Murray is working out of NLFB’s new office on Durham Street on a snowy afternoon in March. She is working alone. While the organization was approved for provincial funding to hire intern positions, the program was stalled due to the provincial election last month. Murray is anxiously awaiting the go-ahead to hire, although this is a situation that she and other organization leaders have become accustomed to.
In response, board members are very hands-on, she said, and the organization has a solid volunteer base when it comes to helping during the summer festival. Still, each year of operation brings unique circumstances. Lightning and thunderstorms during the 2024 festival forced the closure of Bell Park, resulting in poor attendance numbers. Attendance matters when writing grant applications – funders want to see solid attendance records as an assurance of the festival’s continued success. It’s common to plan the upcoming festival and pay deposits for artists’ fees even before all funding is secured.
“It’s a lot of stress waiting for that money to come,” said Murray who is about one year into her role.
“For someone like me, I don’t like spending money unless I know it’s physically there. I’ve had to spend a lot of money not knowing when it’s coming in. It’s been very challenging for my type of personality.”
Kevin Despot has served on NLFB’s board of directors since 2013, and he says that’s just the nature of operations.
“Grant funding has remained fairly consistent,” said Despot, board chair. However, Murray added that sponsorships are down this year.
“Our expense side has gone up far more than inflation,” said Despot. “Our biggest challenge is artist fees, insurance cost and security cost.”
So, it’s easy to imagine how a long-running festival like the Regina Folk Festival could fold. For 55 years, the festival was a vibrant celebration of music and culture and now organizers of Sudbury-based arts organizations fear its demise signals deeper struggles for grassroots cultural events that rely on increasingly scarce funding. The number of artists and organizations applying for funding has increased, while the available funding has substantially declined over the last few years, said Heather Campbell, director of Wordstock Sudbury Literary Festival.
“We could be doing more if we had more,” she said. In addition to holding a year-round programming that culminates into a weekend-long festival in the fall, the organization introduced the Nickel City Literacy League to foster literacy among school-aged children at no cost. A financial shortfall for 2025 has placed the organization in a precarious position and Campbell had to drastically cut back her hours and pay to help balance the budget. Despite the organization’s challenges, Campbell is proceeding with plans for the festival’s 2025 iteration.
Wordstock isn’t alone in its financial troubles. The Toronto International Festival of Authors, the country’s longest-running and largest literary festival, also faced several hurdles this year, while the Kingston WritersFest ceased operations altogether.
“The literary arts are not funded the same way as other arts and cultural groups,” said Campbell. “But what is going on in the world right now emphasizes the importance of the work we do. The literary arts are not about reading romance novels. They are about creative expression, learning, understanding and creating conversations. They are about making sense of the world and hearing all voices.”
Local writers are thankful for the opportunities Wordstock has provided them for nurturing their craft. Spoken word artist Lindsay Mayhew credits Wordstock for her success. She has performed across the country and represented Canada at the 2024 Womxn of the World poetry slam.
But to continue that mentorship and support, Wordstock needs better support, specifically at the local and federal levels, said Campbell, further explaining the Ontario government has provided ongoing support and that while the organization receives municipal funding, she wishes it were more.
In 2024, through its arts and culture grants programs, Greater Sudbury awarded $605,299 to 44 recipients. Wordstock Sudbury received $13,200.
(It’s important to note that significant additional municipal funding, through the Tourism Development Fund, was awarded to organizations like YES Theatre because of its ability to spur tourism.)
Despite being successful in obtaining provincial and municipal grants, Campbell said the organization hasn’t received any funding from the Canada Council for the Arts in the last two years. “They are ignoring Northern Ontario,” she said. “We are 12 years in and still don’t have a core grant and they’ve never told us why.”
Canada Council for the Arts is a federal Crown corporation funded by the Canadian government. Grants awarded nationally have dropped in the last few years; $149.1 million in grants were awarded in 2021-22 and $102 million in 2023-24, with the highest funded organizations located in southern Ontario.
In Greater Sudbury, $970,610 was awarded to artists and organizations in the city in 2022-23, with 21 successful applicants, which included special funding in response to the impact of the pandemic. In 2023-24. there were 15 successful applications and $529,342 was awarded in Greater Sudbury. So far for the 2024-25, Greater Sudbury, there have been 22 successful applications with $814,190 in grants awarded.
The council was reluctant to provide an interview with The Sudbury Star to speak about its support for Sudbury and Northern Ontario artists and organizations given the upcoming federal election. To maintain “integrity and impartiality of public institutions during an election period … the council along with other government bodies, is expected to act with restraint and to limit engaging on anything that may be perceived as politically sensitive,” wrote Lise Ann Johnson, director general of the arts granting programs in an email response.
She said special consideration isn’t given to specific municipalities, although the council regularly collaborates with arts funding bodies such as the Ontario Arts Council to raise awareness of its programs. “Over the past 18 months, it has held targeted outreach information sessions in various communities in Northern Ontario including Red Lake, Sioux Lookout, Fort William and Sudbury,” Johnson said in an email.
As a federal election approaches and trade disruptions from the Canadian-US tariff war persist, calls for stronger support for arts and culture are growing. For the sector to be recognized and supported as a vital part of the economy.
A recent policy brief from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) highlighted the province’s culture sector (which includes the arts and creative industries), as a critical driver of economic growth, global competitiveness and community cohesion. In 2022, the province’s culture sector contributed more than $26 billion to Ontario’s GDP, according to a release from the OCC. “Ontario represents nearly half of Canada’s cultural economy, supporting 270,000 jobs across diverse industries such as film, music, galleries and interactive digital media.”
The OCC is calling for “strategic investments and coordinated action across government, industry and academia” to move forward.
Furthermore, the federal election is making some community arts leaders nervous.
“Not every political party feels arts and culture is important,” said Murray. “So, we could end up with a political party that doesn’t put as much stock in arts and culture as another party, so we could see money cut, programs cut, who knows.”
This is why it’s important Canadians take a stand and say that arts and culture are integral to their lives, says Murray and others in the Sudbury arts community.
YES Theatre, formerly Sudbury Theatre Centre, is driven by a commitment to making art — particularly theatre — meaningful within the community.
“We can keep screaming into the echo chamber that we need more funding but it ain’t gonna happen unless the audience is also with us,” said Alessandro Costantini, YES Theatre’s artistic director. Canadians – and Sudbury residents – need to stand up and say that arts and culture matter to them, he added.
“In terms of provincial and federal funding, it’s precarious, it’s volatile,” he said. “Artists have always said it needs to need more, it needs to be more … and my perspective is no one has an obligation, specifically taxpayers, no one has an obligation to the art form. If we want people to be talking about it at election time, for politicians to think about it, question it and make it part of their platform, we need constituents to care about it.”
The financial woes that ultimately led to the demise of the Sudbury Theatre Centre are well publicized. Due to dwindling attendance, lack of funding and overly ambitious programming, a debt of more than half a million dollars had accumulated by 2017.
When STC and YES Theatre amalgamated in November 2023, Costantini, the leader of the new entity, sought to deliver programming that would bring crowds back to the theatre. It was part of his strategic goal to strengthen the community’s relationship with arts and culture. And it’s a process that continues to this day.
The theatre company has presented musicals and plays Costantini knows will resonate with local audiences to build a relationship between the art form and the people, as well as between the physical space of the theatre and the people.
“My tactic is we have to get people to love theatre again,” he said. So, he balances programming large productions and musicals with hiring local artists, musicians and crew.
However, “there are so many more things that challenge that goal,” he added, including cutbacks to arts education.
Costantini said he will continue to add more Canadian content each season. In September, YES presents Casey and Diana. Written by Canadian playwright Nick Green, it is inspired by Princess Diana’s 1991 visit to Casey House, Toronto’s first free-standing AIDS hospice.
“We are in pursuit of that,” Costantini said about presenting more Canadian work, “but it would we would be ignorant to think we could just make that happen when that relationship … has greatly been deteriorated.”
Ultimately, it’s the people in the theatre seats that translate into revenue, Alessandro said, reflecting on the enduring bond between theatre and its audience — a key to the organization’s sustainability.
The ongoing climate of uncertainty has forced some art organizations to rethink their operations and return to their grassroots. Such is the case with the River and Sky Music/Camping Festival. The multi-day music and camping festival in Field, east of Sudbury, has experienced fluctuations in its funding stream, as well as debt incurred during the pandemic.
“Overall, there seems to be a lot more competition for existing funding streams and funders trying their best to stretch what they have,” said Lara Bradley, communications lead and festival spokesperson.
As an example, Bradley said the organization recently met with a funder who has supported the festival for many years. “Our representative went over our application with us, explaining that the jury had scored River & Sky near the top of the pack,” she explained. “In particular, they were impressed with the diversity of our line-ups and the placement – how many of our headliners reflected our commitment to amplifying Indigenous, Black, youth, female, and 2SLGBTQI+ voices.
“However, due to the fact the demand has gone up with many more applying this year, we’ll be receiving about $10,000 less. We really appreciate the funding; there’s just less of it this year.”
So, securing sponsorship and community partners who share the same value of connecting to music and nature has become a priority, she said.
In addition, River and Sky is “shifting” as an organization from having a year-round staff member oversee the festival, to returning to “our roots as an organization that relies on the energy of our volunteers and community.” Bradley said there is a working board and committee members who are organizing this year’s festival and tackling long-term planning.
“This year is a pivotal year for us,” she said. “We’re looking to get on top of our financial challenges, create some breathing room and meet more community members who want to join us in making the magic happen.”
To enhance self-sufficiency, other organizations are prioritizing generating their own revenue instead of depending so much on government funding.
It’s worth noting, however, that these organizations operate physical spaces and buildings which, while costly to maintain, cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit.
The Sudbury Indie Cinema Co-op has demonstrated an increase in its offerings and attendance over the years, with programming attracting people from across the province (something which funders want to see). Still, the organization aims towards a business model where 50 per cent of its budget comes from government funding, 40 per cent from earned revenue and 10 per cent from donations.
The organization has intensified its efforts to seek support from the private sector and charitable donors. “That’s definitely a growth area for us,” said Beth Mairs, the co-op’s former executive director and current management consultant.
In addition, the organization hosts its own fundraisers, like an Oscar Party and annual drive. “Bringing in that 10 per cent is a really important goal for us,” said Mairs.
Generating revenue has always been part of its business model, so the public has always associated a ticket price to what it offers attendees, she added.
“Looking at our costs and how we can be better at generating revenue, we have looked very carefully over the last few years, we were forced to because we had a financial crisis in 2023, so coming out of that we scrutinized the various aspects of cinema, what we were charging and what we were providing and where there were opportunities for us to fill something.”
Renting out its space became another source of income.
In one year, the co-op managed to move from a $70,000 deficit to a $40,000 profit.
“We’re in a better position now that we had to do some soul searching, which has made us more resilient,” said Mairs.
Despite running a deficit since opening its doors two years ago, Denis Bertrand, executive director of Place des Arts, says he has a path forward that will ensure the centre’s long-term sustainability. The downtown francophone art centre cut its operational deficit from $700,000 in 2023 to $100,000 in the past year. Aiding that buoyancy is municipal property tax relief. The city and organization are in ongoing discussion about providing tax relief, something that is not at all uncommon in the arts sector. The organization faced challenges from the get-go, from securing enough funding to discovering soil contamination during construction, but the tide has turned in the last year.
Like the Sudbury Indie Cinema, renting out its space has helped generate some revenue. “We’re on an increase,” said Bertrand. “When I arrived in the executive director’s position, we were leasing our venue up to 50 per cent capacity. We are up to 65-70 per cent capacity right now. That’s been very helpful financially.”
To become even more financially independent, the organization plans to introduce a professional development institute to train managers, cultural and art organizations and artists. In partnership with two post-secondary institutions – College Boreal and Universite de l’Ontario francais (UOF) located in Toronto – Bertrand said the institute would offer certificates, not only empowering those who work in art and culture but also helping to fill the void created when Laurentian University slashed French-language programs during its financial crisis of 2021.
The current milieu in the country, where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to access public funding, has emphasized the need for the institute, said Bertrand.
“Through the institute, we hope to help individuals and organizations develop a better business sense, so they can better manage their organizations and careers, gain access to new knowledge and resources, capabilities in their field of work so they become more productive. Right now, we are managing Places des Artes like a cultural enterprise, as a business.”
This is the ideal time to embark on the organization’s next chapter, said Bertrand, as the province has also pledged to invest in skills training.
“We are positioning Place des Arts to be a skills trainer, but in the arts,” he said. “We feel that whatever the government in place, they will always be interested in funding a resource like the institute.”
Bertrand said the organization is awaiting a response from the federal government regarding a grant application to help move the institute forward. However, a federal election means grant programs are on hold. Still, Bertrand is optimistic and says the organization will soon form a committee to discuss the next steps.
The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.
Bluesky: @sudburystar.bsky.social
X: @SudburyStar
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation