Toronto Arts Council (TAC) is the City of Toronto’s funding body for artists and arts organizations. Since its inception in 1974, TAC has supported a broad range of artistic activity that makes the City of Toronto one of Canada’s leading cultural centres. TAC is proud to reflect Toronto’s vibrancy through the diversity of the artists, arts communities and audiences that it serves. Toronto Arts Council is committed to artistic excellence, innovation, and accessibility.

Toronto Arts Council is situated in and serves one of the most multi-cultural and multi-lingual cities in the world. According to the most recent census figures, Toronto residents identify with over 230 distinct ethnic origins and speak over 140 languages and dialects. In 2011, 49.1% of Toronto’s population identified as belonging to a visible minority and 0.8% as First Nations or Métis. Based on Stats Canada projections, Toronto is now a “visible majority” city¹ and its demographics will continue to dramatically shift over the next few decades.

Diversity in Toronto also comes in many forms. Women, people with disabilities, people living with mental illness, Deaf people, immigrants and refugees, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, youth, people who experience socio-economic disadvantage, and people of different faiths all contribute to the city’s make-up.

Toronto Arts Council recognizes that Canadian art is shaped by the culture of its Indigenous peoples, by the diasporic communities that have settled in Canada from around the world, and by the diverse geographic and identity-based communities that constitute its population. The Council values and recognizes the unique contributions of all members of Toronto’s arts community both to the cultural life of the city and to its own operations, aspirations and vision.

The Council further recognizes that supporting a plurality of perspectives, voices, artistic practices, cultural expressions and aesthetics is critical to the growth, sustainability and evolution of the Toronto arts sector and is committed to ensuring that all qualified artists and arts organizations are provided fair and equitable access to its programs, funds, services and decision-making processes. Equity and inclusion are guiding principles and core values of the Toronto Arts Council.

What is Equity?

Equity is both a principle and process that promotes equality of opportunity and fair conditions for all persons to fully participate in society.² Equity recognizes the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family³ but acknowledges that due to historical and ongoing oppression not all persons experience equal access to opportunities and benefits. Equity acknowledges the unique needs and experiences of individuals and groups in society and promotes active measures to eliminate barriers and level the playing field so that all persons can thrive and take full advantage of opportunities and benefits. As a process, equity may require treating individuals or groups differently in order to achieve fairness.

or a number of years, the Toronto Arts Council has played an active role in promoting equity and inclusion in the arts. In the early 90s, in response to advocacy from artists of colour and Indigenous artists who reported being excluded or marginalized from TAC programs and operations, the Council recognized the need for broadened cultural representation on its board and committees and began to appoint qualified artists and arts workers drawn from specific cultural communities and backgrounds. In 1992, with the publication of its Cultural Equity report, prepared by arts consultant Betty Julian, TAC more formally endorsed the principle of cultural equity as a high priority and laid out a number of strategies to advance equity within TAC and the broader Toronto arts community.

Key directions articulated in the Cultural Equity report included: more fully reflecting Toronto’s diverse cultural communities in TAC’s decision-making bodies, broadening definitions of artistic and cultural practices, and extending and enlarging the Council’s programs of support for individual artists. (The latter recommendation was made in recognition of the fact that many communities lacked arts infrastructure but were well endowed with individual talent.)

Throughout the 1990s, TAC underwent a substantial change process to implement the recommendations in the Cultural Equity report. As part of this process, the organization commissioned several prominent artists and cultural workers, including Lillian Allan and Sharon Fernandez, to develop strategic initiatives designed to build arts infrastructure within diverse cultural communities, increase access for members of these communities to TAC programs, and render the Council’s existing structures more literate and receptive to varied arts and cultural practices.

Among the strategic initiatives implemented were: Art Works and Fresh Elements, two youth oriented mentorship programs that linked emerging and senior Indigenous artists and artists of colour and Culture Force, a multi-faceted program funded by a Federal-Provincial-City-Foundation partnership that saw support and development grants allocated to a number of arts service organizations serving artists of colour and Indigenous artists (e.g. Desh Pardesh, Native Women in the Arts, Black Arts Service Organization, Fresh Arts, etc.) and culminated in an international conference on cultural equity.

Throughout the 2000s, equity was reiterated in consecutive TAC strategic plans as a guiding principle and the organization systemically ensured representation of artists of colour and Indigenous artists on its decision-making bodies. The Council also took active measures to diversify its workforce and expand its program guidelines to be more fully inclusive of the diverse art forms and expressions represented in the City of Toronto.

In 2014, TAC introduced a dedicated Indigenous Arts Projects program and Indigenous Arts Program Manager position.

Until recently, the Council’s equity efforts have primarily focused on achieving racial and cultural equity. However, in response to advocacy from the Deaf arts, disability arts and Mad Arts⁴ communities and extensive research and program development at its sister funding agencies (Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Arts Council), in 2015, TAC began to take steps to more fully engage and eliminate access barriers for Deaf artists, artists with disabilities and artists living with mental illness.

Ensuring equity for individuals that self-identify as two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual or pansexual (2SLGBTQIAP) is also a current priority.

TAC recognizes the inherent dignity and the equal rights of all human beings, as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). TAC is committed to ensuring that all individuals who apply to, work with or otherwise interact with the Council are treated with fairness and respect and accorded equal opportunity.

In accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Ontario Human Rights Code, and the City of Toronto’s Human Rights and Anti-Harassment/Discrimination Policy, TAC actively opposes any discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion or creed, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, physical or mental health disability, linguistic background, social class, receipt of public assistance, and conviction of an offense for which a pardon has been granted.

In keeping with the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), TAC recognizes the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples to self-determination and to “freely pursue their own economic, social and cultural development” without discrimination. TAC also acknowledges the rights of Indigenous peoples to own and control their own heritage and artistic products and actively challenges and resists cultural misappropriation. TAC is further committed to incorporating the principles and recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action into its programs and operations and to actively promoting reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.   

In keeping with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, TAC is committed to eliminating any barriers that prevent a person with a disability from fully participating in its programs and operations because of his or her disability, including physical, architectural, attitudinal, technological, information or communications barriers and/or discriminatory policies or practices. TAC is further committed to actively challenging the stigma faced by people living with mental illness or disability.

In keeping with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, TAC recognizes freedom of conscience and religion as a fundamental right, acknowledges and challenges religious discrimination in Canadian society—including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism—and encourages diversity of thought and belief in its programs and operations.

In accordance with the Employment Canada Act, TAC is committed to eliminating any barriers to employment at the Council that may be experienced by historically disadvantaged groups, including the four groups that have been formally designated as Employment Equity groups by the Federal government: women, people with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples, and members of visible minorities.

TAC acknowledges that while all qualified artists and arts organizations deserve equal access to its programs and services and to opportunities within the broader arts sector, certain groups in society have been historically disadvantaged as a result of systemic biases or other barriers related to race, culture, ethnicity, disability, geography, language, gender, sexuality or other personal and protected characteristics.

In accordance with the City of Toronto Grants Policy: Anti-Racism, Access and Equity Policy and Guidelines, TAC supports and implements proactive policies and measures to ensure:

• equity of opportunity and equity of access to its programs, services, operations and decision-making processes;
• the removal of real or perceived barriers denying artists access to city resources;
• an equitable division of funds to Toronto’s diverse arts sector; and
• that the Council is fully inclusive and accessible to all qualified Toronto artists and arts professionals.

The Council is further committed to ensuring that:

• TAC’s workforce and all of its decision-making bodies—including its Board of Directors, arts discipline committees and grant review panels—reflect the diversity of the arts labour force and the population of the City of Toronto.
• TAC’s employment and assessment processes are bias-free and safeguard that no person is denied employment, grant opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to merit.
• TAC’s application programs and processes, its services and its premises are accessible to all qualified Toronto artists, including artists of colour, artists who are Deaf, have disabilities or are living with mental illness, Indigenous artists, artists who self-identify as 2SLGBTQIAP, newcomer and refugee artists, young and emerging artists, and artists working in all areas of the city (including residents of the City of Toronto’s Neighbourhood Improvement Areas).
• TAC’s peer assessment committees and grant review panels are selected for the necessary knowledge, skills and expertise to assess the full spectrum of cultural expressions, artistic practices and aesthetics represented in the City of Toronto, including Indigenous arts, culturally specific art forms and Deaf and disability arts practices.
• TAC’s management, staff and board members are knowledgeable about equity and access policies, practices and legislation and implementing equity is viewed as both an individual and shared responsibility of all Council personnel and volunteers.
• TAC maintains a safe, equitable and anti-oppressive environment where:
  • cultural difference is respected;
  • each person feels empowered to contribute to decision-making and have their voices heard and input valued; and
  • exclusion, marginalization, injustice, harassment, discrimination and violence are not tolerated.

TAC acknowledges that there are a number of historically disadvantaged groups that confront barriers to full participation in Canadian society and the national arts sector. However, in order to address the most underserved communities and largest service gaps, the Council has identified specific equity-seeking groups that have experienced especially restricted access to funding, creation, production, and dissemination opportunities within the Canadian arts ecology. These communities have been designated as equity priority groups and specific equity measures have been adopted to ensure their full inclusion in TAC’s funding programs and operations.

In naming its equity priority groups, TAC acknowledges that these communities are by no means mutually exclusive. Individuals may self-identify as belonging to more than one equity-seeking group. TAC also understands that the intersectional nature of social identities such as race, class and gender may result in individuals experiencing multiple, interconnected layers of oppression related to both visible (e.g. colour, physical disability, etc.) and invisible (e.g. sexuality, mental illness, etc.) difference. Individual members of equity-seeking groups may therefore experience varying degrees of disadvantage, discrimination, power or privilege, and may require different considerations or accommodations for equity to be achieved.

It should be noted that TAC strives to be responsive to the changing population of Toronto and to the shifting needs of equity-seeking communities that face barriers or other forms of discrimination and disadvantage. As such, the Council will annually track its funding to various demographics and may, from time to time, add or change its roster of designated equity priority groups in order to address identified funding gaps and ensure that its programs remain relevant and receptive to Toronto’s evolving arts sector.⁵

TAC’s current Equity Priority Groups are listed below in no particular order:

Black

Black refers to people of African descent across the diaspora including but not limited to African Canadian, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latinx, East African, West African, Southern and Central African, Afro-Arab, Afro-Indigenous, etc.

Persons of Colour

TAC’s definition of persons of colour includes individuals of African, Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern and mixed racial descent⁶ and corresponds with the Government of Canada’s “visible minority” designation (e.g. persons other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.).

Note that TAC acknowledges that Persons of Colour is an umbrella term for a diverse spectrum of racialized peoples who have experienced vastly different historical disadvantages and barriers to participation in Canadian society and the arts sector, and recognizes its use as a term to build understanding and solidarity between people.

Deaf Persons, Persons with Disabilities and Persons Living with Mental Illness

Deaf persons include individuals who are culturally-Deaf, deaf, or have hearing loss, as well as those who identify as hard-of-hearing, oral-deaf, deaf-blind or late-deafened. Persons with disabilities and persons living with mental illness include individuals with physical, psychosocial or learning disabilities that may be long-term, temporary or fluctuating and may or may not be apparent.⁷

Indigenous

Indigenous refers to Canadian Aboriginal people who self-define as First Nations (Status or Non-status), Métis or Inuit. TAC also acknowledges Indigenous people from all other regions of the world. Indigenous people are those who have a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies and consider themselves distinct from the dominant societies in which they live. 

2SLGBTQIAP

2SLGBTQIAP refers to individuals who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual or two-spirited.

In addition to its strategic focus on these equity priority groups, TAC has implemented various targeted programs and partnerships to increase access and participation by:

• artists working outside the downtown core
• newcomer and refugee artists, and
• young and emerging artists. 

Note that individuals who experience socio-economic disadvantage have not been identified as a distinct “equity priority group” as TAC does not collect information on its applicants’ personal income, expense levels or socio-economic status. However, TAC recognizes that poverty and class discrimination pose significant challenges to participation in the arts community and to individuals accessing TAC grants. TAC, therefore, endeavors to address socio-economic barriers and promote social equality through its broader equity initiatives. 

TAC has adopted an Equity Priority Policy, which states that if there are multiple well-assessed applications of equal merit but insufficient funds in the grants budget to support all deserving candidates, projects proposed by artists that self-identify as belonging to one of Toronto Arts Council’s equity priority groups or that primarily involve or serve artists from these groups will be prioritized.

Individual applicants that self-identify on the Voluntary Self-Identification Form as belonging to one (or more) of TAC’s equity priority groups are automatically considered for this equity measure.

Organizations must certify on their application form that their mandate and the majority of their activities, artistic content and financial and human resources are dedicated to one or more of the equity priority groups AND/OR that the project that they are proposing is artistically led or created by and/or involves a majority of artists from these communities in order to be eligible for this measure.

Note that when applying its Equity Priority Policy, TAC acknowledges intersectionality and the varying degree of equity-related challenges or barriers that individuals belonging to equity-seeking groups experience. TAC thus ensures that each application receives appropriate contextual consideration.  

Peer Assessment—which is predicated on the notion that artists and arts professionals are the most qualified individuals to assess, adjudicate and make funding recommendations on the work of other artists—is a fundamental principle of TAC. The Council’s peer assessment bodies include standing arts discipline committees that assess operating and project applications, and various arts grant review panels that are formed for specific project and individual grants competitions.

Committee and grant review panel members are selected to ensure balanced and equitable representation of artistic practices and specializations, as well as genders, generations, persons of colour, Indigenous people, Black people, persons who are Deaf or have disabilities and individuals who identify as 2SLGBTQIAP. The goal is to engage highly qualified assessors who collectively reflect the multiplicity of experiences, perspectives and communities that make up Toronto’s diverse arts sector and population.

The Council has adopted the following equity measures to achieve equitable representation and reduce barriers to its peer assessment processes for all equity groups:

• TAC ensures 50% (or more) of the members of its arts discipline committees are persons of colour, Black or Indigenous peoples.
• TAC further ensures that there is at least one Indigenous artist on each arts discipline committee.
• TAC ensures 50% (or more) of the assessors on its grant review panels are persons of colour, Black or Indigenous peoples. Panels adjudicating TAC’s Indigenous Arts Projects program are comprised entirely of peers from the Indigenous arts community. Panels adjudicating TAC’s Black Arts Projects and Black Arts Operating programs are comprised entirely of peers from the Black arts community.

With the goal of furthering equity implementation at the Council, TAC develops annual Equity Action Plans outlining key equity goals and actions. These internal documents lay out realistic, achievable goals and related action items. Lines of accountability are noted. TAC’s annual Equity Action Plans address various areas of the Council’s operations, including application and adjudication processes, employment, governance, communications and outreach, and organizational culture.

In order to track its progress in realizing its equity goals and actions, TAC conducts an annual internal equity review to measure its accomplishments against its Equity Action Plan and identify ongoing challenges and opportunities.

Equity Steering Committee and Working Groups

In order to steer its equity initiatives, TAC maintains an Equity Steering Committee, which includes staff members from all levels of the organization (senior management, middle management and support staff), as well as board members and/or community members drawn from TAC’s equity priority communities.

The Equity Steering Committee plays a leadership role in setting equity priorities, developing TAC’s annual Equity Action Plan and tracking and analyzing the success of its equity initiatives. The Equity Steering Committee also ensures that all staff and key volunteers are consulted on and informed of equity-related issues and actions.

Equity Steering Committee, 2021:

• Maayan Ziv
• Andrew Suri
• Sarah Miller-Garvin
• Eva Hellreich
• ​Michelle Parson
• Kevin Reigh
• Devyani Saltzman
• Catherine Tammaro
• Susan Wright

At Toronto Arts Council (TAC), we consider it a privilege to play a role in fostering, supporting and developing the arts in Toronto. As Toronto is the most diverse city in the world, home to a vibrant range of cultures, communities and traditions, TAC strives to ensure that this diversity is reflected in the arts and cultural practices that receive public support. We want publicly supported arts to reflect the cultural landscape of Toronto.

TAC has long recognized the reality of systemic barriers and biases facing many Toronto artists and arts organizations. To address historical injustices, TAC formalized its equity policies and approved the Equity Framework in 2017. The Equity framework identifies equity priority groups, allowing TAC to address systemic barriers in our granting programs.

TAC grant applications include voluntary self-identification forms; information that allows us to track diverse representation among grant recipients, on our Grant Review Panels, as well as helping us evaluate and improve our programs and outreach activities. The collection of grant recipient data highlights both successes and challenges in the application of our Equity Priority Policy. In 2020, 90% of our applicants completed the Voluntary Self-Identification form, out of which 58% identified with at least one of our equity priority groups. 38% of applicants from our equity priority groups were successful, higher than the 35% average for non-equity group applicants. In addition to that, 64% of successful applicants to TAC grants in 2020 were first-time recipients. This number includes applicants applying to the TOArtist Covid Response Fund, of which 86% of successful applicants had never before received a TAC grant.

While implementation of the Equity Priority Policy in individual and project grants programs is relatively straightforward, TAC also strives to ensure that the arts organizations receiving core funding are also reflective of Toronto in their operations and programming. In 2018 we introduced Equity implementation questions in our operating program applications. These questions ask arts organizations to tell us how they implement equity within their organizations, in their artistic programming, in their operations, and their Boards. The total weighting of these questions was originally set at 10% of the overall assessment.

The introduction of these questions opened the door to frank and critical discussions about the practices of each organization in terms of equity representation and inclusion. “Quite early on, we noticed that the discussion these questions were generating and the focus it was drawing on the organizations went far beyond the quantified 10% weighting,” noted Andrew Suri, Director of Granting.

In 2020 with the backdrop of the social and racial justice movement sweeping the world, our Equity Steering Committee met three times to continue ongoing evaluation of our programs, how we can improve our processes, and how we can further address questions of equity, inclusion and representation. The Equity Steering Committee recommended an increase in the weighting of the Equity implementation score in our operating program assessments from 10 to 20%.

Those organizations that are poorly assessed on these questions will be contacted, informed of our concerns, and where possible directed towards resources and workshops that may be of help. If the organization continues to do poorly on equity implementation in the following year, TAC will consider grant reductions. We consider our Equity Framework to be a ‘living’ document and understand the need to update it to reflect the needs of our city.

TAC is committed to reflect the diversity offered by the city of Toronto. We want this diversity reflected in our operations, our art, arts organizations and arts programming, and we will strive to ensure inclusivity in the arts in Toronto.

For more information, please contact Andrew Suri, Director of Granting