Reports and Publications

Toronto Arts Stats 2019 

Art Stats 2019 turns its lens to artists and arts workers. This report brings together results from a public opinion poll that surveyed over 1500 artists and arts workers to ask questions about costs of work space, homes, essential training and income.

Toronto Arts Stats 2018 

Art Stats 2018 asks Torontonians why the arts matter. This report brings together results from a public opinion poll, showing that most Torontonians are optimistic about their city and believe the arts add to their quality of life.

Toronto Arts Stats 2017 

Toronto Arts Stats 2017 asks questions about genorosity and the arts. What motivates Torontonians to give their volunteer time, or money, to the arts? This report brings together the results from a public opinion poll and a survey of arts administrators revealing where perceptions of philanthropy to the arts differ.

Toronto Arts Stats 2016 

Toronto Arts Stats 2016 reveals public opinion about the arts including how Torontonians see the arts as a way to attract tourists, improve the economy, create employment and make the city more beautiful. 96% of Torontonians see at least one benefit of the arts to the City of Toronto.

Toronto Arts Stats 2015 

Torontonians see the arts as having a positive influence in the neighbourhoods they live in, their individual lives and the city they call home. Starting in 2013, Toronto Arts Foundation and Leger have developed a partnership to explore public opinion about the arts.

Toronto Arts Facts 

Did you Know...

Toronto Arts Facts gathers together key information about the arts in Toronto, compiled from a wide variety of research studies and statistical resources. This information falls into the general areas of the arts’ role in the economy, its impact on communities, and its place in people’s lives.

Bringing the City Alive: Impact of the Arts 

2013 & 2014

Through a partnership with Leger, Toronto Arts Foundation is examining the impact of the arts on life in Toronto through public surveys. Here, you can view survey results from 2013 & 2014. In 2015, Bringing the City Alive was reimagined as our Toronto Arts Stats.

Community Arts and Digital Practice During COVID-19 Needs Assessment 

2021

In 2021, Toronto’s six Local Arts Service Organizations, led by East End Arts, undertook a study to better understand the dynamic shift to digital and virtual spaces for Community Arts organizations and practitioners. The aim was to assess the effectiveness of the strategies and practices that these groups used in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the changes and barriers that they encountered in moving to virtual modes of delivery. The project was completed by a research team composed of Nordicity and Toronto Arts Foundation’s Research & Impact Manager, Dr. Shawn Newman, with support from former Toronto Arts Council Strategic Programs Manager, Erika Hennebury. Funding came from the Canada Council for the Arts’ Digital Strategy Fund.

Arts & Culture in Public Spaces Survey 

2020

The Arts & Culture in Public Spaces Survey was created to understand how Torontonians feel about participating in arts and cultural activities happening in outdoor public spaces in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data presented here will help Toronto Arts Foundation, the City of Toronto and numerous community groups plan for arts activities and events happening in 2020 and 2021.

Inviting Arts into Local Parks: Conversations with Community Organizers 

2019

This report shares more in-depth feedback from Community Organizers: it contains interviews with nine community organizers about their experiences with Arts in the Parks and includes information about their neighbourhood, the role of their group, and their own motivations to be advocates for their parks and for the arts. In addition, discussions focused on the impact of the arts to the well-being of their community, challenges to bringing arts into parks, and how Arts in the Parks program can be improved.

Arts in the Parks Toolkit 

2019

A vital guide to helping community organizations and municipalities envision their own arts events in parks.

Arts in the Parks Evaluation 2018 

2018

An evaluation report of Toronto Arts Foundation’s Arts in the Parks program, which brought 282 events to 36 parks across Toronto in 2018.

Arts in the Parks Evaluation 2017 

2017

An evaluation report of Toronto Arts Foundation’s Arts in the Parks program, which brought 340 events to 54 parks across Toronto in 2017.

Generator and The Riser Project research paper 

2017

Generator and The RISER Project: Sector developers for independent theatre in Toronto takes a look at Generator and Why Not Theatre’s The RISER Project, two change initiatives in the performing arts sector. Both ventures have emerged from the theatre community to devise new ways to support independent artists in today’s context of precarity and limited resources.

Creative Trust Toolkits 

2014

Toronto Arts Foundation announced Jini Stolk as the inaugural Creative Trust Research Fellowship in 2013. As part of the fellowship, a series of Toolkits were created containing processes, policies and program materials reflecting the most important thinking and activities in the success of the Creative Trust's Working Capital for the Arts program.

Transforming Communities through the Arts 

2013

This study of three neighbourhoods looks at how residents engage with the arts at a community level, barriers to arts access and identifies ways to strengthen local arts engagement.

Arts and Equity Toolkit 

2011

The toolkit is compiled from interviews, consultations, and workshops with arts and community groups who are working to reduce barriers to community participation and collaboration.