The Arts, Culture and Heritage Sectors During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Financial impacts of the pandemic have been severely felt across the arts, culture and heritage sectors.

**Figure 1a: Real GDP and Jobs figures from Q4 2019 to Q3 2021 for Canadian economy, cultural sector and multiple culture sector subdomains**

Real GDP
-	Q4 2019	Q1 2020	Q2 2020	Q3 2020	Q4 2020	Q1 2021	Q2 2021	Q3 2021
Canadian Economy	100.0	98.1	87.4	95.1	97.0	98.3	98.0	99.2
Culture (Total)	100.0	97.0	82.3	88.9	91.8	91.8	92.8	95.3
Film and video	100.0	97.9	64.7	79.6	92.7	88.8	91.1	93.5
Periodicals	100.0	92.4	73.9	77.5	81.5	80.9	81.3	82.7
Original visual art	100.0	93.6	59.6	71.6	74.1	77.6	75.2	78.4
Newspapers	100.0	95.2	72.6	75.6	75.3	75.1	75.4	77.4
Cultural Heritage	100.0	86.0	57.5	64.4	65.8	64.0	61.2	69.2
Festivals and celebrations	100.0	85.8	32.5	36.6	38.0	39.2	39.4	49.3
Performing Arts	100.0	86.2	33.9	36.2	35.6	36.9	35.8	46.4

**Figure 1b: Jobs figures from Q4 2019 to Q3 2021 for Canadian economy, cultural sector and multiple culture sector subdomains**

Jobs
-	Q4 2019	Q1 2020	Q2 2020	Q3 2020	Q4 2020	Q1 2021	Q2 2021	Q3 2021
Canadian Economy	100.0	95.5	82.3	89.9	93.7	91.1	94.5	97.0
Film and video	100.0	99.4	56.5	70.6	92.8	89.7	91.3	95.9
Culture (Total)	100.0	97.9	79.0	84.4	88.9	88.8	89.4	93.2
Periodicals	100.0	94.0	83.2	84.8	86.7	86.4	86.3	87.7
Original visual art	100.0	96.2	64.8	77.2	80.1	79.9	81.1	86.5
Newspapers	100.0	95.3	81.0	85.2	85.1	84.7	84.5	86.1
Cultural Heritage	100.0	96.7	67.9	74.4	77.4	76.4	73.0	77.7
Performing Arts	100.0	96.4	53.3	55.1	52.1	53.3	50.1	62.7
Festivals and celebrations	100.0	96.4	46.0	41.3	47.5	47.8	48.0	56.3

… but data shows that some sub-sectors are recovering at a faster pace than others since the onset of the pandemic.

As of Q3 2021:

**Figure 2: Culture subdomains by level of recovery between Q4 2019 and Q3 2021**

Subdomains in the limited recovery bucket (-10% and less)
Subdomain	Domain	Subdomain subject to future refinements?
Cultural heritage	Heritage and libraries	Nil
Performing arts	Live performance	Nil
Festivals and celebrations	Live performance	Nil
Original visual art	Visual and applied arts	Yes
Periodicals	Written and published works	Nil
Newspapers	Written and published works	Nil
Multi (written and published works)	Written and published works	Nil
Film and video	Audio-visual and interactive media	Nil

Subdomains in the partial recovery bucket (between -10% and -5%)
Subdomain	Domain	Subdomain subject to future refinements?
Books	Written and published works	Nil

Subdomains in the significant recovery bucket (-5% and more)
Subdomain	Domain	Subdomain subject to future refinements?
Broadcasting	Audio-visual and interactive media	Nil
Interactive media	Audio-visual and interactive media	Nil
Music publishing	Sound recording	Nil
Sound recording	Sound recording	Nil
Education and training	Other	Yes
Governance, funding and support	Other	Yes
Multi	Other	Nil

Key findings

Between the first and second quarters of 2020, nearly 128,000 culture sector jobs were lost, and sectoral GDP dropped from $14B to just under $12B.
There was strong GDP growth for hardest hit sub-sectors in the third quarter of 2021 when public health restrictions eased but attendance-driven sub-sectors are lagging despite this growth.
- Live performance (which includes Performing Arts and Festivals and Celebrations) had the highest gain in Q3 2021 from the previous quarter, up +29.4% although the recovery is still well below pre-pandemic levels (-53.4%).
- Cultural heritage also made gains in Q3 2021 from the previous quarter, up +13.0% although the recovery is still well below pre-pandemic levels (-30.8%).

Cultural sector pandemic support came in multiple waves of funding

**Figure 3: Timeline of cultural sector pandemic support from Spring 2020 to February 2022**

Cultural sector pandemic support came in multiple waves of flexibility

Flexibilities included:

Administrative efficiencies (for example, expedited approvals)
Streamlined delivery (for example, attestations)
Non-traditional recipient (for example, third language productions)
New modes of delivery (for example, a funding portal)
New collaborations (for example, guilds, unions, industry associations)

Cultural sector pandemic support came from multiple complimentary sources

Canadian Heritage and its portfolio organizations implemented a number of measures and flexibilities that complemented universal federal measures for organizations and individuals, federal tourism and development-focused measures and provincial-territorial supports.

The ESF survey shows that organizations received funding from multiple complementary sources during the pandemic. 36% of ESF recipients received other forms of federal support (e.g. CEWS, CEBA), and 27% received funding from their province or territory.

A federal-provincial-territorial Covid-19 Forum was put in place to collaborate where possible and identify gaps in support.

This has meant significant investments and results for culture subsectors.

**Figure 4: Subsector investments and results**

Performing arts remains the sub-sector with the slowest recovery.

Arts and culture subsectors dependent on ‘in person’ attendance have suffered disproportionately. GDP and job recovery for the performing arts has been slower than any other subsector.

**Figure 5: Performing arts GDP and Jobs from Q1 2016 to Q3 2021**

-	GDP (in thousands of dollars)	Jobs
Q1 2016	642,384	64,337
Q2 2016	635,142	65,002
Q3 2016	649,255	66,580
Q4 2016	647,253	66,627
Q1 2017	658,063	66,094
Q2 2017	669,325	65,203
Q3 2017	679,676	65,613
Q4 2017	669,377	63,690
Q1 2018	683,807	65,174
Q2 2018	689,453	66,385
Q3 2018	680,520	66,732
Q4 2018	701,916	67,784
Q1 2019	712,813	68,136
Q2 2019	707,597	67,918
Q3 2019	707,100	67,429
Q4 2019	725,982	68,691
Q1 2020	627,501	66,191
Q2 2020	242,382	36,605
Q3 2020	260,468	37,871
Q4 2020	256,450	35,764
Q1 2021	268,446	36,581
Q2 2021	263,109	34,438
Q3 2021	340,374	43,066

Performing Arts had started to rebound in Q3 2021 with erasing of restrictions, but Omicron will delay recovery.

Performing arts began to recover in Q3 2021– with fastest GDP and job growth in the culture domain. However, the effects of Omicron remain to be seen in terms of venue closures, erosion of public confidence, and reticence of audiences to return.

Performing arts sector had 29.7% quarterly GDP growth and 25.1% quarterly jobs growth between Q2 and Q3 2021.

Support for the live performance sector is needed urgently…

Stakeholders are experiencing even more uncertainty and pressure to plan for any eventuality. Sector is calling for support for cultural workers (including gig workers), and to ensure the continuity of venues.

Live performance sector faces a significant challenge with audience readiness to return, which is expected to delay recovery

Workers in the live performing arts sector continue to lack income-generating opportunities

… which is why the Department has recently announced special targeted measures

Support for organizations

Previous:

Supporting Musicians and Music Venues ($50M in 2021-22) through Canada Music Fund;
Digital Now ($50M in 2021-22) through the Canada Council for the Arts.

Current:

Recovery and Reopening Fund $500M investment from Budget 2021.
$10M in 2021-22 to support venue owners and operators
$25M in 2022-23 to encourage the return of audiences

Proposed:

Canada Arts and Culture Recovery Program – A temporary, one-year measure to offset declines in self-generated revenues (including ticket sales).

Support for Culture Workers

Previous:

Support for Workers in the Live Arts and Music sectors ($40M in 2021-22)

Current:

Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund ($62.3M) – support for independent and self-employed live performance workers

Complementary measures

Major Festivals and Events Support Initiative: $200M over two years (21-22 and 22-23)
Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program (THRP): 70% wage subsidy
Tourism Relief Fund: $500M over two years (2021-22 to 2022-23)
Hardest Hit Business Recovery Program: wage and rent relief to organizations ineligible for THRP
Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit: temporary income support to individuals unable to work due to lockdowns.
EI Modernization: study of permanent income support for self-employed and gig workers

In addition to the direct economic impacts on the arts and culture sector, the pandemic has exacerbated long standing trends regarding the use of digital platforms…

Online streaming services are shifting audiences and have altered the way we consume audio and audiovisual content

From 2019 to 2020, the four largest broadcasting sectors collectively lost over $1B in revenues. Sectors that rely on a strong ad market have suffered disproportionally.

Without meaningful change, the Department expects support for Canadian broadcasting to decline by roughly a third by 2023.

Music recording revenue has increased in the last six years; however, streaming platforms disproportionately privilege the top artists, leaving most artists struggling to make a living wage.

There is an increased need for more equitable news remuneration

Without intervention, the availability of existing news media are at risk, particularly local news in underserved communities and news from diverse sources.

From 2008 to August 2021, ~450 news outlets have closed, with 63 of those closures happening since the start of the pandemic. Only 172 new outlets have opened.

At the same time, digital platforms derive large profits from the Canadian marketplace and play gatekeeper to what information Canadians access online.

Social media platforms are increasingly central to civic life, but can also be used to threaten, intimidate, and harass, and to undermine social cohesion.

74% of Canadians reported seeing disinformation in the span of one month, which was up from 61% a year earlier. Young Canadians are most exposed.

1 in 5 Canadians experienced some form of online hate, 58% of women in Canada are victims of violence online, and racialized Canadians are 3x more likely to experience harmful behaviour online.

Intervention is needed to ensure a level playing field across platforms…

Need to ensure web giants operate on a level playing field with domestic broadcasters and media publishers.

Need to ensure digital platforms share a portion of their revenues from publication of news content with Canadian news outlets.

Need to ensure that online platforms are not used to spread serious forms of harmful content.

…which is why the Department is working on concrete measures

Online Streaming

From Mandate Letter: “Reintroduce legislation to reform the Broadcasting Act to ensure foreign web giants contribute to the creation and promotion of Canadian stories and music.”
Action: Tabled the Online Streaming Act to update the Broadcasting Act in Parliament

Online News

From Mandate Letter: “Swiftly introduce legislation to require digital platforms that generate revenues from the publication of news content to share a portion of their revenues with Canadian news outlets to level the playing field between global platforms and Canadian outlets.”
Action: The Government is about to table new legislation to address this issue.

Online Safety

From Mandate Letter: “Continue efforts with the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada to develop and introduce legislation as soon as possible to combat serious forms of harmful online content to protect Canadians and hold social media platforms and other online services accountable for the content they host. This legislation should be reflective of the feedback received during the recent consultations.”
Action: Released What We Heard Report on the Government’s approach to address harmful content online.

Complementary Initiatives

Digital Citizen Initiative Program:

Provides financial assistance for research and citizen-focused activities to counter online disinformation and other online harms and threats through.

Diversity of Content Online:

Leads the development of guiding principles on diversity of content online through an international multi-stakeholder working group of government, public sector and civil society partners.

Local Journalism Initiative:

50% funding increase ($5M annually) for two years to ensure that residents in communities across Canada continue to have access to reliable local information.

Page details

Date modified:: 2022-06-16

Language selection

Search