October 9, 2018 – The federal government has increased funding to the Canada Council for the Arts and has launched the Creative Export Strategy. However, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund (CAPF) remains under-funded and over-subscribed. This lack of funding affects our entire touring and presenting ecosystem.
We have an opportunity to secure a $30 million increase for the CAPF in the 2019 federal budget.
But we need your help to get there.
We are asking you to do two important things now.
Tell Your MP about the Canada Arts Presentation Fund
On October 2nd, arts advocates were in Ottawa to thank Members of Parliament for past investments and to ask for an increase to the Canada Arts Presentation Fund. No matter how passionate and effective these advocates were, they were told that “all politics is local”: MPs need to know that the increase of CAPF matters to constituents in their own riding.
Please set aside whatever is on your agenda and contact your Member of Parliament now.
- Use the templates below to send an email or a letter to your MP to ask for their support to increase the CAPF;
- Follow up with a phone call (MPs are in their riding this week) and, if you are up for it, ask for a meeting.
Your objective is to convince your MP to express his/her support for an increase to CAPF within his/her caucus, to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and to the Minister of Finance by the end of this month.
Template email/letter (MS Word format)
Arts Day messages (to attach to your email/letter)
Case for CAPF increase (to attach to your email/letter)
Tell Us about the Impact of Your Work
If you are a presenter and you haven’t taken the Presenters’ Vitality and Impact Survey yet, the deadline is October 15th.
This is another critical step in securing an increase to the Canada Arts Presentation Fund. With your financial information, we will be able to help Finance Canada estimate potential tax revenues arising from an increase to the CAPF.
If you need assistance or encouragement to complete the survey, we will be online tomorrow, Wednesday October 10, at 1:00 pm (ET), to answer any question you may have. All you’ll have to do is click on this link to join the web conference:
http://capacoa.adobeconnect.com/vitality-and-impact/
You may also at all time call Frédéric Julien, at 613-562-3515, extension 3.
Timelines for the Federal Budget
The window to influence the federal budget begins in the summer, with the pre-budget consultations, and ends in late November, with the publication of the Standing Committee of Finance pre-budget consultation report.
The Standing Committee on Finance is currently conducting hearings and you may have an opportunity to participate if you live in one of these four cities:
15 October: Whitehorse, Yukon
16 October: Victoria, British Columbia
17 October: Edmonton, Alberta
18 October: Winnipeg, Manitoba
In addition to the pre-budget consultations, it is also possible to influence the budget by sharing your recommendations directly with Members of Parliament, who can then express their support within their caucus, to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and to the Minister of Finance. This is what we do on Arts Day on the Hill. This is also what we are asking you to do today, by emailing your Member of Parliament.
The federal budget will be tabled in February or March 2019. But the time to influence it is now.
