Do arts, heritage, and entertainment organizations consider themselves better or worse off now than before the pandemic?
Part 1: Pan-Canadian analysis
Some arts and heritage organizations and businesses have not survived through the pandemic. Many others have. But how well are they doing?
The key question that I investigate today is:
Among organizations and businesses that have survived, how many believe that they are in better shape now than before the pandemic?
Today’s post examines data for Canada as a whole. Next week, I’ll examine some key indicators by province.
My analysis focuses on recent data related to the “arts, entertainment, and recreation” industry, the closest approximation of the arts in many published datasets. This industry group includes: 1) performing arts, spectator sports, and related industries; 2) heritage institutions; and 3) amusement, gambling, and recreation industries. The cultural industries are excluded (e.g., publishing, motion pictures, sound recording, and broadcasting), because they are grouped into “information and cultural industries”, along with software, telecommunications, and data processing and hosting.
Pandemic-induced loss of arts and heritage organizations and businesses
Since early 2020, there has been a 3% decrease in the number of organizations and businesses with at least one employee in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry group. This stands in contrast to the 2% increase in businesses and organizations in all sectors of the economy.
(Source: My analysis of the raw data from January 2022 in Statistics Canada. Table 33-10-0270-01: Experimental estimates for business openings and closures for Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas, seasonally adjusted.)
The remainder of this post is based on a question asked of arts, entertainment, and recreation organizations and businesses (with at least one employee) in April of 2022:
Is this business or organization in a better overall position today than it was in 2019?
Yes, this business or organization is in a better overall position now
This business or organization is in about the same overall position now compared with 2019
No, this business or organization is in a worse overall position now
Don't know
Are more of the surviving organizations in a better or worse position now?
Many more organizations and businesses in the arts, entertainment, and recreation were worse off than better off in early 2022 than in 2019. This indicates that the arts and heritage sector still has a way to go before it fully recovers from the pandemic.
About one-third (34%) of organizations and businesses in the arts, entertainment, and recreation indicated that they were in a worse position in April of 2022 than in 2019, while a much smaller proportion (24%, or about one-quarter) were in a better position.
About one-third (35%) were in roughly the same position in April of 2022 as in 2019. Finally, 6% of respondents in the arts, entertainment, and recreation did not know.
How does this compare with other industries?
Among all Canadian businesses and organizations, almost the same proportion are in a worse position now (27%) as in a better position (28%).
As shown in the following graphs, compared with the overall averages, there are fewer organizations and businesses in the arts, entertainment, and recreation that are in a better or similar position now, but many more in a worse position.
Business and organization recovery from the pandemic has been very uneven. Sectors such as food services, transportation, and the arts have a high percentage of businesses and organizations that are in a worse position now than in 2019. As shown in the following graph, the 34% of businesses and organizations in the arts, entertainment, and recreation in a worse position now is the third highest proportion among all industry groupings.
