Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance (GVPTA)

Programs + Initiatives

B.C. Arts, Culture, & Heritage Sector Insights Survey

November 2023 Survey

B.C. Arts, Culture, & Heritage Sector Insights Survey
We encourage arts, culture, and heritage workers, artists, and organizations from all disciplines across British Columbia to complete the B.C. Arts, Culture, & Heritage Sector Insights Survey to help us better understand, advocate, and inform government, funders, and stakeholders on the current state of the sector,.

This survey is led by GVPTA, on behalf of and in collaboration with a coalition of B.C.-based arts, culture, and heritage service organizations that represent thousands of arts, culture, and heritage organizations and individuals across BC and in every community and region. This includes hundreds of cultural businesses, venues, festivals, consultants, and independent practitioners, as well as thousands of professional artists, cultural practitioners, and volunteers throughout the province.

You can review previous examples of our sector-wide surveys and reports here and here
What does this survey explore?
Some of the areas this survey explores include:
  • Working in the sector - What are artists' and workers' incomes for 2023, and do they expect to be working in the sector over the coming year?
  • Obstacles - What obstacles have artists, workers, and organizations faced last year, and do they expect to face in the coming months?
  • Risks - How are individuals and organizations feeling about their cash flow and current housing or facility stability? 
  • Organizational Structure - What is the current makeup of governance and decision-making structures that exist within organizations?
  • Health and Safety - What steps are being taken, and what concerns exist as we move into respiratory illness season?
  • Mental Health and Optimism - What levels of stress and anxiety are folks feeling right now, and how optimistic are they as we head into 2024?
  • Supports - What kind of support or resources is the community looking for from arts funders, the government, and the arts and culture community?
  • Attendance Trends - Reflections on positive and negative trends in patron attendance over the past 6 months

Note: Questions will differ based on whether responding as an individual or on behalf of an organization).

Why should I fill out the survey?
Your input is valuable in helping us understand the current realities felt by the cultural sector in British Columbia, and to assist arts service organizations in advocating for you. 

The resulting report will be shared with federal, provincial, and municipal governments, arts funders, and stakeholders within the community to help convey the current status of our sector and inform decision-making. 

We acknowledge that survey fatigue is real, but we urge all artists, arts and cultural workers and organizations to complete the survey today – even if your organization has closed, or you have recently left the sector. All input is important.

How long will the survey take?

The survey will take 12–15 minutes but will vary depending on how many questions you choose to answer. Most questions in the survey are optional.

Help us share this survey
Please help spread the word about the survey by sharing the link with B.C.-based artists, workers, and arts, culture, and heritage organizations in your network in order for us to build a strong dataset for the report.

If you have questions about the survey, contact GVPTA executive director Kenji Maeda at kenji@gvpta.ca.

EXTENDED Closing Date: 5pm PST, Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this survey? How will the data be used?

Since June 2020, GVPTA has worked in collaboration with stakeholders and other B.C.-based arts, culture, and heritage service organizations to develop surveys and reports to better understand the sector.  You can find some of the previous sector reports here.

Past reports have been leveraged by funders, government agencies, artists, as well as arts, culture, and heritage organizations in order to inform decisions that have supported new funding, updates to policies and procedures, community engagement priorities, and even referenced in grant applications by arts organizations.

In order to have a global picture and a more detailed understanding of the impact felt by the cultural sector in British Columbia and across Canada, non-personally identifying survey results may be integrated with other datasets and/or shared with analysts and researchers with expertise in cultural participation and consumption. 

For greater clarity, we will NOT share data or response fields where we ask for personally identifiable details like your name, email, and organization.

Who is part of the coalition?
The coalition of B.C.-based arts, culture, and heritage service organizations represent thousands of arts, culture, and heritage organizations and individuals across B.C. and in every community and region. This includes hundreds of cultural businesses, venues, festivals, consultants, and independent practitioners, as well as thousands of professional artists, cultural practitioners, and volunteers throughout the province.

221A

Arts BC

Arts Council of the Central Okanagan

BC Alliance for Arts + Culture

BC Museums Association

•BC Music Festival Collective

British Columbia Choral Federation

British Columbia Touring Council

Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists/West Chapter

Canadian Artists’ Representation/le Front des Artistes Canadiens – National

Canadian Artists’ Representation/le Front des Artistes Canadiens – BC

Canadian Music Centre, BC

Conseil culturel et artistique francophone de la C.B.

Craft Council of BC

Dance West Network

Federation of British Columbia Writers

Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance

Heritage BC

New Works

Richmond Arts Coalition

Rural Arts Inclusion Lab

Sector Equity for Anti-Racism in the Arts

Theatre BC

Vancouver Musicians Association, Local 145 of the AFM

Vines Art Society

What disciplines does the survey include?

This survey is for all members of the arts, culture, and heritage sector in B.C., including artists, workers, cultural organizations, and museums across B.C. 

Should multiple members of an organization complete the survey?

Some questions we ask will be different based on whether you're filling it out for yourself as an individual or as a representative of an organization. 


We encourage everyone who submits a response on behalf of an organization to do the survey again as an individual member of the arts, culture, and heritage community.


Please ensure that only one representative completes the survey on behalf of the organization. Those responses should be reflective of the organization as a whole. 


All artists and workers within an organization are welcome and encouraged to complete the survey as an individual, reflecting their personal experiences.

What type of questions are being asked?

For organizations, we ask questions related to human resources, organizational structure, health and safety policies, trends and risks experienced, and other reflections from the past year and wishes for 2024. 


For individuals, we ask questions related to, housing stability, health and safety, obstacles and challenges.


We also ask everyone about financial health, optimism, and supports you're looking for as we move into 2024.


Most of the questions are optional, so you may choose to only answer questions you're comfortable responding to. 

Who will see my survey response?

GVPTA executive director Kenji Maeda will be the primary person accessing the raw data in order to validate data and to create the aggregate report. Amanda Peters, GVPTA associate executive director, has access to the raw data in case of exceptional circumstances, but has thus far for previous reports has not required access.


Personally identifiable information such as name, email, and organization will be removed if some of the data is requested to be combined with other research done across Canada.


If you have any questions or concerns about how your data will be used or accessed, please email kenji@gvpta.ca.

Who will be sent the report and how can I access it?

Once the report is complete, it will be emailed directly to everyone who participated in the survey, and will distributed through the coalition network, which includes newsletters, websites, and social channels. 


The report will also be circulated to federal, provincial, regional, and municipal governments, other funders, and stakeholders in the community.

What is the closing date to complete the survey?

The extended closing date is Wednesday, November 22, 5pm.


This survey was announced on Friday, November 3, with a closing date of Monday, November 20, 5pm. 


We ask that you help spread the word about the survey to BC-based arts, culture, and heritage workers, artists, and organizations in order for us to have a strong dataset for the report.

Past Surveys and Backgrounder

Backgrounder
The 2023 survey is led by GVPTA, on behalf of a coalition of B.C.-based arts, culture, and heritage service organizations - a collaboration between 29 organizations representing thousands of arts, culture, and heritage organizations across BC and in every community and region. This includes hundreds of cultural businesses, venues, festivals, consultants, and independent practitioners, as well as thousands of professional artists, cultural practitioners, and volunteers throughout the province.

The aim of the survey is to build a broad picture and detailed understanding of the current state of the arts, culture and heritage sector in British Columbia. The survey is distributed through this network of arts service organizations, funders, and stakeholders across the province, through social media, newsletters, and directly to past survey respondents.

Aggregate data is shared with funders, researchers, and arts service organizations for regional, provincial, and national reporting and analysis.

This survey builds on our previous data collection strategy developed to gain a better understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and culture sector across the province. 

As part of a data collection strategy developed to gain a better understanding of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the arts and culture sector across the province, GVPTA developed a survey in March 2020. This survey was designed for all arts disciplines; artists; arts workers; arts, culture, and heritage organizations across B.C. 


Originally in 2020, GVPTA had released a survey exclusively for theatre organizations, but through feedback received from funders, colleagues in other arts disciplines, and discussions with our colleagues at the BC Alliance for Arts + Culture and BC Museums Association, it made sense to expand the existing survey to be inclusive of all arts and culture organizations in British Columbia.


Initially, we measured financial, human resources, and other impacts based on decisions that have been made about your programming, activities, and operations. We also asked for demographic information in order to assess the impact based on different segments of our community. Subsequent iterations of the survey have evolved to address changing realities.

An initial report of COVID-19 Arts & Culture Sector Impact survey results was shared in June 2020; subsequent survey iterations in December 2020, April 2021, and November 2021 evolved to address current and changing realities.
Past Survey Reports

An initial report of COVID-19 B.C. Arts & Culture Sector Impact survey results was shared in June 2020; subsequent survey iterations in December 2020, April 2021, and November 2021 evolved to address current and changing realities. Find summaries and download the past reports here