A profile of arts & culture in Greater Vancouver (revised October 2002)

The region's arts and culture sector includes the following:

• 15 public art galleries
• 8 artist-run centres
• 300 commercial art galleries, art dealers, and consultants
• 120 theatres
• 21 municipally owned cultural centres/art studios
• 670 nonprofit cultural organizations
• 91,000 volunteers
• 91 dance schools
• 90 music schools
• 24 theatre schools
• 33 book publishers
• 163 magazines
• 58 record companies/labels
• 30 radio stations
• 15 television production companies
• 8 television studios
• 110 motion picture production and studio companies
• 63 recording studios
• 57 public library branches
• 9 public archives
• 20 public museums
• and more …

(Source: Arts & Culture in Greater Vancouver: Contributing to the Livable Region, the interim report of the Regional Cultural Plan Steering Committee, July 1997)

"The cultural sector provides significant contributions to the livability and economic diversity of the Greater Vancouver area."
- from Arts & Culture in Greater Vancouver: Contributing to the Livable Region, July 1997

The following statistics for 2000-01 are based on information from a core group of 102 nonprofit cultural organizations, including the five major exhibiting institutions, which receive funding from the City of Vancouver.

• During the 2000-01 season, nonprofit arts organizations (not including festivals) produced or presented 460 different live productions in Vancouver, encompassing music, dance, theatre, and multidisciplinary productions. The total number of performances produced by these live events numbered 2,550. In addition, Vancouver's arts and cultural festivals presented more than 1,700 performances. In the visual arts, the 2001-01 season featured more than 100 gallery exhibitions and in excess of 50 museum exhibits
• In 2001, more than 13,000 volunteers contributed 495,000 hours of service
• Attendance at live performances, screenings, exhibitions, festivals, and special events in Vancouver reached 2,770,000 in 2001-01, up seven percent from two years earlier
• In 2001-01, about 402,500 students attended performances by Vancouver arts organizations in their schools. Twenty-nine percent of these students were in Vancouver schools, 35 percent were in schools in other municipalities, and the remaining 36 percent were in schools in the rest of British Columbia

(Source: Annual Review 2001, Office of Cultural Affairs, City of Vancouver)

• Municipally owned cultural facilities in Greater Vancouver recorded more than three million visits in 1995, including 1.2 million visits to theatres, almost 700,000 to museums, and in excess of 500,000 visits to art galleries and exhibition centres
• 51 percent (928,000) of GVRD residents are personally involved with the arts
• 30 percent (546,000) of Greater Vancouver's residents attend festivals

(Source: Arts & Culture in Greater Vancouver: Contributing to the Livable Region, the interim report of the Regional Cultural Plan Steering Committee, July 1997)

• In 1999, 84 percent of Greater Vancouver's residents attended an arts event, defined as going to a play, performance, concert, opera or ballet; or visiting a place like an art gallery or museum

(Source: Survey of Public Attitudes Toward a Regional Cultural Plan for Greater Vancouver - Phase III, Canadian Facts, August 2000)

Cultural labour force

• About seven percent (62,000) of Greater Vancouver's labour force works in arts and culture
• Direct, indirect, and induced cultural sector jobs account for 11 percent (99,000) of Greater Vancouver's labour force
• Direct, indirect, and induced wages and salaries in Greater Vancouver's cultural sector add up to more than $2.3 billion

(Source: Strategies for Regional Arts and Cultural Development in Greater Vancouver, a report of the Regional Cultural Plan Steering Committee, September 1999)

"Arts and culture defines Greater Vancouver as a community, helping shape the region's unique identity that sets us apart from other metropolitan areas."
- from Strategies for Regional Arts and Cultural Development in Greater Vancouver, September 1999

Economic benefits

• The cultural sector adds $2 billion to the GVRD's Gross Domestic Product value
• The direct, indirect, and induced GDP impact of Greater Vancouver's cultural sector is $3.45 billion
• While all levels of government provide an estimated $100 million to the cultural sector within Greater Vancouver, this combined contribution leverages $3 billion in direct revenues and represents an exceptional value or return on investment
• The cultural sector attracts in excess of $500 million in government revenues when combining direct, indirect, and induced effects

(Source: Arts & Culture in Greater Vancouver: Contributing to the Livable Region, the interim report of the Regional Cultural Plan Steering Committee, July 1997)

• For every one dollar the City of Vancouver invests in grants to 102 nonprofit cultural organizations, these groups leverage $12.15 from other sources

(Source: Annual Review 2001, Office of Cultural Affairs, City of Vancouver)

• Of travellers to Vancouver, 37 percent partake in some form of cultural activity, spending more than $1.2 billion. In 1998, cultural tourists spent 8.7 percent more per trip than the average visitor

(Source: Vancouver's Cultural Tourism Initiative)

"The arts and culture sector is an integral part of the new economy."
- from Arts & Culture in Greater Vancouver: Contributing to the Livable Region, July 1997

Social benefits

Arts and cultural services provide these social benefits to communities:

• Strengthening social cohesion and establishing common ground between generations and cultures
• Creating and preserving our cultural heritage, which provides community identity, distinctiveness, and collective pride
• Providing diversity and choice in leisure, entertainment, and celebration opportunities
• Providing opportunities for personal and creative skills development, particularly by children and youth
• Providing opportunities for public involvement and support through participation, consumption, and volunteerism
• Assisting in the delivery of other public services, such as education, health/healing, community integration/socialization, and crime prevention

(Source: Strategies for Regional Arts and Cultural Development in Greater Vancouver, a report of the Regional Cultural Plan Steering Committee, September 1999)

Definitions of arts and cultural activities

• Written media: publishing, printing, wholesale and retail sales of books, newspapers, magazines, and other reading matter
• Film: film and video production, distribution, wholesaling and retail sales, motion picture theatres
• Broadcasting: radio and television broadcasting, cable television
• Music industry: musicians and singers; sound recording; production and wholesale of musical instruments, sheet music, and recordings; retail sales of records, tapes, and CDs
• Stage performances: production, promotion and performing in live theatrical or other staged entertainment; activities such as booking, advertising, ticket sales, costume and set design
• Heritage, museums: museums, nature parks, historic sites, heritage conservation areas, built heritage, archives, aquariums, zoos, halls of fame, galleries, exhibition centres, botanical gardens
• Libraries: public, school, college, and university libraries
• Visual arts: sculpting, drawing, painting, engraving
• Crafts: design, production and sale of craft objects such as jewellery, pottery, ornamental objects, and woven fabrics
• Festivals: periodic commemorations and celebrations with a cultural theme, such as a music festival
• Arts and culture education: formal academic or technical training to students through classroom or correspondence instruction
• Design: interior, industrial, and graphic design
• Photography: portrait and commercial photography, wholesale and retail sales of photographic equipment and supplies
• Government cultural agencies: cultural activities of the three levels of government
• Cultural associations: community, service, professional, and commercial organizations
• Multidisciplinary activities: manufacture and retail sale of audio and video equipment, blank tapes, and musical instruments

(Source: Strategies for Regional Arts and Cultural Development in Greater Vancouver, a report of the Regional Cultural Plan Steering Committee, September 1999)