Calgary Arts Development's proposal to reform the city's arts granting system received unanimous support from City Council's Standing Policy Committee on Community & Protective Services on Wednesday, October 11. The granting reforms proposal will now move to a full meeting of City Council and then to the city's budget discussions in late November. The reform proposal identifies strategic, targeted investments that will provide more opportunities for growth in the sector and begin to close the gap between Calgary’s arts investment programs and those enjoyed by other major Canadian cities. In 2007, these reforms will require an increased investment of $502,500 from the City of Calgary.To address critical shortfalls in the current system and concerns raised by the arts community, Calgary Arts Development's proposed reform of the municipal arts granting system has several objectives:

• Enhance stability of arts organizations through an increase in annual operating funding. This will help organizations deal with unparalleled population growth and inflation.
• Sustain and encourage the growth of arts and culture festivals by creating a funding program that will align with services for festivals offered by The City of Calgary
• Encourage innovation in the sector by increasing support for projects and start-up organizations
• Address missed opportunities for public engagement and participation in the arts by developing a strategic and co-operative marketing program devoted to raising awareness levels.

Upon completion of a merger with the Calgary Region Arts Foundation (effective November 1), Calgary Arts Development will assume responsibility for allocating municipal arts grants. As such, we have been researching and evaluating Calgary’s system of municipal funding for the arts, as well as benchmarking other major Canadian municipalities and looking at the contribution of arts and culture festivals to the city. Recent research on granting and festivals presents an encouraging picture of growth in Calgary's arts and culture sector. One of the strongest areas of growth has been in festivals, with the number of festivals in Calgary increasing by 43% since 2003, and audience numbers rising by 89%. As well, the research shows arts and culture events to be a key economic investment for The City of Calgary, injecting between $14.4 million and $26.8 million toward the city’s GDP, and leveraging over $21.50 for every city dollar invested.Several critical shortfalls have been found in Calgary's current system of investing in the arts. In particular, at $2.56, Calgary’s per capita funding levels for arts and culture lag far behind those of other major Canadian cities including Toronto ($6.42), Winnipeg ($5.20), Vancouver ($4.01) and Edmonton ($3.88). Given the city’s unparalleled population growth and rising inflation, arts groups are face an increasingly challenging environment. If Council agrees to fund Calgary Arts Development's granting reforms, this will increase Calgary's per capita civic arts funding from $2.56 to $3.08, which begins to close the gap between the levels of arts investment enjoyed by other Canadian municipalities.