ArtsPond / Étang d’Arts and I Lost My Gig Canada Announce
COVID-19 IMPACT SURVEY FOR ARTS, CULTURE, HERITAGE, TOURISM & CREATIVE INDUSTRIES WORKERS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PLEASE ADD TO LISTINGS UNTIL AUG 1, 2020
Media Refer: Jessa Agilo, +1 (647) 920 6187
ILostMyGig.ca | hello@ilostmygig.ca | 647 479 4260 (voicemail) | @ILostMyGigCa #ilostmygigca
Survey in English | Enquête en français
March 30, 2020 (Toronto)
Cancellations and postponements due to COVID-19 are having unprecedented impacts on the arts, cultural heritage, tourism, and creative industries in Canada – affecting the livelihoods and careers of vulnerable workers as well as closing large to small venues and institutions in rural and urban communities alike.
ArtsPond / Étang d’Arts and I Lost My Gig Canada, in collaboration with national community partners, invite Canadian arts, culture, heritage, tourism, and creative industries workers to share their impact stories by completing the inaugural COVID-19 Impact Survey for Arts, Culture, Hertiage, Tourism & Creative Industries Workers (Survey in English | Enquête en français).
Open to individual workers from all related backgrounds and disciplines in Canada until December 31, 2020, this survey is the first in a series of multiple short and comprehensive surveys mapping the impacts of COVID-19 on vulnerable individuals and organizations in arts, culture, heritage and tourism throughout 2020. Survey results will be published and updated on an ongoing basis at ILostMyGig.ca.
With a national scope, the survey strives to fill an urgent need to gather broad and accurate data on the losses sustained by individual workers in arts, culture, heritage and tourism. By capturing a diverse array of stories that tell how a variety of workers in the sector are impacted, the survey will give voice to the compelling stories of individual workers and will inform efforts to help them.
Under normal conditions, Statistics Canada estimated that the direct economic impact of cultural products was $53.1 billion in Canada in 2017, which equates to $1,454 per capita and 2.7% of overall GDP (1). Across Canada, the median income of artists (from all sources) is just $24,300, which is significantly below the median for all workers (2).
Self-employment is a reality for most working artists across the country. In Toronto, where 1 in every 6 artists in Canada lives, 72% of artists are freelance or contract workers that lack the types of supports available to salaried workers (3). Canada’s 2016 census data indicates that 52% of artists are self-employed, compared with only 12% of all Canadian workers (2).
Founded in 2014, ArtsPond / Étang d’Arts is a Canadian non-profit nurturing healthy ecosystems that promote social, spatial, economic, equity, and digital justice by fostering cooperative actions fusing social innovation and the arts on-the-ground and in-the-cloud.
Incubated by ArtsPond / Étang d’Arts, I Lost My Gig Canada was founded on March 15, 2020 by producer and changemaker, Jessa Agilo. I Lost My Gig Canada was inspired by similar efforts in Austin, Texas, and Australia. 5,200 gig workers and their supporters from across Canada and beyond joined I Lost My Gig Canada’s social media network between March 15 and 22, 2020.
ArtsPond and I Lost My Gig Canada partners include Hill Strategies Research; Culture Days; Canadian Arts Presenting Association (CAPACOA); Art of Festivals; Artist-Run Centres and Collectives Conference (ARCA); Canadian Crafts Federation; WorkInCulture; Cobalt Connects; Canadian Actors’ Equity Association; Canadian Dance Assembly; Ontario Association of Art Galleries; Ontario Presents; Canadian Artists’ Representation (CARFAC); Canadian Actors’ Equity Association; Choral Canada; Alberta Craft Council; Global Public Affairs; Conseil régional de la culture du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean; Strategic Moves; ArtsLinkNB; Agilo Arts; and, others.
Special thanks to Devon Ostrom, Lee Slinger, Hamal Docter, Fanny Martin, Gabrielle Desbiens, Sue Edworthy, Stephanie Ko, Ely Lyonblum, Hana Glaser, Kendra Miller, Megan Wilk, Amy Macdonald.
(1) Estimated direct economic impact of culture in Canada in 2017, June 19, 2019, Hill Strategies
(2) Statistical profile of artists in Canada in 2016, November 27, 2019, Hill Strategies
(3) Pat Tobin, Director of Arts and Culture, City of Toronto, March 2020