Advocate For Public Arts funding

Toronto Arts Council’s advocacy pages are designed to help you and your organization clearly demonstrate the value of public investment in arts and culture. You can use the information to:

• develop key messages on public investment in arts and culture for your press releases and media activity
• build a relationship with your City Councillor to explain why it’s essential to invest in arts and culture, and how this applies to your organization
• tell your audiences, members, donors, volunteers and social networking followers why we need public investment in arts and culture, and encourage them to make the case to the Mayor and their local Councillor.
• update your website with content on the benefits of public investment in arts and culture

What you can do

How to get your message heard 

Advocating for change at the municipal level is not difficult and makes a difference. What follows are a few tips for getting your message heard at City Hall. 

The Ask 

• Consistent messaging is extremely important in any advocacy campaign. If every voice from the arts sector is asking for the same thing, or a variation of the same thing, it will be more difficult to ignore. Don’t allow political or bureaucratic leadership to respond that the sector doesn’t know what it wants. 
• Make sure the people you ask have the power to grant your request (or at least influence the result). For example, there is no point in asking a City Councillor to change federal legislation. 

The Action 

Make a public deputation at City Hall. Although members of the public cannot speak at City Council sessions, they can request to speak to agenda items at Committee meetings. The Committees most often concerned with arts issues are Budget Committee and Economic Development Committee. Committee information can be found here. 

Email your City Councillor: Ask your Board, volunteers, audiences and supporters to call, email or write their City Councillors. It is important that they contact the Councillor from their home, not work, address. This is because Councillors respond to voters, and you vote where you live. Not sure who your Councillor is? Find them here. 

How to Make a Deputation

Register to speak 

Call (416-392-4666) or email the City Clerk in charge of the Committee and request to speak at the meeting. (The City Clerk of Budget Committee’s email is at buc@Toronto.ca. Include in your request the time and date of the committee meeting and provide your full name, home address and phone. This may be done any time up to the day before the meeting. If you haven’t registered in advance, it is often still possible to request to speak at the meeting itself. 

You can also Email your City Councillor.

How long is a deputation? 

The usual public deputation speaking time is 5 minutes. However, when the list of speakers is long, the committee can choose to reduce the speaking time. It makes sense to prepare speaking notes for approximately 3 minutes. 

Who should speak? 

The most effective speakers are volunteers. Volunteer board members, sponsors, donors, and local business owners make excellent speakers, as do those participating in programs. Children and youth can be effective speakers.  

Who is listening? 

Although Committees may have as few as three Councillors as members, other Councillors often are in attendance as guests. Committees will not proceed without quorum, usually two or three Councillors. Even if few Councillors are present, decisions made at Committee go forward to the full City Council. Important work can be done by a small group of Councillors.  

A list of current Budget Committee members is here.   

What do Councillors want to hear from deputations? 

Many Councillors are looking for public support to help them make tough decisions. Essentially you want to offer them compelling reasons to support your position. The most effective way to do this is to be respectful and offer positive stories and facts on the value of arts programming. Practice your remarks; make sure you can fit what you want to say into 3 minutes. If you have a talent – poetry, spoken word, storytelling – don’t hesitate to use it; Councillors respond well when the message is delivered creatively.  

Will Councillors ask me questions?  

Sometimes Councillors ask questions following a deputation. Often, these are from supportive Councillors wanting to give you the opportunity to have more time to speak about your work and your request.  

What if I can’t attend a meeting but I still want my voice heard? 

Whether you are speaking or writing, Councillors are interested in your personal experience.  Let them know that arts funding increases received to date have made a difference. Stories about the impact of the pandemic, the work you do, projects undertaken and new communities reached can  all help to reinforce Budget Committee’s commitment to follow through with funding increases as planned.  

Ask your Board, volunteers, audiences and supporters to email their City Councillors.  It is important that they contact the Councillor from their home, not work, address.  This is because Councillors respond to voters, and you vote where you live. Not sure who your Councillor is? Find them here. 

Copy your email to Mayor Olivia Chow and the Budget Chief Shelley Carroll

What We’re asking

Great Cities are Arts and Culture Cities

The arts shape Toronto’s identity and are key to the city’s revitalization. The time is now for the City to give back. After all, a caring and affordable city values the lives and careers of every resident, including artists and arts workers.