Report on N.B. arts scene reveals one-quarter of cultural venues not in good shape

The arts in New Brunswick continue to be underfunded, which has led to the poor condition of venues and the economic and mental health struggles of people in in the sector, according to a new report. 

Nearly 60 per cent of respondents said they had concerns about "obtaining adequate government funding." and roughly one-quarter believe their venues are not in good condition.  

ArtsLink NB is one of the groups that produced the annual report, entitled "Impacts and Challenges of Cultural Venues in New Brunswick." 

The report is based on a survey of the province's arts venues, including everything from art galleries and theatres to libraries and book stores. 

Julie Whitenect, executive director of  ArtsLink NB, said funding has been declining steadily for years.

"The provincial government's cultural funding has been stagnant for a decade, unfortunately," she said.

"We know that costs have risen exponentially in the last few years … and we're also seeing that private sponsorship and donations are down a huge amount." 

'Once they're gone, they're gone'

She said funding has not kept up with costs. 

"New Brunswick is an old province," said Whitenect, a printmaker based in Saint John. 

"We have a lot of built heritage … and we know that keeping up with infrastructure costs and refurbishment for accessibility or for air exchange are very, very expensive, especially in old buildings or just even fixing electrical or the plumbing can be an astronomical cost."

Without proper funding, she said the buildings are at risk of being lost forever.

"Once they're gone, they're gone. We can't have another 100-year-old building. You can't just put one together."

The 20-page report said 11,300 New Brunswickers work in arts, culture and heritage occupations, which is 2.7 per cent of all workers in the province, "well below the national average of 4.4 per cent." 

Median income $27K

The 2,700 professional artists in the province are also paid poorly, "especially relative to artists' typical education levels (often a bachelor's degree or higher)," the report said.

A bachelor's degree or higher is held by 41 per cent, "nearly double the percentage of all N.B. workers" at 23 per cent.

The report said the median personal income of artists was $27,400 in 2020, 39 per cent below that of all New Brunswick workers, at $44,800, and nine per cent below the median of all Canadian artists, at $30,200.

"They're often working at a loss really, because they end up donating their time," said Whitenect. "They volunteer their time because they care about the work. And the system is sometimes expectant of that, which is absolutely unfair."

The report also cites Statistics Canada data showing that employees in arts and culture in New Brunswick are "much more likely" to have multiple jobs than other workers in the province.

"In 2023, the multiple job-holding rate among arts and culture employees was 10.7%, compared with just 4.6% for all employed workers."

Calls to action

Whitenect said workers also report a lot of unpaid work — in addition to the "huge infrastructure of volunteers, which is wonderful because it's community investment."

"But there's a huge risk to that because there's only a finite amount of energy that people can be giving to something," she said. 

The report concludes with a number of calls to action, including that governments invest more in professional artists and the industry. 

Whitenect said the public can also help simply by attending events.

"Lots of cultural venues are set up for donations or they'll have fundraisers and just showing support in small ways like that are really wonderful for them," she said.