As part of the Canadian Arts Coalition’s national call to action, the Canadian Dance Assembly has launched an advocacy campaign

«“This is important right now because the sector is in crisis,” Karla Etienne, executive director of the Canadian Dance Assembly, says in an interview with Stir. “People want to show their work but really lack the funding to do it. The budget of Canada Council [for the Arts] doesn’t reach the needs of the sector and we really think that it’s very important to do because the sector is vital. There’s a lot of creation going on and dance has a big role to play in social cohesion and in building communities.”

Etienne notes that dance productions are economic drivers, employing scores of people behind the scenes. “It’s like an ecosystem with economic and artistic elements that are essential to the social fabric,” Etienne says. “When we do a premiere we do three or four shows locally but it’s important that we can meet our public in different areas of Canada.”

As estimated by the Canadian Arts Coalition, the government will allocate approximately 0.94 percent of its expenditures on arts, culture, and heritage in 2024-25. This means it will distribute $1,862,357,369 to the Department of Canadian Heritage and $365,758,160 to Canada Council for the Arts during that time period. As part of a national movement launched by the Canadian Arts Coalition, the Canadian Dance Assembly is calling for the federal government to permanently allocate at least one percent of its overall spending toward arts, culture, and heritage every year.»

The $140-million rise in funding to the Canada Council for the Arts would allow for bolstered creation and production grants to individual dance artists and would also provide meaningful support for touring, which often serves as a core revenue stream necessary to sustain essential production activities that keep companies active and cultural workers and artists employed.

“What we do is vital to the economic, social, and cultural health of our communities,” Etienne says.

Read the full article here by Gail Johnson.