Stats and Stories 2023-24
Arts Abroad Funding Overview

Funding includes grants to artists and arts organizations through different programs, strategic funds and Prizes under parliamentary appropriation. Funding through “Other programs and activities” include art purchases for the Art Bank, payments to authors through the Public Lending Right, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO as well as Prizes, endowments and fellowships that are not under parliamentary appropriation.

Funding in the “Outside Canada” category is to Canadian artists and authors residing outside Canada, and to international publishers and co-producers.

The category “Strategic Funds - Other” includes the Access Support Fund, the Market Access Strategy for Official Language Minority Communities (OLMC) Fund, the Media Arts Equipment Acquisition Fund, Commission internationale du théâtre francophone (CITF), and Canada-Korea Connections Fund.

While we acknowledge that “Indigenous arts” is not itself a field of practice, this category is used to identify the totality of diverse practices in arts and culture primarily funded through the Canada Council’s Creating, Knowing and Sharing program. It is linked to our strategic commitment to increase support to Indigenous artists, organizations and communities and is used solely for statistical and program administration purposes.

In 2022–23, the Council delivered two rounds of government funding in response to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Council delivered $50 million in recovery funding, specifically to support research and the creation and production of artistic works, domestic touring activities and market development, and sector innovation. In addition, the Council directed $9.2 million in government support to approximately 200 core-funded organizations, with a mandate dedicated to underserved and marginalized communities, specifically Indigenous, racialized, Deaf and disability, and official language minority communities. Through these organizations, funding reached artists, technicians and cultural workers whose livelihoods suffered because of the pandemic and whose contributions are essential to rebuilding a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future for the arts.