On Tuesday, October 25, the Canadian Arts Coalition is presenting its 3rd Arts Day on Parliament Hill. On that day, over 90 arts leaders from across Canada – including artists, board members and administrators – will be formed into teams, get briefed on the Coalition’s key messages, and then head up to Parliament Hill to take part in meetings with over 120 MPs, senators and senior bureaucrats.

Orchestras Canada is an active member of the Coalition, Executive Director Katherine Carleton is co-chair of the Coalition steering committee, and OC is serving as the secretariat for Arts Day. As well, members of the OC board will represent Canada’s orchestras in the meetings, where we will talk about the economic, social and artistic contributions that the arts make to Canadian communities, and the key role that federal support plays in sustaining employment in the sector. We will make the case for:

Sustained levels of support for the Canada Council for the Arts;
Sustained levels of support for key programs at the Department of Canadian Heritage;
A renewed commitment by the Government of Canada to the role that arts and culture play in cultural diplomacy, and the importance of opening up international markets for Canadian arts and culture.

To learn more about the Canadian Arts Coalition, please visit the CAC website at canadianartscoalition.com.

And if you’d like to follow the progress of Arts Day on Twitter, search for the hashtags #artsday and #jourdarts!