VOTE for the ARTS!
The Regroupement des organismes culturels de Sudbury
launches its public awareness campaign: VOTE for the ARTS!
Sudbury, September 28, 2026 – While the municipal election is well under way, culture has rarely been mentioned by the candidates. The Regroupement des organismes culturels de Sudbury (ROCS) is therefore launching its VOTE for the ARTS! campaign.
This campaign is intended to ensure that arts and culture become an issue in this election and to raise awareness amongst candidates about the importance, scale, and impact of Sudbury’s creative sector.
Municipal investments in support of Sudbury’s arts and culture sector
- In 2026, 43 arts and culture organizations have received financial support totalling nearly $570K (or 0.12% of the City’s total budget for the year).
- Other key arts and culture organizations receive operational funding.
- Municipal investment in support of arts and culture totals just over $1M for 2026 and help
make festivals, performances, exhibitions, and other cultural experiences possible. - For every dollar invested by the City, Sudbury’s arts and culture organizations leverage
an additional $7.30.1 - In 2026, municipal investments will support over 2,185 cultural activities and allow more than 350,000 people to participate in local cultural life.2
Art is an important economic engine
- The arts and culture sector generates an estimated gross domestic product of $205M and
sustains more than 1,700 jobs in Greater Sudbury.3 - In 2024, the Canadian arts and culture sector contributed $131B to the country’s GDP and supported 1.1 million jobs.4
- Municipal investments support local jobs and give local organizations access to provincial and federal grants, which are then invested back into the community or into extending the city’s visibility.
The Arts strengthen society
- The arts reinforce social cohesion, communities, and the integration of newcomers.5
- Thanks to continued support, festivals, cultural spaces like Place des Arts, and arts
organizations such as the members of ROCS contribute directly to the revitalization of
downtown cores.6 - Place des Arts and the members of ROCS make Sudbury is a cultural attraction and drive tourism in the region. Arts and culture tourism provides an important economic benefit to Sudbury, as tourists spend their money in our local cafés, restaurants, shops, etc. In fact, studies have shown that arts and culture tourism generates three times more economic impact than other types of tourism.
We call on all candidates to share their vision of the arts and culture in Sudbury and to commit to sustain and improve municipal investments in this key sector.
On October 26, VOTE for the ARTS!
The members of the Regroupement des organismes culturels de Sudbury (ROCS) are:
Carrefour francophone de Sudbury
Centre franco-ontarien de folklore
Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario
La Nuit sur l’étang
Prise de parole
Salon du livre du Grand Sudbury
Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario
Media Contact:
Priscilla Pilon, Communications Coordinator
Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario
communications@letno.ca
4 Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Artworks: The Economic and Social Dividends from Canada’s Arts and Culture Sector, October
2025, page 6. N.B. These numbers include all forms of economic impact: direct, indirect, and induced.
5 Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Artworks: The Economic and Social Dividends from Canada’s Arts and Culture Sector, October
2025, page 6. N.B. These numbers include all forms of economic impact: direct, indirect, and induced.
6 Cebr, Spillover impacts in the publicly funded arts and culture sector, Arts Council England, April 2025, page 33.
7 Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Arts and Culture Tourism Profile, November 2023.
