Arts and Culture – Making our Communities Vibrant

News:

Reach your MP at ourcommons

Federal Budget 2026 is announced.

While there are excellent initiatives for individual artists and for Canada 160, among other measures that are worth celebrating, Budget 2026 also shows a lack of commitment both to arts creation and dissemination in regions like Nova Scotia through adequate funding to the Canada Council for the Arts, and an absence of concrete commitments to cultural infrastructure in the regions.

These omissions reduce the the generational impact the government is seeking, and which Nova Scotia and Canada needs.

We applaud the potential of the Canadian Creation Credit announced as a possibility in Federal Budget 2026. We believe that it could stimulate creativity, artistic production and cultural entrepreneurship in Canada. This non-refundable personal income tax credit, combined with the basic personal amount, would provide tax recognition for up to $45,000 in net creative income and could make a difference for the cost of living challenges facing artists. We will advocate for this on behalf of individual artists in Nova Scotia.

However, we caution that this is not yet a reality, and that cultural entrepreneurs are only one essential part of the arts ecosystem. Without adequate support as well for the Canada Council for the Arts, these gains will not be as impactful as the government expects. While the Federal Government committed $20M over three years to the Council, our research shows that to deal with the need and possibility in the community, $140M is needed and would be distributed across the country to rural and urban organizations in support of new Canadian work, new Canadian cultural jobs and access by Canadians to our own culture.

If the cultural facilities, non profit arts organizations and collective creators in Nova Scotia and across Canada cannot afford to provide employment and fees to artists in our communities, and cannot improve or create cultural infrastructure in communities across the country, these gains in the income tax system will not be as meaningful, and the regions and nation will be poorer for it.

Some positive aspects of the budget for arts and culture are:

• $15M increase to the Canada Arts Presentation Fund to support local festivals and the performing arts across the country as part of Canada’s 160th anniversary celebrations.
• $10 million in 2027-28 for the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program, also as part of Canada's 160th anniversary celebrations.
• The inclusion of $20M over 4 years and $5 million ongoing to renew the Canada Book Fund and the creation of a free national digital collection to make it easier to discover and borrow books by Canadian authors.
• The extension of the Canada Strong Pass for another summer and making permanent, year-round free admission to national museums for children and youth under 25.
• The funding of our national institutions such as the National Gallery and the National Arts Centre.

What Happens next - how you can help

Now that the Budget has been presented, Parliament takes a week off so that MPs can return to their ridings and talk with constituents about what is in it. Please book time with your MP to share your thoughts and be specific about the role that the Canada Council plays in your Nova Scotian community - from Neptune Theatre to Ross Creek, from festivals like Afterwords to Dance companies like Mocean Dance, from Symphony NS to presenters like Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival who bring in artists to their communities, and dozens more, we fill a unique role in Nova Scotian culture, supported in part by the Canada Council.

Thank your MP for the contributions you do see, hold them to the individual tax credit, and also tell them your community needs:

• the Canada Council to be funded appropriately ($140M)
• a commitment to Cultural infrastructure alongside community and sports facilities.

Tell them what you see in the budget, what it means for your work or your community, and what you would like them to carry back to Ottawa. If you can't book a date, a short email, a phone call or a visit to their constituency office all count, and you can find your MP by postal code at ourcommons.ca. Let us know any feedback you get here.

We will continue to make our voice heard on the national level through MPs and Ministers' offices to ensure that artistic creation and improvements to cultural infrastructure in Nova Scotia are not left behind in the national conversation.

You can see the cultural section of the budget here.

For media contact

Chris O'Neill,

Nova Scotia Arts Coalition

Phone: 902-599-2379

Email: advocacy@nsarts.ca

Don't forget to hang the Culture is Critical poster in your window!

Become a member of the NS Arts Coalition today!

The NS Arts Coalition is non partisan and focused on provincial advocacy for  appropriate funding both through the department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage and other Ministries where arts and culture can intersect. We are also focused on advocacy for good public policy as it relates to Arts and Culture in Nova Scotia.

We have pan provincial membership including from the Greater Halifax Area, and we look forward to welcoming you. Currently there is no membership fee, but we want to capture the reach of our advocacy, so please feel free to pass on this form to anyone who might be a cultural worker / artist in the province of Nova Scotia.

Click here to sign up!

2026 NS Budget news

WE WON'T STOP Fighting for Nova Scotia

The Tim Houston Government rammed through a budget that had no consultation, no discussion, and which they tried to put through late at night until interrupted by some beautiful voices raised in song. ​ While the budget may have passed, we continue to advocate for our jobs, for our communities, for the future of Nova Scotia.

Arts and Culture is a vital part of our mental and physical health and well-being, our economic success, and to our sense of our selves as a community, region and country. ​

We will continue to provide information about upcoming actions and how you can keep advocating with us. And one of the most important things you can do throughout, is to support the artists and arts organizations in your community and the province. We want to ensure that people can hold on until we can get these cruel cuts reversed.

The NS Arts Coalition is an ad hoc advocacy group made up of individual artists and arts, culture and heritage organizations across the province.   We are dedicated to ensuring that provincial policy and funding is responsive to the needs of the sector for the benefit of all Nova Scotians, to supporting Arts and Culture advocacy efforts in NS municipalities, and ensuring that the voice of Nova Scotia is strong in Federal Arts and Culture Advocacy.

​Please see the organizations connected to the coalition here.

​We need your voice: the voices of individual artists and arts organizations, members, volunteers, staff, audiences and supporters to remind governments from Municipal to Provincial to Federal about the value we bring, and how to work with us as part of a recovery for a robust, vibrant and sustainable community.