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  2. 2020-21 Stats and Stories
  3. 2020-21 British Columbia Funding Overview

Stats and Stories 2020-21
British Columbia Funding Overview

Stats and Stories presents a breadth of information about the Canada Council’s funding: detailed breakdowns of funding, five-year trends, open data tables and stories about what artists, groups and arts organizations did with their grants.

British Columbia at a glance

Grants in British Columbia

$48.9M

Grants to arts organizations

$31.4M

Grants to groups

$2.1M

Grants to artists

$15.5M

Total Canada Council grants in Canada

$310.2M

Arts organizations supported

300

Groups supported

57

Artists supported

558

Other programs and activities

$2.0M

First-time grant recipients

286

Communities where grants were awarded

88

Artists and arts professionals who served as peer assessors

93

Breakdown of funding in British Columbia

Funded by program or division

Program or division Amount
Explore and Create $17.6M
Engage and Sustain $12.6M
Creating, Knowing and Sharing: The Arts and Cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples $4.0M
Supporting Artistic Practice $3.8M
Arts Across Canada $3.5M
Arts Abroad $433.0K
Prizes $138.0K
Strategic Funds - Digital Strategy Fund $6.6M
Strategic Funds - Other $237.5K
Art Bank $0.0
Canadian Commission for UNESCO $0.0
Public Lending Right $1.9M

Funding by field of practice

Field of practice Amount
Circus Arts $7.8K
Dance $4.5M
Deaf and Disability Arts $618.0K
Digital Arts $122.0K
Indigenous Arts $5.0M
Inter-Arts $1.6M
Literature $4.6M
Media Arts $4.8M
Multidisciplinary Activities $3.6M
Music and Sound $8.7M
Theatre $6.4M
Visual Arts $9.0M
Other Discipline $0.0

5-year trend: grant amounts

Year Amount
2016-17 $27.2M
2017-18 $31.8M
2018-19 $36.2M
2019-20 $38.7M
2020-21 $48.9M

Highest funded organizations

Organization Link Amount
Vancouver Symphony Society https://www.vancouversymphony.ca/ $1.9M
Ballet BC https://balletbc.com/ $765.0K
Satellite Video Exchange Society https://www.vivomediaarts.com/ $750.6K
Vancouver Opera https://www.vancouveropera.ca/ $690.0K
Pacific Opera Victoria https://pacificopera.ca/ $670.0K
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria https://aggv.ca/ $640.8K
Arts Club Theatre Company https://artsclub.com/ $600.0K
Pacific Legal Education and Outreach Society https://www.pacificlegaloutreach.com/ $595.0K
Western Front Society https://front.bc.ca/ $564.5K
Vancouver Art Gallery https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/ $454.0K
Important note

Opening doors to Canadian arts data

We offer the public detailed statistical data regarding our grant recipients in formatted Excel documents and in a machine readable format (.csv). Data can be sorted by programs, regions (e.g. community and census metropolitan area) and can also be added to other databases on arts and culture activities and organizations in Canada. 

Data Tables
Annual Report 2020-2021

Annual Report

Each year, the Canada Council for the Arts makes its Annual Report available to the public. This document reviews the Council’s commitments from its five-year strategic plan and highlights the year’s major projects while showcasing the work of funded artists and organizations. The Annual Report demonstrates the importance, necessity and impact of public arts funding.

Read the Annual Report

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