On February 18, 2026, Halifax Council will consider a briefing note from staff that models a 10% cut to funding for professional arts organizations, as part of council’s annual budget deliberations. While such a cut would represent a vanishingly small percentage of the city’s overall budget, for the local professional arts organizations you know and love, such a cut would be monumental. While Halifax artists and arts organizations produce consistently excellent, engaging work, council’s support lags well behind not only other cities of our size, but also behind council’s own funding targets.

Last year’s Artworks national study on the economic and social dividends from Canada’s arts and culture sector demonstrated very clearly that the arts and culture sector is one of the most important economic drivers in Canada. According to Statistic Canada’s Culture Satellite Account (2022), culture accounts for more than 15,000 jobs in Nova Scotia, employing more people than farming, fishing and forestry combined. Without doubt, the majority of those jobs are concentrated in HRM. In the most recent Arts Vibrancy Index, Halifax ranked #4 out of 22 metropolitan areas in the census, indicating the impact of the arts sector on a place’s economic growth. According to a 2021 census, the arts and culture sector contributed a GDP of $2,538 per capita in Halifax and $1,783 per capita nationally. Meanwhile workers in culture-related occupations earned an average employment income of $47,520 in Halifax and $55,200 in Canada. Halifax is trailing behind with respect to per capita investment in arts funding and HRM Council has yet to achieve its own funding goals set in 2017. Artists in Halifax produce much more for less than the national average and punch well above our weight. Sadly, we are left to imagine what the Halifax arts sector could achieve with adequate investment.

Will you write to Mayor Andy Fillmore, and Halifax city councillors, and let them know that you oppose any cuts to professional arts organizations, and that you support further investment, per the city’s own goals? You can use our template letter as it stands, by copying and pasting it into an email addressed to councillors and the mayor, or customize it to reflect your own experience of the arts in Halifax.

Thank you for your support!