedures and tools, and
internal database (unclear or inconsistent definitions, poor comparability across years, missing data).

Recommendations

The evaluation recommends that the Senior Associate Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs:

Develop steps to mitigate barriers to all programs for smaller organizations and underserved groups to improve their access to the programs with the aim of removing unintended barriers.
Review and improve the current performance measurement indicators and data collection tools for the arts programs, including methodologies and systems, to ensure that data collected is meaningful, accurate, and useful.

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Date modified:: 2019-12-17

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