Research > Value of Presenting > Survey of Presenters

Survey of Performing Arts Presenters

This survey is one of the inputs of the Value of Presenting study to learn how the presenting sector perceives itself and its roles. It was designed by Strategic Moves and conducted in October and November 2011 by EKOS Research Associates. The survey report was published in February 2012.

Survey of Performing Arts Presenters – Report (PDF)

Some highlights include:

  • A thorough description of the great diversity of the sector in terms of size of organizations, scope of activity and audiences served. Regional differences are explored along with rural/urban, linguistic and business demographic parameters.
  • Arts presenters contribute to fostering artistic development, particularly in exposing new art and artists and assisting those at the local level with presenting their works.
  • Community building is a key contribution of presenters, from contributing to the local economy, fostering a sense of identity, building partnerships, to promoting education. 76 per cent say they spend a great deal of effort in this area.
  • Building partnerships with other organizations in the community is one of the most important roles arts presenters play in the community. Today, 86 per cent already work in partnership with other arts organizations, 84 per cent with a wide variety of community organizations and 78 per cent with schools/educational institutions, 67 per cent with government and 64 per cent with the private sector. Most often arts presenters take a leading role in partnerships. Therefore, it is not surprising that 82 per cent believe continung a focus on partnerships both within the arts ecology and with community organizations will be very important over the next 10 years.
  • 49 per cent of presenters surveyed serve Aboriginal, official-language minority and/or culturally diverse audiences as part of their mandate.
  • Volunteers are essential to bringing performing arts to communities across Canada.
  • The average amount arts presenters spent on artists fees in their last fiscal year was $131,530, representing on average 34 per cent of total budget.
  • In terms of capital projects, 114 organizations in the survey who identified upcoming projects anticipated $442.5 million in expenditures in the next 5 years.