Changes in the direct impact on GDP by province and area of culture
A deep dive into recent and longer term changes
My thanks to everyone who voted last week on what the priority should be for my continuing analysis of the cores of cultural economies in each province. Voters agreed with what I had thought, that both ideas I proposed are of interest: GDP for specific areas of the arts, culture, and heritage; and jobs in the arts, culture, and heritage.
Today, I tackle the first idea by analyzing changes in the impact on GDP for specific areas of the arts, culture, and heritage in each province and territory. As I did regarding overall changes in cultural GDP, I focus on the core of the cultural sector: the production of cultural goods and services by cultural organizations, businesses, and individuals. I examine recent changes (since 2019) and longer-term trends (since 2010).
Statistics Canada publishes data on nine areas of the arts, culture, and heritage (which approximate disciplines). The analysis has been extremely complex: nine cultural areas times 10 provinces equals 90 data points; multiplying this by the 2 timeframes makes a total of 180 data points.
As a consequence, this article is very long. Many email applications will likely truncate it, and you may need to consult it online to see the full article.
Here is what today’s post contains:
A count of the number of provinces with an increase in GDP impact in each area of culture (over two timeframes).
A count of the number of areas with an increase in GDP impact in each province (over two timeframes).
Slightly more detail on changes in GDP for four of the nine areas: live performance, visual and applied arts, writing and publishing, and film and interactive media.
Because of the complexity – so much detail! – I will use more bullet points than normal.
I do not cover the territories today, because the smaller estimates in each cultural area can experience some large swings from year to year.
The analysis is based on Statistics Canada’s estimates of the direct economic impacts of culture in 2023, published in early June as part of the Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators. I have adjusted their historical GDP estimates for inflation and population growth, resulting in what is commonly referred to as “real, per capita changes”. Links to the data source and important notes (including descriptions of cultural products and cultural industries) are provided after my data analysis.
There have been significant differences by province and by area of the arts, culture, and heritage in terms of the growth or decline of the impact on GDP.
Readers should be aware that the GDP statistics for 2023 are strongly and negatively affected by the strikes in that year by film and TV writers and actors in the USA, which also affected many productions based in Canada. The effect is very clear in the audio-visual and interactive media statistics (decreases in 9 of 10 provinces), but the film industry strikes may have influenced some summary statistics as well.
Reading tips / glossary
Recent changes: 2019 to 2023, adjusted for both inflation and population growth
Longer term changes: 2010 to 2023, adjusted for both inflation and population growth
“x% decrease (or increase) in impact on GDP” means that the impact on GDP of cultural products, counting only the production by cultural establishments, decreased (or increased) by x%.
“Decrease (or increase) of x%” means that the impact on GDP of the specific cultural product, counting only the production by cultural establishments, decreased (or increased) by x%.
The statistics in the article do not represent the entirety of the cultural sector in any jurisdiction. They represent the changes in the value added of specific types of cultural goods and services produced by cultural organizations, businesses, and individuals. These statistics exclude non-cultural goods and services produced by cultural organizations.
Descriptions of each of the areas of the arts, culture, and heritage (aka “cultural products”) are provided at the end of this article.