Seventeen major arts groups will together call on the Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, in front of his offices in Montreal on Wednesday morning. Their goal? Denounce the lack of funding granted to the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) by the Legault government. The Common Front for Arts and Letters thus reacts to the sums granted this year in Mission Support, this subsidy which serves as a basis for companies and which allows them to pay rent, employees, creation and production for the next four years.
According to the calculations of Dutyinflation included, CALQ Mission Support has seen its total value decrease by 6% since 2017, while supporting 31 fewer companies.
During the last Mission Support grant, in 2017, artistic companies shared $80,117,054. In 2024-2025, this envelope is $93,805,650. Ten million dollars were added this year in one-off assistance to 125 organizations presenting shows, but Duty excluded this amount from its calculations due to the temporary nature of the measure.
This is therefore an increase in Support of 17% in gross dollars, but the most recent envelope, with inflation, is equivalent to 75,270,271 dollars in 2017. Conclusion: on the ground level, the value of this aid decreased by 6%.
Some 446 companies received Mission Support in 2024-2025; there were 477 in 2017. There are therefore 31 fewer organizations that benefit from the financial predictability provided by this subsidy. In recent years, there have never been so few companies whose operation was supported by the CALQ.
Art and money
Music received the largest share of the Mission Support awarded in 2024: 29.69% of the envelope goes to it. Follows the theater, which collects 24.95%. In third position comes dance, with 12.67% of the sums.
Music, better off? Its 2024 envelope is, however, inflated by $3.1 million of money linked to measures 30 and 33 of the action plan Everywhere, culture, measures accessible to large orchestras, has learned Duty.
The Montreal Symphony Orchestra receives $10,555,550 in Mission Support; the Metropolitan Orchestra, $2,091,240; the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, $2,868,000. This leaves $12,335,085 for the 73 other orchestras and music companies in Quebec, for whom the average subsidy is $168,973.
The multiplication of “no’s”
This year, 75 Mission Support requests were refused, or 15% of the requests submitted. They came from companies that hoped to stabilize their situation, but who will have to continue to plan their activities one year at a time, requesting piecemeal financing for each project — a procedure that increases paperwork. Some people sometimes prefer to simply put the key in the door.
This year there were only 12 more applicants than in 2017. Despite the cohorts of graduates who leave schools each year and the new groups who had time to form during the pandemic, under the encouragement of governments same.
“Seventeen organizations supported in 2017 submitted a new application, but did not receive four-year support,” specified the CALQ at the request of the Duty. “The CALQ, however, decided to support them for one last year, so that they can review their strategy and so that the confirmed activities can be carried out. »
This assistance is not included in the $93,805,650 Mission Support envelope. These organizations have one year to find a solution for the future.
It is in the performing arts, including music, that we observe the greatest number of refusals: 50. This sector accounts for 67% of the total negative responses. It is in the “Literature and storytelling” category that organizations suffered the greatest proportion of refusals: 28% of applicants were told no, or 10 out of 36. This is 13% of all refusals.
The detailed data being confidential, the CALQ has grouped certain disciplines in order to answer the questions of the Duty.
Count the pennies
When they apply for Mission Support, companies quantify their financial needs. It is common for the CALQ to accept the request by granting a lower amount. This year, companies received on average about 62% of what they wanted.
Organizations unhappy with the results had until September 15 to request a review. The CALQ received 18 requests; he had examined 34 in 2017.
For 2024-2025, the budget allocated to Culture and Communications is $1.952 billion, which represents 1.32% of Quebec’s total budget. Support for the CALQ mission accounts for 0.06%. Invited to react to the broad outlines of the analysis of DutyMathieu Lacombe’s office did not wish to do so.
The CALQ is currently without a president and CEO. Anne-Marie Jean left this seat on August 30, after nine years, to join the General Delegation of Quebec in Paris — “a position she could not refuse,” according to the Council of Arts and Letters.
With Sarah Boumedda