Arts Facts using CADAC Data: 191 Theatre Organizations

Prepared by the Research, Evaluation and Performance Measurement Section, in collaboration with Art Expert, this report highlights CADAC (Canadian Arts Data/Données sur les arts au Canada) facts on a sampling of 191 theatre organizations from across Canada, comprising 115 anglophone and 76 francophone organizations.  Using CADAC data, the report provides a picture of Canada Council funded theatre organizations, their activities and organizational stability.

The data in the report centres on four themes: economic impact, Canadian artists reaching audiences; access to the arts; and public participation and support.  Some key findings from the 2018 report on theatre organizations are:

• The anglophone component of this group saw total revenues of $279M in 2016-17, with $106M generated by admission and box office.
• The francophone component of this group saw total revenues of $70.5M in 2016-17, with public funding accounting for 46.4% of that figure.
• Of the 14,197 public performances delivered in 2016-17 by the anglophone component of this group, 11,582 were programmed and presented locally, 1,938 were presented nationally, and 677 were presented internationally. The total attendance at all performances produced by this component during this period amounted to more than 3.3 million.
• The total attendance at all 4,621 public performances delivered in 2016-17 by the francophone component of this group amounted to nearly 1 million.
• In 2016-17, a total of 557 new works by the anglophone component of this group were created by or commissioned from Canadian authors. During the same period, a total of 177 new works by the francophone component of this group were created by or commissioned from francophone authors.

CADAC is a web-based system which has now been in place for eight years and is beginning to provide a rich source of reliable data on almost 2,000 Canadian arts organizations.  CADAC partners include provincial, territorial and municipal arts funders (https://www.cadac.ca/).