Individual Artists Make it Happen!

EC3’s proposal to City Hall for a program of Grants to Individual Artists is needed now more than ever. Please let Councillors know this matters to you. Watch the video, check out the proposal and contact your City Councillor now.

Support local artists!

CITY OF PETERBOROUGH BUDGET 2022
FUNDING FOR ARTS PROGRAMS

EC3 Proposal: Program of Grants to Individual Artists: $45,000

We truly appreciate your time and attention to this issue as municipal funding plays such a crucial role in the sustainability of the local arts sector and the arts are critical to a vibrant downtown, a thriving economy and community well-being. Direct revenue investment at the municipal level matters so much in and of itself, and creates an important tool for leveraging additional funds from other sources. This is particularly true at this time, as local arts and culture organizations as well as individual artists struggle to overcome the negative impacts of Covid 19 and stabilize. The City contribution to the Peterborough Arts Alive Fund played a crucial role in stabilizing key arts organizations in our City, keeping the heat and lights on in venues and supporting initiatives that are enabling them to reopen. We are so grateful for that.

Individual artists, facing the financial loss from declining gallery sales, cancelled concert tours and book deals etc. need our support now to get back on their feet, get work made and ready to present to the public. These kinds of grant programs are mainstay in the best of times to ensure a robust ecosystem of public funding for the arts, post COVID 19, they are essential.

As you know, many national and international studies have demonstrated that the already precarious arts and culture sector has been one of the hardest-hit by the Covid 19 pandemic and this negative impact has reverberated through the tourism and hospitality sector as well. It is estimated that “recovery” will take two -three years.

The federal and provincial governments and many municipalities have extended special or supplementary funding programs into 2022, some cities are revamping their ongoing support for arts programs in response to COVID 19 experiences.

So, it remains absolutely essential that the City continues to enhance its support for the arts in very strategic ways both for long term resilience and community benefit, and for city-wide Covid 19 recovery.

OUR ASK
Program of Grants to Individual Artists Designed and Delivered by EC3: $45,000
“Peterborough Arts ALIVE for Individuals”

As you know, EC3 has long advocated for municipal support to individual professional artists in the form of a competitive grant program for research, development, production and presentation of new projects. We note that Kingston developed such a program in 2021 to support artists during the pandemic and will continue the program in 2022. EC3 is prepared to take on the work to develop and deliver that program within our current funding model. We have an excellent track record of creating and managing grants to artists (ArtsweekSHIFT2 etc.).

Such a program should not wait another year given the devastating effect the pandemic has had on the lives and work of local artists. This is definitely the year to get this long overdue program off the ground. If successful, we would hope to see this program continued in the future.

We know it’s not easy, particularly right now, to find funds, but we are confident that these investments will make an enormous difference to local artists and arts organizations in the coming year and beyond. It’s an investment that will act like jet fuel to fire the recovery of the sector and all its impacts.

Keep our award-winning artists here in Peterborough, make sure there is local creative content to fill our own venues and give our children a chance to build a practice here at home. Speed COVID 19 recovery by supporting this proposal.

Many and sincere thanks for all your support for the arts.

Please feel free to call Su Ditta if you have any questions.
705 749 9101

Many thanks
EC3

City Council contact list