Contact Your MLA

  1. FIND YOUR MLA (find them here) ​
  2. Call them and leave a message explaining why these cuts matter to you.
  3. Email your MLA. You can copy and paste from the template below or write your own from scratch! We encourage you to make it personal. MAKE SURE YOU COPY IT TO the following:
  4. Your MLA (find them here)
  5. CC:  FinanceMinister@novascotia.ca, MIN_CCTH@novascotia.ca, PREMIER@novascotia.ca, advocacy@nsarts.ca (The Honourable John Lohr, Minister of Finance, The Honourable Dave Ritcey, Minister of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage, The Honourable Tim Houston, Premier of Nova Scotia, and NS Arts coalition)

If you don't have time to call your MLA (which is always better), please email  ASAP!

SAMPLE LETTER: Dear [YOUR MLA'S NAME], I’m writing to you, deeply concerned about the recently announced austerity budget that the government is tabling, one which calls for significant cuts to funding for Arts, Culture & Heritage.

[If you feel able, please explain here what the arts mean to you, your loved ones or community. It is good for your MLA to know the effect these cuts stand to have on their constituents.]

We urge you to abandon any cuts to Arts, Culture & Heritage. The solution to the province's fiscal health is in realizing the sector’s potential and trusting in the economics of long term investment. According to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Arts, Culture & Heritage contributed $2.6 billion in GDP and supported 22,000 jobs in this province in 2023 alone. Their 2025 report Artworks: The Economic and Social Dividends from Canada’s Arts and Culture Sector, states that every $1 of federal investment in the arts generates $29 of economic activity. The ripple effect of these cuts will be disastrous, not just in the Arts, Culture & Heritage sector, but in tourism, hospitality, industry, in the grocery stores and gas stations, in the shops and services frequented by visitors to our communities.

Cuts proposed in this week’s budget have landed on the shoulders of grassroots, non-profit and community-focused organizations. These cuts disproportionately impact Arts, Culture & Heritage in Nova Scotia, with devastating impacts on museums, youth-focused arts programming and education, grants for professional artists and groups, and budget cuts to organizations that work to support and engage cultural communities across our province.

On top of operational budget cuts, seventy-two (72) Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage grant programs have been fully or partially cut. This totals more than $14 million in reductions. Reducing investment in this sector not only deflates economic growth and sidelines innovation, but also represents a strategic misstep in the overall advancement of our province as a place to call home. These cuts are the most severe we have seen in decades. In an already under-resourced sector, they are catastrophic. Our sector has spent decades leveraging modest public investment to deliver outsized social, cultural, and economic returns in communities across Nova Scotia.

As my MLA, I hope you will make clear to the government that this short-sighted slashing and elimination of funding neither balances the books nor makes long-term economic sense. This is not a one-year inconvenience. It is a decision that will have lasting impacts for many years.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, [Name] [Title] [Postal Code]

THEN ASK YOUR MLA FOR A FOLLOW UP (VIRTUALLY OR IN PERSON)

  1. Here's how you find your MLA
  2. Ask for a meeting to discuss your concern
  3. Please let us know here if you get a response!
  4. If comfortable, and you have the time, take a photo with the MLA and post it using the messaging we have attached (or your own) with the hashtags provided.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

  1. This government was elected on a platform to fix healthcare, but not at the expense of the province’s overall well-being and prosperity.
  2. Indeed, investment in Arts and Culture has significant and documented positive health impacts, as well as driving economic development, social cohesion and serving as a recruitment tool for new immigrants, including healthcare workers.
  3. This government did invest new money in the sector in 2023, when we had advocated for a Cost of Living Increase to help the sector keep pace with inflation. These cuts undo most of those gains while gutting other programs that were untouched by the previous increase.
  4. Arts and Culture funding is an investment in our future as a vibrant, modern society, and one that can keep our creative thinkers at home.​