Item - 2010.EX46.37

The Executive Committee requested the City Manager to submit a report directly to City Council on August 25, 2010 on a methodology and objective outcomes of matching increased funding with the needs in priority neighbourhoods and other such underserved geographical areas in Toronto.

At its meeting held on April 15, 2010, City Council requested the General Manager of Economic Development and Culture to submit a report to the Executive Committee, within the current mandate, on possible strategies for Arts and Cultural Funding in future years, taking into consideration the new revenue stream created by the Billboard Tax and Council’s previously adopted Culture Plan, appended to the report from the Martin Prosperity Institute which evaluates the cost of addressing inflation, as well as matching expected growth in the sector.

The Culture Plan, adopted by Council in June 2003, recognized that great cities of the world are all Creative Cities whose citizens work with ideas, are intensely mobile and insist on a high quality of life.  Such cities, and their citizens, have an overwhelming impact on the economies of their countries and compete with one another directly for trade, investment and, most of all, for talent.  The Plan’s major aims were to enhance Toronto’s place as a leading international cultural centre and to increase the role of culture in the economic and social development of the city over a ten-year period.

The Culture Plan noted that it would take a major investment to reverse the decline that Toronto’s cultural sector had experienced during the 1990’s.  At the time Toronto was investing $14 per capita in culture while competitors like Montreal were investing $26 per capita.  Through the adoption of the Culture Plan, Council committed to reach an investment of $25 per capita within five years.  After seven years, the Toronto’s per capita investment in culture is $18 while the most recent research on Montreal shows that their investment in culture has increased to $33 per capita.  Meeting the Culture Plan investment target of $25 per capita would require an increased annual investment of $17.5 million.

The City has made progress in implementing the Culture Plan with action taken on 85% of the recommendations.  There are remaining gaps, however, in several important areas that have prevented the plan from reaching its full potential.  The Culture Plan identified the need for greater investment in arts and culture organizations, the need to invest in the upgrading of cultural facilities and the need to identify new sources of revenue to fund the City’s cultural investment.  These three unmet goals remain high priorities for the City if it is to achieve its overall economic, social and cultural objectives.

There are no financial impacts on the 2010 Operating Budget arising from the adoption of this report.  The current City investment in culture is $18 per capita for 2010 made up of arts and culture funding though the Community Partnership and Investment Program; net funding for Cultural Services and City Theatres; and net funding for Cultural Services capital.  In order to achieve the Culture plan investment target of $25 per capita would require an increase of $7 per capita or $17.5 million.  Achieving the Culture Plan annual investment target of $25 per capita by the end of the 10 year planning horizon (2013) would require an annual increase of $5.83 million for 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this report and agrees with the financial impact information.