The state of publicly owned arts and culture spaces in Canada

Most are locally owned, and quite a few are in poor condition

According to a recent Statistics Canada survey, there are 5,760 arts and culture spaces in Canada that are owned by municipal, provincial, and federal governments. (Note that the survey excludes spaces owned by First Nations and other Indigenous governments.)

The survey provides data for urban and rural areas, as well as the condition of the facilities. The data do not provide the municipal location nor information about the affordability of (e.g.) performance spaces for artists and arts organizations.

Today’s post examines data for Canada as a whole. Next week, I’ll examine statistics for each province.

The vast majority of arts and culture spaces in Canada are municipally owned. One-third or more of some types of venues are in poor or fair condition.

As presented in the chart below, the arts and culture spaces include 2,938 libraries, 1,604 museums and archives, 821 performance / presentation spaces, 328 art galleries, and 69 Indigenous culture facilities.