Julie Whitenect is the executive director of ArtsLink NB. (Image: ArtsLinkNB/submitted)
An arts advocacy group is calling on the province to reinvest in New Brunswick’s embattled arts and culture sectors to the tune of $12.5-million.
Julie Whitenect, executive director of advocacy group ArtsLink NB, said the initiative is a bid to help workers in arts and cultures whose already underfunded livelihoods have been hammered by business impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s asking the province to reinvest in the arts and culture branch of the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture.
To that end, ArtsLink NB is encouraging New Brunswickers to sign and send a letter ArtsLink NB has drafted–or letters of their own–to MLAs, imploring them for more support people working in the cultural and artistic sectors.
ArtsLink NB represents artists, arts organizations and cultural workers across the province, and works alongside the Association acadienne des artistes professional.le.s due Nouveau Brunswick and Mawi’Art: Wabanaki Artists Collective.
“It’s hard being one of the only people saying something in a room. So the more people reach out to representatives and talk about this, the more the government will realize this is an issue that needs to be addressed,” she said.
The pandemic has impacted the wages of cultural workers, artists of all disciplines, and the province’s tourism industry. In many cases, those wages were already underfunded and unreliable for sectors in which many are self-employed and can’t rely on supports like EI.
Whitenect said three of every ten jobs lost during the pandemic were in the sectors advocated for by ArtsLink NB, in a province where CRA and census data indicates there are more than 7,000 culture workers.
Information from ArtsLink NB says that in 2017 the arts and culture sector contributed $570-million to the provincial GDP, with 7,482 jobs.
“This ask doesn’t just come because of the pandemic. That really has put so much more urgency on the issue that New Brunswick arts funding has faced for such a long time,” she said.
New Brunswick’s information, culture and recreation sectors saw a 29 percent decrease in employment due to the pandemic between Oct. 2019 and Oct. 2021, equating to about three of every 10 jobs in the sector.
ArtsLink NB is calling for more support to be distributed through the department’s funding programs. Whitenect said the department hasn’t seen a funding increase since 2014.
While other sectors got support in the first half of the pandemic, she said there was little “trickle down” from other sectors to the arts, cultural and heritage sectors.
Whitenect says this should be rectified, for an industry that makes significant provincial GDP contributions.
“If you think about anyone facing income insecurity, typically they’re arts professionals, and putting a global pandemic on top of that would devastate your home life, plans, and ability to house yourself or feed yourself – or even advance,” said Whitenect.
Whitenect said the province committed in 2014 to spend $10-million implementing a series of recommendations and strategies as part of a wider cultural policy. She noted that today, only about half of that has been invested.
“With the pandemic, many organizations are unable to work and have closed their doors and cancelled events that can’t happen. Many more artists are unemployed. A huge number of people in New Brunswick have been relying on arts to get through the last two years, whether that’s music or television programs or films. Artists have been stepping up and providing content and experiences,” said Whitenect.
“It’d be wonderful if New Brunswickers could reward them or acknowledge this contribution as an essential part of the province.”
Sam Macdonald is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
