Cultural sector helps drive economy: report

Arts and culture contributed $46 billion to Canada's economy in 2007, but the overall impact of the sector was a much broader $84.6 billion, according to a report from the Conference Board of Canada.

That amounts to 7.4 per cent of Canada's gross domestic product, according to the report, released Tuesday.

The study, commissioned with money from the federal Heritage Department, is the most comprehensive ever made of Canada's cultural sector.

It attributes 1.1 million jobs to arts and culture or to spinoff industries, such as tourism.

And culture has less tangible benefits, such as helping people of diverse backgrounds understand each other, the report says.

"Arts and culture industries bring people together locally, globally and virtually, helping to bridge large geographic distances and create communities of interest," the report says.

It highlights what it calls the "creative economy" as a key driver of economic growth in the future.

"Canada is a relatively small market dispersed across a large geography," the report says. "Therefore the success of many culture products and services depends significantly on international trade."

This seems to contradict the Tory policy of cutting programs that promote trade in the arts. Earlier this month it announced the end of the Trade Routes program, which exposes international buyers to Canada's cultural sector, and PromArt, which helps arts groups and international artists travel overseas.

Harper defends cuts

However, Prime Minister Steven Harper said Tuesday the programs cut were not effective.

"This government has increased funding for the arts in total, but every five years we go over all our funding programs to find which are the most effective. Some arts programs went down, others went up," he said, speaking at a news conference in Ottawa.

The federal government added $50 million to the Canada Council budgetthis year, but also cut a significant program that helps museum exhibits tour. Reports estimate the government will cut up to $48 million from arts spending by 2010.

The Conference Board of Canada report, which came out of a March 2008 conference of arts professionals, says digital technology is creating new opportunities for economic growth in the creative sector.

This is primarily because of the importance of the internet as a magnet for creative entrepreneurs and as a means of distributing arts projects, the study says.

"These technologies allow content producers to distribute their works to a wide audience and consumers to participate directly in creating cultural content," the report says.

Technology is also opening significant "niche markets" for more unusual cultural products that don't have a huge commercial following, but are nonetheless viable because the internet makes them easy to distribute, the report says.

Creative people also help fuel innovation in other economic sectors, it adds, pointing out that cities with large cultural communities are economically vibrant.