Working together to track the state of culture in Ottawa.
Culture is the heart of our city. We track its pulse.
The Ottawa Culture Research Group is an innovative public - private partnership committed to research and analysis on culture in Ottawa so that we can build towards a stronger and more vibrant city. We bring together municipal and federal government departments, the academic community, the culture sector and community organizations to track and analyze the state of culture in Ottawa.
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The report provides insight on various aspects of culture in Ottawa – some of which have never before been profiled. It examines four key types of indicators: support, presence, participation, and impact. Data from all levels of government, as well as from the sector itself, provide a better understanding of key aspects of the indicators that are included in this report. Ultimately, the purpose of this initiative is to provide culture organizations, leaders, and policy makers with better information for more effective cultural planning, evaluation, development, priority setting, resource allocation, and decision-making, contributing to a more effective culture sector.
Download the Executive Summary.
The Support chapter looks at government grants to the culture sector. At the national level, it compares grants received in Ottawa from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Department of Canadian Heritage with other major Canadian cities. Where possible, this information is broken down by discipline.
The Presence chapter examines the presence of culture resources in Ottawa, providing answers as to how many culture organizations and businesses are located in Ottawa, the employment they provide and their specific location within the city. It also explores how many events and festivals take place in Ottawa each year, the number of buildings, sites, and areas with heritage designations, as well as the number of performance venues.
The Participation chapter profiles not only the total number of people working in culture industries in Ottawa but also the cultural disciplines in which they work and their location of work within the city. This section also provides information on the diversity of workers in culture occupations in Ottawa, as compared to the diversity of the overall workforce in the City and the diversity of the culture workforce in other major Canadian cities.
The final chapter of this report discusses some of the impacts of culture in Ottawa. It shows the average employment income of people working in culture occupations and compares it with the average culture employment income in other major Canadian cities. The report shows, for the first time, culture Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Ottawa. It also includes a case study of the benefits provided by one segment of Ottawa’s culture sector – public libraries.
The indicators in the Impact chapter tend to emphasize the economic benefits of culture. This is not because other impacts (e.g. social impacts, health impacts, etc.) are any less important, but because non-economic impacts are often much more difficult to measure.
However, many studies have analyzed social and other effects of culture. Sharon Jeannotte from the University of Ottawa’s Centre on Governance compiled a literature review of these studies. The OCRG plans to develop social impact indicators for culture in Ottawa in the years to come. Please note that this literature review is available in English only.