Direct versus indirect aid to the arts: A Canadian perspective

Conclusions

The bulk of contemporary policy concern in the cultural area is focussed on the nature of government assistance. In particular, there is a growing feeling that indirect assistance to cultural industries should be promoted to a greater extent than it has been in the past. This feeling reflects both the view that real levels of direct government grants may not be sustainable and the presumption that indirect forms of assistance (such as tax concessions and the like) can channel aid to artists more efficiently than direct forms of assistance, such as Canada Council grants to arts organizations.

The various arguments offered in favor of one or another approach towards funding cultural activities are certainly not conclusive. The main point to be made in this regard, however, is that debate over how culture should be funded is taking place in the absence of explicitly formulated operational objectives as well as crucial information about how the cultural production and marketing processes operate. In this regard, ineffectual policy-making across the broad spectrum of cultural assistance programs may be of far greater concern than any efficiency differences which might be anticipated between various forms of assistance to the arts.