While Ontario contributes 45% of Canada’s culture GDP ($26.4 billion), the regional impact of the sector had remained largely unknown. Data was lacking on the number of jobs, the types of sectors benefiting from arts and culture, the tourism it drives, and the return on investment at the regional level.
To address this gap, Nordicity and the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) have released the Arts Across Ontario report, a first-of-its-kind impact study, that examines the arts, culture, and creative industries at the regional level in the province. For this research, Nordicity developed a model that converts provincial statistics into regional-level culture GDP estimates using Statistics Canada’s Culture Satellite Account data.
The results from this two-part study are now publicly available and will provide regions and municipalities across Ontario with robust, actionable data to support evidence-based decision-making. Key findings are presented below.
Arts in Ontario Economic Impact:
- The culture sector supported more than 270,000 direct jobs across Ontario in 2022.
- The sector contributed $26.4 billion to Ontario’s GDP in 2022.
- The culture sector generated more employment than the combined total of real estate, auto manufacturing, forestry, and mining industries.
Ontario Arts Council (OAC) Impact:
- Organizations receiving annual operating funding from OAC contributed approximately $1.1 billion to Ontario’s GDP through their expenditures.
- For every $1 invested by OAC, recipient organizations generated $25 in additional revenue from other sources.
- This reflects a strong return on public investment and underscores the OAC’s role in driving broader economic activity in the sector.
Read the full report and explore the regional data: http://bit.ly/44Fq1fO
For more information about this report, reach out to Lola Zhang.