An Inspiring Budget for the Arts Community: the Common Front Celebrates a Major Victory
Montreal, Tuesday, 25 March 2025 – The 21 organizations of the Common Front for the Arts welcome with satisfaction the budget presented on March 25, 2025, and thank Ministers Éric Girard and Mathieu Lacombe.
As soon as the budget was tabled in March 2024, the Common Front took shape and intensified its efforts to highlight the crisis experienced by the artistic community, while implementing an exceptional and interdisciplinary mobilization. It should be recalled that the scope of this initiative aimed to curb the degradation of the cultural ecosystem by demanding rapid and lasting actions from the Government of Quebec.
To this end, the Common Front commends the investment bringing the total credits of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) to 200 million, for the next three years. Of this sum, a significant portion has been made permanent. Thus, the permanent portion increases from $106 M to approximately $165 M. This advancement will ensure better predictability, which was at the heart of the demands. Immediately, the distribution of these new funds represents an element that will require very close monitoring, and details should follow shortly.
These funds acknowledge that our culture is threatened and requires its rightful place among the socioeconomic and identity vectors of our society.
The new credits will offer a first dose of stability to the sector and must mark the beginning of sustained collaborative work to stem the systemic and structural challenges that have multiplied in recent years. These have devastating effects on the working conditions of artists and cultural workers, as well as on the quality of works and their accessibility throughout the territory and their international reach.
Making Local Culture a True Priority
Certainly, it took a mobilization of historical proportions from the artistic communities to achieve these gains. These would not have been possible without the rigorous efforts made by the members of the Common Front, without the rallies of the GMAQ and support from all sides, ranging from academic, economic, political, scientific circles, from youth to the general public.
Thus, the progress enabled by the actions surrounding the Common Front for the Arts and its stakeholders must imperatively serve as a foundation from which to build a sustainable, prosperous cultural environment, in the interest of all Quebec society.
“Quebec needs its culture, everywhere. Shifting, unifying, bold. For art to emerge, unfold, circulate, and reach people, it takes resources. This budget is a step in the right direction, a concrete and important gesture. That said, the needs are enormous, and the work must continue. The Common Front is ready for what comes next.”
— David Laferrière, President, Professional Association of Performing Arts Presenters (RIDEAU)
“The oxygen provided by this budget will provide the energy needed to continue efforts to preserve our cultural identity, the vitality of our artistic ecosystem and the improvement of the socio-economic conditions of artists.”
— Caroline Gignac, Executive Director, Conseil québécois du théâtre (CQT)
“In the current context, where cultural and national sovereignty is under significant attack, culture is our refuge, a weapon of defense that allows us to assert our identity. The government could not afford to cut back on its support for the cultural sector, which has been showing significant signs of deterioration for over a year. We must now develop a vision for the future, capable of restoring and perpetuating our cultural ecosystem.”
— Tania Kontoyanni, President, Union des artistes (UDA)
About the Common Front for the Arts
The Common Front for the Arts brings together 21 organizations representing various artistic and cultural sectors of the province. United by a common goal, these organizations work to defend the vitality, diversity, and future of culture in Quebec. Facing economic pressures and social challenges, the Common Front advocates for government investments in the cultural sector to ensure the sustainability of Quebec arts and creativity.
For inquiries
Véronique Gravel, Conseil québécois du théâtre
514 717-3641, communication@cqt.qc.ca
Source
The Common Front for the Arts brings together:
- Association of Contemporary Art Galleries (AGAC)
- Association of Parallel Cinemas of Quebec (ACPQ)
- Professional Association of Show Promoters (RIDEAU)
- Quebec Council of Arts and Crafts (CMAQ)
- Quebec Music Council (CQM)
- Quebec Theatre Council (CQT)
- DOC Québec
- En Piste, National Circus Arts Group
- National Federation of Communications and Culture (FNCC-CSN)
- Quebec Musicians’ Guild (GMMQ)
- Independent Arts Research and Experimentation Peer Group (REPAIRE)
- Quebec Street Arts Association (RAR)
- Association of Visual Artists (RAAV)
- Association of Self-Managed Artist Centers of Quebec (RCAAQ)
- Quebec Storytelling Association (RCQ)
- Quebec Dance Association (RQD)
- Culture 360° Network
- Quebec Cultural Periodicals Development Society (SODEP)
- Quebec Museum Society (QMS)
- Union of Artists (UDA)
- Union of Quebec Writers (UNEQ)