Arts leaders who attended Business / Arts’ recent 2025 Canadian Arts Summit wrapped the event with a call for the next federal government to approve a proposed increase of $140 million in funding for the Canada Council for the Arts.

The funding request, which has been proposed since 2024 by organizations such as the Canadian Arts Coalition and the Independent Media Arts Alliance, calls on the government to adopt a permanent 1% funding commitment to arts, culture and heritage across Canada. This would include the $140 million boost to funding for the Canada Council for the Arts and $130 million to the Department of Canadian Heritage. According to a statement from the Canada Council for the Arts, the organization does not track the percentage of funding that goes specifically to movies and television, but added that $28.7M was provided to individuals, groups and organizations for media arts projects and operations in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Held from April 3 to 5, delegates at the annual arts summit met this year at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre. Attendees included representatives from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) and the City of Toronto, Economic Development & Culture, Arts & Culture Services.

With a federal election happening on April 28, the joint release from the Summit says this is a clear call to action for all political party leaders to “commit unequivocally to this vision of a thriving, robust Canadian arts and culture sector. Our next Prime Minister must demonstrate determination, focus, and caring by explicitly supporting these investments and recognizing that Canadian culture is essential to our national prosperity, sovereignty, and identity.”

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