Q: Does investing in arts and culture give value for money?
A: Yes

1. • Arts and cultural activities create jobs: 62,000 people work in Greater Vancouver's cultural sector - about seven percent of the region's labour force. Add direct, indirect, and induced jobs, and that figure rises to 99,000 jobs or 11 percent of the labour force. In fact, Canada's cultural labour force grew by 32 percent from 1982-1997, compared with only 12 percent growth in the general labour force and 15 percent growth in the experienced labour force
     
   • Another benefit of Greater Vancouver's cultural sector is the amount it adds to the region's Gross Domestic Product: $2 billion. The direct, indirect, and induced GDP impact is $3.45 billion
     
   • In addition, the region's cultural sector attracts more than $500 million in government revenues when combining direct, indirect, and induced effects. All levels of government invest a combined amount of $100 million in Greater Vancouver's cultural sector, which leverages $3 billion in direct revenues and represents an excellent return on investment.
     
     (Source: Arts & Culture in Greater Vancouver: Contributing to the Livable Region, the interim report of the Regional Cultural Plan Steering Committee, July 1997)
     
     
2. Q: Should governments continue to invest in arts and culture?
   A: Yes
   
   
   • Government granting agencies provide critical seed money to artists and arts organizations. These grants frequently help artists leverage more funds from the private sector
     
   • Government investment in arts and culture is more than returned through increases in economic activity from tourism, taxes, and the like
     
   • Governments are our principal partners in the cultural development and expression of our region
     
     
3. Q: Can arts and cultural experiences benefit our children's education?
   A: Yes
   
   
   • Arts and culture help children to develop precisely the skills business leaders look for in the labour force: creative thinking, a high degree of literacy, communications skills, problem-solving techniques, commitment to excellence, and self-discipline
     
   • Artists in the schools programs encourage interaction between students and members of the arts community. These programs enhance and enrich the basic educational curriculum
     
     
4. Q: Do the arts contribute to the well-being of Greater Vancouver residents?
   A: Yes
   
   
   • Greater Vancouver's diverse population enjoys many artistic traditions. We gain pleasure and enjoyment from the variety of arts and culture available in our communities
     
   • Arts projects can provide much needed jobs through cultural tourism
     
   • Arts organizations and artists support community causes, such as hospitals, food banks, and other charities
     
   • The arts form a non-verbal means of communicating with people at home and abroad, particularly with those whose mother tongue is neither English, nor French
     
   • Theatre is used as a means of engaging street youth
     
   • The health community recognizes the healing power of art: many hospitals add art and artists to their environment to engage patients and visitors
     
   • Artists and arts groups have been used to forge communications links to the chronically ill and to sick children
     
     
5. Q: Are the arts accessible to Greater Vancouver residents?
   A: Yes
   
   
   • Most performing arts companies provide discount tickets, either for performances on specific days, or through group, senior, and student discounts
     
   • Some galleries and museums have never charged admission; others have moved to make at least their permanent collection free to visitors
     
     
6. Q: Should culture continue to be protected in international trade agreements?
   A: Yes
   
   
   • The objective of the protections currently in place is to ensure that people in Greater Vancouver can freely encounter Canadian art and culture on the airwaves, the screens, the news, and the bookstands of the region
     
   • Without these protections, our artistic expression risks being drowned by the deluge of material from other countries—not because the imports are better, but because they are simply more numerous