BY ANGELA LOVELL
THE creative sector in Manitoba is a vast industry that encompasses art, film, music, dance, writing, crafting, fashion, culture and digital technologies, and has a major economic impact.
Statistics Canada data shows that in there were 37,273 people employed in Arts, Creative and Cultural jobs in 2023. Around 900,000 Manitobans are estimated to participate in cultural activities throughout the year; 181,000 in making music, 78,000 in dancing, 120,000 in visual arts, 197,000 in crafting, 93,000 in writing and 68,000 in other cultural activities.
It accounts for $2.2B of Manitoba’s GDP.
“We have more performing artists per capita living in Winnipeg than in any other city in the country,” says Thom Sparling, Executive Director of Creative Manitoba.
“And anecdotally, we have a higher level of nationally and internationally successful artists from every genre per capita than any other community in the country.”
A record-breaking year for film
Certain sectors are thriving like film, music and games and digital media. Manitoba’s film industry is a strong economic driver in the province and Manitoba Film and Music projects 2024 will be a record-breaking year, with the production volume expected to total $435M. The industry creates thousands of jobs from actors to directors, wardrobe to lighting and beyond. It also supports ancillary jobs in sectors such as hospitality and transportation.
After being badly affected by the COVID pandemic, the music industry has still shown slow, but incremental growth over the last five to ten years, says Vanessa Kuzina, Executive Director of Manitoba Music. Although Manitoba is home to some large music industry corporations, there is a thriving and substantial local pool of independent artists, producers, managers, agents and studios.
“We have more performing artists per capita living in Winnipeg than in any other city in the country. And anecdotally, we have a higher level of nationally and internationally successful artists from every genre per capita than any other community in the country.” — Thom Sparling, executive director of Creative Manitoba
Modern Goose by Winnipeg-based filmmaker Karsten Wall debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Photo courtesy of National Film Board of Canada.
The Manitoba Advantage
One of the big factors that makes Manitoba an envied hub of artistic and cultural talent is its affordability compared to other provinces like British Columbia or Ontario. “
It’s attainable for an artist or a budding industry entrepreneur to have an affordable way of life and still have access to professional resources and a cosmopolitan lifestyle,” says Kuzina. “A huge benefit is that they can live here, raise a family here if they choose, and focus on their art.”
It’s also a cohesive, supportive and hard-working industry. “Manitoba has a community of artists and industry with a mindset of all boats rise, so we push one another to do our best, to reach new heights, and also celebrate each other’s wins,” Kuzina says.
“There is an authenticity and that grassroots mentality is part of our culture here in Manitoba that translates into the art that is created and the industry’s drive.”
For the film sector, a big advantage for Manitoba is its strong contingent of independent filmmakers and crew.
“This translates to having a workforce with solid skills and experience to work with the larger international studio productions, to locally produced films and television shows that bring unique and creative perspectives,” says Lynne Skromeda, CEO and Film Commissioner at Manitoba Film and Music.
Manitoba’s richly diverse arts scene
Demographic changes in Manitoba’s population – where 50 per cent now comprises Indigenous people and People of Colour – are also bringing changes in the creative sector, and while there are challenges, this also presents a huge and exciting opportunity.
There are many celebrated firsts and accolades happening in Manitoba as a result of this diversity and efforts to support it.
In 2023, Manitoba Opera’s production of Li Keur’s Heart of the North, was the first Indigenous-led opera to be created on an operatic mainstage in the country, and the artists are being recognized with a Ruby Award this year for being changemakers in the field.
Universal Language, an independent film by Matthew Rankin, was selected as Canada’s entry into the Academy Awards, and a short film, Modern Goose, which premiered at TIFF last year, was recently featured in the New York Times.
Organizations themselves are also seeing more diversity in their membership and among the people attending their events than ever before, and are diversifying their Boards of Directors to have different communities reflected.
“In order to succeed as an artist or industry, you need to export outside of your province, and in Manitoba we have great investment for that from various sectors. It’s a movement that is happening across Canada, that focus on market development both domestic and international.” — Vanessa Kuzina, executive director of Manitoba Music/
Manitoba also has plenty of creative talent throughout its rural areas and Manitoba Creative runs a Rural Mentorship Program that is always over-subscribed.
“The demand for our rural programs way exceeds the capacity that we have, and there is a lot of mentorship that goes on informally that isn’t part of our formal programs,” Sparling says. “There is research that shows when a young individual has a meaningful engagement with a professional artist, it is often life changing.”
Indigenous Arts strong in Manitoba Indigenous arts is very strong in Manitoba. Creative Manitoba is working on a project called ImagiNorthern with hubs in Flin Flon, Churchill and Thompson to support the development, prosperity and well-being of artists and their communities in the North by encouraging collaboration, community-building, and improving access to resources and education. It’s also partnering with the University College of the North on an Arts and Food project.
Meanwhile, for the last 21 years, Music Manitoba has offered a full time Indigenous Music Development Program, the only of its kind in Canada.
The challenges Public funding across the board for arts and culture has not kept pace with the growing costs of producing work, says Larry Desrochers, Executive Director of Manitoba Opera. “That’s a structural issue that the country will have to deal with to ensure that organizations can continue to serve their communities,” he says.
Although the diversity of Manitoba’s population is enriching the artistic and cultural flavour of the province, these communities don’t necessarily see themselves reflected in infrastructure that was established to serve a different era. “New Canadians and the creative outputs that they’re doing is an amazing opportunity, but how do you create art that appeals to multiple communities and ensure institutions are accessible to the greater public?” says Sparling. “These are significant challenges.”
The creative industry is recovering from the pandemic as well as from the effects of the economy and inflation. “The return on investment isn’t just about business, it’s community cohesion,” Sparling says. “Art in the health care setting has demonstrated that you’ll have better health outcomes, and it’s undisputed that art in education creates better learning outcomes.”
Local filmmaker Matthew Rankin’s film Universal Language was selected as Canada’s entry into the Academy Awards
Across the board, organisations and groups are looking at how they serve more diverse communities with their programming, whether that’s in casting more diverse artists in productions, telling stories that have not been told before by diverse artists or creating programs, like the Black Professionals in Music Program (BPM) that Manitoba Music has been offering for the last three years.
Pandemic hangover
Another big challenge for the creative industry, as with many others, is post pandemic recovery and the effects of the economy and inflation, especially for the performing and presenting arts sector, which is struggling to get audiences back. Manitoba Opera’s subscription base, for example, is currently only 60 per cent what it was prior to the pandemic. Not surprisingly, market development is a big focus right across the industry, with organizations diversifying their programs to reach out to new communities and in some cases, subsidizing tickets for communities that wouldn’t normally have access to their work. Last year, Manitoba Opera offered free and subsidized tickets to 90 Indigenous organizations.
Manitoba Music has a focused market development program and helps support its members to develop connections outside of their local market.
“In order to succeed as an artist or industry, you need to export outside of your province, and in Manitoba we have great investment for that from various sectors,” Kuzina says.
“It’s a movement that is happening across Canada, that focus on market development both domestic and international.” — Thom Sparling, executive director of Creative Manitoba
Because the way that people consume music, movies and other forms of entertainment and culture today has shifted, and continues to evolve along with digital technology, everyone in the creative industry has to stay nimble, Kuzina says.
“Staying on top of trends and how the industry is shifting and evolving is part of what we do,” she says. “We continue to educate people, help them stay connected and provide those resources.” Value beyond dollars Beyond the economic value that the creative sector provides for Manitoba, is a less quantifiable but arguable more important basket of benefits.
“The return on investment isn’t just about business, it’s community cohesion,” Sparling says. “Art in the health care setting has demonstrated that you’ll have better health outcomes, and it’s undisputed that art in education creates better learning outcomes. There’s fundamental ties between music and math, theatre teaches empathy; there are sorts of other benefits that other industries don’t necessarily provide.” And perhaps the biggest intangible benefit is the cache that the creative industry brings to Manitoba.
“We are talking about people who are creators who become internationally famous, and it becomes part of the identity of who we are whether it’s a writer or a filmmaker or somebody who’s going out into the world and saying Winnipeg and Manitoba is a great place,” Sparling says.
