Friday, July 20, 2007

Canada Council gets permanent
$30 million increase

In a surprise announcement, Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda today announced that the one time funding made available to the Canada Council for the Arts in 2006 will now be made permanent. This means that the annual allocation to the Council will grow by $30 million to $181 million a year.

At the news conference in Toronto and a press release, Minister Oda spoke about the very strong outcomes of the arts community, and their contribution to communities across Canada. “For 50 years, the Canada Council for the Arts has supported talented artists in achieving their dreams. It has helped our arts organizations, our creators, our communities and our country,” said Minister Oda.

Canada Council Director Robert Sirman was delighted with Minister’s announcement. “This is wonderful news, not only for the Canada Council and the community, but for all Canadians whose lives are touched by the arts” he said.

In its 2006 budget, the government announced additional funding of $50 million over two years for the Canada Council - $20 million in 2006/07 and $30 million in 2007/08. In the spring, the Council made grants of $33 million to all the arts (about $620,000 to 36 magazines) out of this one-time grant. Now the funding has been made permanent.

Presumably a portion of this funding will find its way every year to the literary and cultural magazines that are the Canada Council's clients.

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

GREAT NEWS!

1:51 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A Tory gesture of goodwill toward the arts?

Get used to it -- I hear Harper is an aesthete at heart...

8:51 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great news but why so little on magazines?

9:32 am  
Blogger D. B. Scott said...

In the case of last year's "special" disbursement, the money that went to periodicals represented only about 1.8% of the total money. But that is because CC client magazines are literary and cultural and therefore mostly small in circulation and budget. The Canada Council does not fund commercial magazines who represent the vast majority of the magazine circulation in this country.

11:33 am  

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