Toronto’s arts organizations are in decline. Here’s a brief overview of the struggling arts scene

From long-established theatre companies to major summer festivals, arts and culture organizations across Toronto and beyond are programming in the face of serious financial challenges, signalling an arts scene that many worry is in decline.
Below is a round-up of the Star’s recent reporting on this concerning trend.
After 15 years of partnership, Scotiabank will drop its title sponsorship of Toronto’s Contact Photography Festival after this year, the Star confirmed on Thursday.
The news arrives as dozens of festivals and arts organizations across Ontario announce cuts to programming in the face of serious financial challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision will likely result in a scaling back of both the Contact Festival and the organization’s year-round programming following this year’s month-long festival, set to take place from May 1 to 31.
“I don’t see the festival going away at all, but I do see diminishing services that we can provide to our audience, to our artists and to our curators,” Darcy Killeen, the CEO of Contact, told the Star.
Read the full report by Richie Assaly.
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, arts leaders across Toronto and southern Ontario knew they were staring down a tough road ahead. Their industry’s recovery wasn’t going to come overnight, nor in the mere weeks and months ahead. 
But more than two years after theatres reopened, the sector is still teetering on the brink of a crisis, and could be facing its most challenging year yet amid audience attrition, declining private support and insufficient public funding. Companies — including Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre Company and Factory Theatre — are mounting productions with smaller budgets; some are cutting programming; others that halted operations in March 2020 never returned. 
Unless there’s a turnaround, arts leaders who spoke with the Star say the once-thriving sector in Toronto — one of the largest theatre centres in the world — could become a shell of its former self. 
Read the full story by Joshua Chong
Just for Laughs Toronto, which was to take place in September, has been cancelled after the organization behind the festival announced it is restructuring its business. 
In a statement shared on March 6, Groupe Juste pour rire inc. (JPR) confirmed  that “the 2024 edition of the Just for Laughs Toronto festival will not take place.”
“Once the restructuring of the organization is completed, JPR hopes that the festival will take place in 2025,” the statement added.
“JFL was an iconic cultural event,” comedian and writer Leonard Chan said in an interview. “The comedy scene will survive, but it would be very sad if we lost JFL forever. It’d be like if Tim Hortons went under. We’d still find a way to get doughnuts, but it would be a huge loss in terms of our Canadian identity.”
Read the full story by Richie Assaly
Two of Toronto’s popular summer festivals are at a crossroads.
The Toronto Fringe Festival, after a year of near devastating cuts to funding and programming, is seeking a path to financial sustainability, while the Luminato Festival, whose events are significantly smaller compared to what they once were, aims to enter a new era of growth.
Both organizations are now betting on fresh artistic leadership to put themselves back on the map as cultural and economic engines for the city.
“We feel energized,” said Rachel Kennedy, the new executive director of the Toronto Fringe Festival. “There’s a real urgency in the sector, though there’s definitely an optimism within that urgency.”
Read the full story from Joshua Chong
Canada’s second largest repertory theatre company is millions of dollars in the red after recording the largest single-year operating deficit in its history. 
In total, the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake reported a shortfall of $5.7 million in 2023, forcing the organization to significantly cut operations for its upcoming season. 
The latest fiscal numbers were presented at the Shaw Festival’s annual meeting Friday afternoon, where company leaders explained that although “small” losses were anticipated for last season, unforeseen issues including performance cancellations and general inflation expanded the deficit “beyond our ability to mitigate in a single year.”
“It is clear that the impacts of the current economic and social climate are being disproportionately felt, and Canada’s theatres are on a different recovery trajectory,” said Professional Association of Canadian Theatres executive director Brad Lepp, in a statement calling on Canadians to rally for the sector. “Without immediate support from all partners, we face losing many of our theatres, stories, and voices.”
Read the full story by Joshua Chong
Harbourfront Centre needs to find new sources of revenue if it is to continue fulfilling its mandate as Toronto’s waterfront destination for arts and culture, according to a federal government report released this week.
“HC does not yet have a sustainable operating foundation. It also does not have adequate revenues to support much needed capital improvements which will in turn help to attract revenues including sponsorships and other sources of funding,” according to the report, which reviewed Harbourfront Centre operations from 2018-2023.
“Securing sources of capital investments is an outstanding need.”
The review — by the Department of Canadian Heritage, which provides Harbourfront Centre with its single largest source of funding — recommends that the waterfront arts, culture and recreation venue come up with a “revenue diversification strategy,” to be implemented this year.
Read the full story by Francine Kopun 
A new study from Canada’s independent cinema owners says their industry is “in crisis” and many theatres need increased public funding to stay afloat.
The research from the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors said 60 per cent of independent cinema operators surveyed between December and February operated at a loss at the end of their most recent fiscal year.
About two-thirds of the 67 respondents reported that they need increased public funding in order to remain operational. The bulk estimated they would need about $50,000 in extra funding annually for three years to close the immediate gaps they face.
Read the full story from the Canadian Press
Canada’s largest documentary film festival says it faces financial pressures that have put its future in jeopardy.
Hot Docs says the Toronto festival reached peak attendance in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic was a huge setback and recovery has been slow.
In an email seeking financial support from audiences, the non-profit organization’s president says they’ve reduced overhead costs while continuing to operate, but are running out of cash.
Read the full story from the Canadian Press
Bell has been so much a part of TIFF’s identity for the past 28 years its name was on the side of TIFF Lightbox, the festival headquarters at King and John streets that opened in 2010. In the early days of the internet, TIFF’s official URL even had a Bell connection: www.bell.ca/filmfest.
More than just money is involved in the departure of Bell, said Barry Avrich, a Toronto filmmaker and former TIFF board member.
“Undoubtedly, losing a prestigious title sponsorship is extraordinarily distressing, especially for an arts organization. Additionally, with Bell, they had a sponsor that did more than write a cheque. They were a fabulous marketing partner that spent serious marketing dollars to activate their sponsorship,” Avrich said via email.
Bell’s $5 million in sponsorship money may seem a small sum for a telecommunications giant, which is currently engaged in spending cuts and layoffs in response to recent revenue declines. 
But it’s a large sum for TIFF, which gets more than half its annual revenues from sponsorships, government grants and endowments.
Read Peter Howell’s full story from last August 
Spending in Canada’s arts and culture sector is expected to trend upwards for 2024, marking a turnaround compared to last year and signifying optimism for a beleaguered sector that has struggled to find its audience after a protracted pandemic shutdown.
A new national survey conducted by Nanos found that, on average, patrons plan to spend $1,377 on arts and cultural events this year. 
While some 57 per cent of respondents said they intend to budget the same amount for leisure and entertainment in 2024 compared to 2023, one in five people noted they plan to spend more. 
Though barriers that hinder the return of some audiences still remain, such as an event’s location, pollster Nik Nanos said the survey findings should be “very validating” for cultural patrons and the sector, which includes the performing arts, live music, art galleries and museums. 
Read the full story by Joshua Chong