Apr 04, 2013
By Michael Kramer
Good news for the arts from Toronto City Council.
Council has approved $6 million previously collected from the “Third Party” Sign Tax, to be given to a variety of city arts and culture programs.
The $6 million is being drawn from sign tax revenues generated from 2009 to 2012.
A number of program areas will receive funding for 2013 including the Toronto Arts Council which will get $4 million for its grants and $200,000 for operations.
Other program areas that will benefit are:
– City cultural services ($700,000 to enhance current cultural programs)
– Major cultural organizations ($600,000 overall increase in grants funding)
– Local arts service organizations ($300,000 overall increase in grants funding)
– Culture Build ($200,000 to re-establish this cultural infrastructure program)
This allocation of $6 million is the first step in the implementation of January’s council decision that earmarked $20-25 million of one-time retroactive sign tax revenue to fund a multi-year strategy to increase the City of Toronto’s per-capita cultural funding.
“Supporting our artists is great for the City of Toronto,” said Mayor Rob Ford. “A vibrant arts community is an important part of keeping Toronto an attractive place for people to visit, invest, work and live.”
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