A new way to measure culture sector impact
- Alex Lee
- Jul 17
- 2 min read
Ontario generates almost half of Canada’s culture sector GDP and employment. But what’s the economic impact of the arts and culture sector in your municipality? How many people in your region are directly employed by the arts and culture sector? How can you find out the financial return on investment of public arts funding in your community?
Until now, there hasn’t been a way to answer these questions on a sub-provincial level – as Statistics Canada only provides nationwide and province-wide data on these topics.
This changes today, as the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) unveils a powerful new model for measuring culture sector impact – the Regional Economic Model, developed by the research firm Nordicity.
Now, individual municipalities and regions in Ontario will be able to access data on the economic output of their culture sector – empowering policy-makers and decision-makers with robust, actionable data that will be updated on an annual basis.
The OAC is marking the launch of this new model with Arts Across Ontario – a wide-ranging report that illustrates the arts and culture sector’s impact on Ontario’s identity, economy and social fabric. The report demonstrates how the arts and culture sector in each area leverages its distinct regional characteristics, through both quantitative data and local arts sector profiles, including vivid photos and community testimonials.
Background
Arts Across Ontariois the first-ever complete economic assessment of the arts in Ontario, and it builds on Nordicity research from 2024 that highlighted:
the $1.1 billion contribution to Ontario’s gross domestic product (GDP) by organizations that receive annual support from OAC
that every $1 invested by OAC generates $25 in other sources of revenue
that Ontario’s culture sector provided more jobs in 2022 than industries such as real estate, auto manufacturing, forestry and mining combined