Arts groups plead for help to overcome pandemic pinch Recovery from COVID restrictions taking longer than expected By: Alan Small Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, Apr. 24, 2023

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A looming financial crisis in the arts has led to four major Manitoba organizations joining a Prairie-wide plea for special funding from the federal government.

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Manitoba Opera, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Royal Winnipeg Ballet are among 20 signatories of a letter presented to Pablo Rodriguez, the federal minister for Canadian Heritage, during the Canadian Arts Summit, which took place earlier this month in Toronto.

Arts groups, especially those in the Prairie provinces, continue to suffer the financial after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and seek aid to prevent deficits that threaten the companies’ future.

“Rising costs, rising inflation, the decline of subscriptions and the decline of attendances are a perfect storm we’re facing right now,” Angela Birdsell, the executive director of the WSO, said Monday.

The warning bells began ringing after the release of a new Nanos Research survey for Business/Arts, a national charitable organization that seeks to build relationships between the arts and Canada’s business community.

The poll, which collected data in December 2022 and was released this spring, focuses on attendance numbers and short-term trends.

The survey found people on the Prairies will spend less on the arts in 2023 compared with the year before, a rebound year from cancelled performances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic for organizations such as the WSO.

“We thought there would be a two- or three-year recovery period (from the pandemic). Now it looks like a five- to seven-year recovery period,” Birdsell says.

For Manitoba Opera, which is presenting Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte at the Centennial Concert Hall tonight and Friday, only 68 per cent of its pre-pandemic subscriber base has returned; its single-ticket sales are at 70 per cent of what they once were, Larry Desrochers, the company’s general director and CEO, says.

“It’s good to have data to verify what you’re feeling,” he says of the Nanos survey. “(Previous) return-to-attendance data indicated a stronger return than we actually saw.”

Subscriptions to WSO performances are 65 to 75 per cent of what they were prior to the pandemic, Birdsell says, and she fears that reaching 80 per cent might be the “new normal.”

The groups were able to make their case with Canadian Heritage officials during the summit, and remain hopeful.

“We had the opportunity to talk about the resiliencies organizations have at their core and the challenges they face,” Camilla Holland, RMTC’s executive director, says.

Many arts groups received federal pandemic funding from the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canadan Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) to keep them viable while government restrictions — enacted to prevent the spread of the coronavirus — kept them from performing before live audiences.

That funding has ended, and while some organizations were able to set some aside for the future, they were able to save only so much.

“The pandemic supports evaporated before the audiences returned, so there’s a gap there,” Desrochers says.

The WSO earmarked almost $450,000 of CEWS funding for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons; along with reserve funds, Birdsell anticipates the WSO will avoid a deficit this year. It will need to find money from somewhere to prevent a shortfall that could be $1.5 million a year from now.

In the meantime, the pandemic continues to affect bottom lines. RMTC hired understudies the past two seasons in case of a COVID-19 outbreak, a practice it didn’t follow previously.

“‘The show must go on’ has a new cost, and we are struggling to manage. There’s a tendency to think the pandemic is over, but we’re still facing the impact.”–Camilla Holland

“‘The show must go on’ has a new cost, and we are struggling to manage,” Holland says. “There’s a tendency to think the pandemic is over, but we’re still facing the impact.”

The letter to Rodriguez also serves as a reminder to the Manitoba government and the City of Winnipeg as well.

Birdsell says arts groups have had discussions with Obby Khan, the province’s minister of sport, culture and heritage, but have received no indication whether it will renew its $6-million annual funding for the arts.

A new Arts, Culture and Sport in Community Fund — announced in the provincial budget on March 7 and offering $100 million in capital funding across Manitoba over the next three years — is welcome but includes no money for operating expenses, Birdsell says.

Holland says arts and culture groups in Manitoba could use a program similar to a recently announced $12.4-million arts-recovery fund in British Columbia, which is expected to assist 300 organizations with post-pandemic costs.

Birdsell says the letter resembles a message the Winnipeg Jets hockey franchise delivered at an April 11 Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce luncheon, which urged city business leaders to increase their season-ticket support for the National Hockey League franchise.

“We have musicians from all over the world, the best of the best.”–Angela Birdsell

“When you have an NHL team in your community, you have the top players from Canada, eastern Europe and the United States,” Birdsell says. “The WSO is similar. We have musicians from all over the world, the best of the best.”

Her hockey analogy doesn’t end there. She said if a team cuts costs too much, fans notice the effects on the ice and in the standings.

Those who go to the orchestra are just as deserving, Birdsell says, pointing out the WSO spends 75 per cent of its budget on musicians and staff, and accompanies Manitoba Opera and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in their shows.

“The same is is true with the WSO,” she says. “If you slash and burn, you no longer have an orchestra.”

Alan.Small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @AlanDSmall