ManitobaA new report shows the growing importance of arts and culture to Manitoba’s economy, the provincial arts council says.⅔ of survey respondents say sector is a vital part of their well-beingCBC News · Posted: Oct 20, 2025 4:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours agoManitoba’s arts and cultural sector created $1.75 billion in economic activity in 2023, which represents about 3 per cent of Manitoba’s gross domestic product and 20,000 jobs in the province, according to a new report by the Manitoba Arts Council. (Dominique Gauthier/Radio-Canada)A new report shows the growing importance of arts and culture to Manitoba’s economy, the provincial arts council says.The Manitoba Arts Council, an arm’s-length provincial agency, says in a new report that the province’s arts and culture sector created $1.75 billion in economic activity in 2023, representing about 3 per cent of Manitoba’s gross domestic product and 20,000 jobs in the province.Randy Joynt, executive director of the Manitoba Arts Council, said habits changed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and people tended to stay home more often, but that trend appears to be beginning to fade.The arts council is hoping to push Manitoba’s arts and culture sector as a distinct part of Canada, Joynt said.”The power of the sector is to remind us that we are unique as Manitobans,” he said at a Monday news conference.The arts council also released results of a survey that asked Manitobans where they make room for arts and culture in their lives.No margin of error could be attributed to the panel survey, conducted between Sept. 9 and 23, as the participants stemmed from a panel of convenience.A random and representative non-convenience sample of 1,500 adult Manitobans would have a 95 per cent certainty of a margin of error of 2.53 percentage points.Live events top Manitobans’ favouritesAbout two thirds of survey respondents said arts and culture are a vital part of their well-being, according to the report. Around the same amount of respondents said they think government funding for the arts is important.However, men who responded to the survey were almost twice as likely as women to say the arts “aren’t really their thing,” the report says.The survey also found people with a high school diploma or less education were more than twice as likely as university graduates to say they rarely go to arts and culture events.Live music, museums and festivals topped the list of the most memorable and valued cultural experiences, with one half of respondents saying they’ve been to at least one event in the last year, the report says.”Manitobans love those things in their communities,” said Mary Agnes Welch, a partner at Winnipeg’s Probe Research — which conducted the survey panel.While 56 per cent of respondents agreed arts and culture are essential to celebrating Manitoba’s unique cultural identity, they were also split on whether arts and culture make the province stronger.Nearly half of respondents said they don’t view arts and culture as being important to Manitoba’s economy.Welch says that sentiment needs changing.”There’s a lot more work to do [to show] that the arts are a really big contributor to Manitoba’s economy.”
Arts and cultural sector adds $1.75B to Manitoba’s economy each year: report
