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Culture sector remains buoyant: Vital Signs

The cultural sector has experienced a year of growth, according to this year’s Vital Signs report. The number of people employed in arts, culture, recreation and sports in Greater Victoria rose to 8,200 in 2013, from 6,800 in 2012.
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Kieran Large, right, looks on as director John Stockwell talks to his crew during the filming of Kid Cannabis. By July 2014, filming in Victoria exceeded $8 million in revenues, putting this year on track to bring in the largest production income since 2007.

The cultural sector has experienced a year of growth, according to this year’s Vital Signs report.

The number of people employed in arts, culture, recreation and sports in Greater Victoria rose to 8,200 in 2013, from 6,800 in 2012. In 2000, that number was 6,100.

Victoria Foundation CEO Sandra Richardson said the cultural sector tends to benefit from a stronger economy, but is one of the first areas that suffers in a downturn.

“When our economy is good, the arts do so much better,” Richardson said.

The 2013 count puts Victoria ahead of both the provincial and national averages. It represents 4.5 per cent of total employment in the region, compared with 3.5 per cent for British Columbia as a whole and 3.1 per cent for Canada.


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Heather Lindsay, president of the Professional Arts Alliance of Greater Victoria, said there’s still room for improvement.

“We are clearly a growing sector and for all this wonderful growth to maintain itself and continue to show healthy progress, we need the support of our government and funding bodies,” she said. There was also a large jump in film and media production locally. That was largely because of the extra tax credit on labour costs for filming Gracepoint around the capital region.

By July 2014, filming in Victoria exceeded $8 million in revenues, putting this year on track to bring in the largest production income since 2007. “We’ve had years when the [film industry income] was almost down to zero, so that’s just incredible,” Richardson said.

In 2013, production generated $3 million, from hosting 25 film and television productions.

Access to the arts wasn’t a problem for most residents — 87 per cent of survey respondents reported being moderately to extremely satisfied.

Dance events were less popular than others, with 24.9 per cent of residents attending one or no dance performances. Concerts were among the most popular (66.5 per cent attended a concert an average of 3.6 times), followed by art galleries and museums (65.1 per cent visited an average of 3.4 times).

asmart@timescolonist.com