THE ARTS & CULTURE ADVOCATE

Investing in culture: a direct look at BC's arts funding

In July 1999, the Regional Cultural Plan Steering Committee released a report analyzing provincial spending on culture. This Arts and Culture Advocate summarizes the Steering Committee's report and includes five tables of figures.
To anyone working in the sector, the Steering Committee's report holds few surprises: BC ranks near the bottom in almost every category.
Information on how to receive a copy of the full report appears at the end of this article. Alternatively, Government of British Columbia Expenditures on Culture is available for reference in the Alliance's resource library.

What's included
Government of British Columbia Expenditures on Culture reveals one bright spot. BC supports libraries at almost double the provincial average per capita level ($42.44 versus $22.40 in 1996-97).
The report notes that "libraries also account for a larger-than-average proportion of the provincial cultural budget - 65 percent of all spending on culture compared with the average provincial share of 40 percent."
While this exceptional level of investment in libraries is welcome, it distorts analysis of expenditures in other areas of the cultural sector.
To deal with the skewed results, the Steering Committee's report excludes libraries in its comparative figures. It also eliminates the category of nature/provincial parks used by Statistics Canada in its definition of culture.
The analyses include the following Statistics Canada categories: heritage resources (museums, public archives, historic parks and sites, other heritage), arts education, literary arts, performing arts, visual arts and crafts, film and video, broadcasting, sound recording, multiculturalism, and multidisciplinary activities.


The low points
Among the Steering Committee's key findings:

  • In 1996-97, BC spending on culture (excluding libraries) was $22.95 per capita, ranking BC eighth among the ten provinces. This was $11.64 below the average of all other provinces.
  • Over the last ten years, BC's per capita spending on culture has always been significantly below the average of the other provinces, ranging between a low of 45 percent and a high of 67 percent of the provincial average.
  • For five of the ten years of this study, BC ranked seventh out of ten provinces, for four years BC ranked eighth, and for one year BC ranked ninth for per capita cultural spending.
  • For BC's spending on culture (excluding libraries) to rise to the level of the provincial average, an additional $46 million in annual spending would be required.
  • In the ten-year period covered by this study, BC's total expenditures increased from approximately $12 to $24 billion in current dollars.
The last statistic, in particular, speaks volumes. The provincial government has often blamed fiscal restraint for its poor spending on and cuts to cultural programs.
(Remember when the British Columbia Arts Council suffered a $4 million budget slashing - one-quarter of its budget at the time - a few years ago?)


A look at the data
Statistics Canada's 1996-97 figures - the most recent year for which data is available - show that this province's cultural expenditures continue to fare poorly compared to those of other provinces (see Table 1 and Table 2 below).
 

Table 1
Per capita provincial spending on culture, 1996-97, by province*

  Per Capita Support ($)
 Ranking
QC
 58.65
1
NF
 42.20
2
MN
 31.88
3
NS
 31.55
4
PEI
 29.52
5
SK
 29.23
6
AB
 26.89
7
BC
 22.95
8
ON
 22.52
9
NB
 18.98
10
*excludes nature parks and libraries
Source: Statistics Canada
 
Table 2
Cultural expenditures, excluding libraries, as a proportion of total provincial
budgets, 199697*
  Total budget expenditures ('000)
Cultural expenditures excluding libraries ('000)
Cultural expenditures as % of total budget
Ranking
QC
47,934,000
426,605
0.89%
 1
NF
3,692,000
23,659
0.64%
 2
NS
5,007,000
29,381
0.59%
 3
MN
7,041,000
36,163
0.51%
 4
AB
15,182,000
74,773
0.49%
 5
SK
6,068,000
29,805
0.49%
 5
PEI
847,000
4,021
0.47%
 7
ON
59,709,000
249,996
0.42%
 8
BC
24,536,000
87,981
0.36%
 9
NB
4,817,000
14,291
0.30%
 10
Total
 174,833,000
976,675
0.56%
*excludes nature parks and libraries
Source: Statistics Canada

Consistently poor support
Unfortunately, BC's low spending on culture is not a recent phenomenon.
The analysis of cultural expenditures for the period 1987-88 to 1996-97 makes it clear that BC's lack of investment in the cultural sector is longstanding (see Tables 3 and 4 below).

 
Table 3
Per capita provincial spending on culture: British Columbia compared to other provinces (averaged), 1987-88 to 1996-97 (in constant 1992$)*
  BC
 Other provinces (avg.)
 BC compared to other provinces
1987-88
 $ 24.24
 $ 39.33
 62%
1988-89
 21.27
 42.18
 50%
1989-90
 23.13
 43.85
 53%
1990-91
 21.09
 42.12
 50%
1991-92
 23.72
 43.43
 55%
1992-93
 19.51
 43.68
 45%
1993-94
 22.24
 39.62
 56%
1994-95
 24.43
 37.54
 65%
1995-96
 21.68
 34.58
 63%
1996-97
 21.67
 32.29
 67%
* excludes nature parks and libraries
Source: Statistics Canada
 
 
Table 4
Per capita provincial government support to culture, excluding libraries (in constant 1992$)
  1987-88
 1988-89
 1989-90
 1990-91
 1991-92
 1992-93
 1993-94
 1994-95
 1995-96
 1996-97
NF
 16.89(9)
 19.03 (9)
 19.31 (9)
 17.41 (9)
 19.92 (9)
 19.74 (8)
 18.53 (8)
 18.12 (9)
 15.85 (9)
 39.18(2)*
PEI
 34.29 (5)
 34.10 (5)
 41.37 (4)
 27.83 (6)
 37.39 (4)
 32.08 (5)
 35.24 (3)
 28.69 (5)
 28.44 (3)
 27.83 (5)
NS
 34.06 (6)
 41.84 (3)
 46.23 (3)
 36.97 (4)
 30.72 (6)
 31.11 (6)
 30.96 (5)
 28.17 (6)
 27.65 (5)
 29.42 (4)
NB
 18.72 (8)
 15.00 (10)
 14.99 (10)
 13.45 (10)
 14.74 (10)
 13.74 (10)
 18.19 (10)
 15.00 (10)
 15.83(10)
 17.75(10)
QC
 51.87 (1)
 54.64 (1)
 55.38 (1)
 55.41 (1)
 60.33 (1)
 64.71 (1)
 60.47 (1)
 57.88 (1)
 55.50 (1)
 54.50 (1)
ON
 36.32 (3)
 37.83 (4)
 40.32 (5)
 39.29 (3)
 39.58 (3)
 37.46 (3)
 32.55 (4)
 29.43 (4)
 26.19 (7)
 20.98 (9)
MN
 36.05 (4)
 33.52 (6)
 38.42 (6)
 36.81 (5)
 34.50 (5)
 34.58 (4)
 30.04 (6)
 37.16 (2)
 32.39 (2)
 30.06 (3)
SK
 12.77 (10)
 24.47 (7)
 32.93 (7)
 19.70 (8)
 19.97 (8)
 21.80 (7)
 18.27 (9)
 20.82 (8)
 28.05 (4)
 27.68 (6)
AB
 42.73 (2)
 50.33 (2)
 46.43 (2)
 44.70 (2)
 44.07 (2)
 42.65 (2)
 37.70 (2)
 36.06 (3)
 27.59 (6)
 25.39 (7)
BC
 24.24 (7)
 21.27 (8)
 23.13 (8)
 21.09 (7)
 23.72 (7)
 19.51 (9)
 22.24 (7)
 24.43 (7)
21.68 (8)
 21.67 (8)
Note: The number in parentheses is the province's "per capita spending on culture" ranking that year.
* This increase in spending on culture coincides with the John Cabot Celebrations that occurred in 1997.

Finally, the following table compares this province's expenditure on culture with the average of all the other provinces combined. This precludes BC's funding record from being included in the provincial average figure. The full Steering Committee report provides a more detailed analysis of the figures in each discipline.
 

Table 5
Per capita provincial spending on culture: British Columbia compared to other provinces (averaged), 1987-88 to 1996-97, by discipline (in constant 1992$)
  1987-88
 1988-89
 1989-90
 1990-91
 1991-92
 1992-93
 1993-94
 1994-95
 1995-96
 1996-97
Libraries
BC
 35.20
 35.22
 37.67
 42.49
 46.44
 45.84
 50.85
 34.65
 41.04
 40.08
Other
24.75
 24.56
 24.42
 24.36
 23.31
 22.78
 22.08
 20.90
 19.88
 18.12
Film and video
BC
 1.06
 1.77
 1.33
 1.98
 2.36
 2.48
 3.32
 2.16
 2.31
 4.32
Other
1.46
 1.36
 2.77
 2.80
 2.91
 2.94
 2.52
 2.63
 2.41
 1.60
Museums
BC
 7.13
 6.26
 5.40
 4.49
 5.62
 3.75
 3.71
 4.03
 3.83
 3.92
Other
7.52
 8.53
 9.14
 8.13
 8.38
 10.01
 8.42
 8.61
 8.46
 7.93
Arts education
BC
 3.18
 3.46
 2.95
 3.02
 3.39
 3.15
 5.30
 3.81
 3.06
 3.05
Other
1.72
 2.78
 2.83
 2.71
 2.63
 2.67
 2.39
 2.37
 2.47
 1.87
Broadcasting
BC
 2.57
 2.39
 2.53
 2.18
 3.33
 2.42
 2.76
 2.80
 2.30
 2.13
Other
7.96
 8.95
 8.75
 8.96
 8.52
 7.98
 8.02
 7.94
 6.81
 5.73
Public archives
BC
 0.97
 0.79
 1.46
 1.30
 1.26
 1.15
 1.11
 1.45
 1.38
 1.68
Other
0.86
 0.85
 0.81
 0.85
 0.84
 0.80
 0.82
 1.05
 1.01
 0.92
Multiculturalism
BC
 0.20
 0.24
 0.58
 0.17
 0.20
 0.00
 0.08
 3.58
 2.69
 1.46
Other
1.81
 1.27
 1.40
 1.55
 1.44
 1.82
 1.54
 1.32
 1.37
 1.14
Historic parks & sites
BC
 2.40
 1.64
 2.40
 1.94
 1.82
 1.57
 1.57
 1.58
 1.52
 1.25
Other
3.55
 3.41
 3.93
 2.94
 3.46
 2.78
 2.59
 2.34
 1.98
 2.28
Performing arts
BC
 3.52
 2.43
 3.36
 2.53
 1.93
 1.55
 1.43
 1.61
 1.50
 1.24
Other
5.42
 5.14
 4.57
 5.03
 5.84
 5.76
 5.26
 4.92
 4.58
 4.38
Multidisciplinary activities
BC
 0.39
 0.42
 0.44
 1.40
 1.22
 1.38
 0.88
 1.38
 1.53
 1.00
Other
3.09
 4.00
 4.31
 3.80
 4.26
 3.85
 3.20
 1.90
 1.47
 2.05
Other heritage
BC
 1.84
 1.02
 1.55
 1.13
 1.21
 0.98
 1.26
 1.29
 0.86
 0.79
Other
0.96
 0.99
 0.88
 1.12
 1.24
 1.25
 1.13
 1.26
 1.00
 1.22
Visual arts and crafts
BC
 0.59
 0.53
 0.62
 0.52
 0.77
 0.46
 0.45
 0.51
 0.44
 0.49
Other
1.29
 1.32
 1.27
 1.29
 1.39
 1.40
 1.38
 1.30
 1.25
 1.41
Literary arts
BC
 0.21
 0.19
 0.18
 0.19
 0.28
 0.25
 0.21
 0.22
 0.22
 0.30
Other
0.87
 0.91
 0.89
 0.85
 0.84
 0.82
 0.80
 0.80
 0.69
 0.57
Sound recording
BC
 0.00
 0.00
 0.00
 0.00
 0.00
 0.01
 0.03
 0.01
 0.03
 0.02
Other
0.12
 0.08
 0.08
 0.08
 0.06
 0.09
 0.14
 0.15
 0.16
 0.14
Other
BC
 0.20
 0.15
 0.32
 0.24
 0.33
 0.35
 0.13
 0.00
 0.00
 0.02
Other
2.71
 2.59
 2.23
 1.99
 1.61
 1.52
 1.40
 0.96
 0.90
 1.05
Total
BC
(excluding libraries) 		24.24
 21.27
 23.13
 21.09
 23.72
 19.51
 22.24
 24.43
 21.68
 21.67
Other
39.33
 42.18
 43.85
 42.12
 43.43
 43.68
 39.62
 37.54
 34.58
 32.29

Reports available

Published Steering Committee reports are available by writing to: Policy and Planning Department, Greater Vancouver Regional District, 4330 Kingsway, Burnaby BC V5H 4G8. Or download a copy from the Internet at http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/oca/Region/provstats/BCsupport.htm.