Kawartha Art Gallery in Lindsay, Ontario to pay CARFAC fees in 2023
On February 28, 2023, the City of Kawartha Lakes Council approved operational funding support for Kawartha Art Gallery in the amount of $50,000.00 per year for three years.
This places Kawartha Art Gallery on equal, professional footing with many other provincial andnational art galleries and museums and will allow the Gallery to apply for grants to support its operating budget.
With the City’s investment in operational support, Kawartha Art Gallery will be able to continue to pay Canadian Artists Representation/le Front des Artistes Canadiens (CARFAC) rates in 2023. CARFAC, Canadian Artists Representation/Le Front Des Artistes Canadiens, is a national organization of artists founded in 1968 in London, Ontario. Its lobbying efforts led to Canada becoming the first country to pay exhibition fees of visual artists’ copyright, and the 1988 amendment to the federal Copyright Act giving artists legal entitlement to exhibition and other fees.
For not-for-profit organizations, such as Kawartha Art Gallery, funding for operational support for salaries and day-to day operational expenses, is difficult to source. Project funding for specific time limited activities is more easily attained. Paying CARFAC fees to exhibiting artists allows Kawartha Art Gallery to meet the Gallery’s Mission to advance a healthy rural creative economy as well as fulfill a required eligibility for the Gallery to apply for Ontario Arts Council operational funding.
Kawartha Art Gallery exhibits change every 4 to 5 weeks with the Gallery hosting an opening reception for each new exhibit. This supports local and regional artists and encourages a vibrant and changing gallery experience for members and visitors. Opening receptions are catered by local restaurants and there is no cost to attend the Gallery for an exhibit or an exhibit reception.
Board Chair, Don Hughes says, “This operational support from the City is key as it gives Kawartha Art Gallery the eligibility to apply for available operational funding support through the provincially funded Ontario Arts Council. Ontario Arts Council operating grants provide ongoing support for operations of not-for-profit, professional art galleries in Ontario such as Kawartha Art Gallery. Kawartha Art Gallery is committed to Ontario’s visual arts infrastructure by strengthening artist development by paying CARFAC fees, and creating accessible and affordable opportunities for the public to interact with contemporary visual art.”
This recent funding by Council moves forward its Cultural Master Plan 2020-2030, approved by Council in 2020, specifically Priority Four: Expand cultural sector funding options. The purpose of the Kawartha Lakes Cultural Master Plan is to provide a long-term vision and a strategic action plan to guide growth of the local cultural economy, to enhance quality of life and placemaking, ensuring that it reflects the unique cultural identity of Kawartha Lakes.
https://www.kawarthalakes.ca/en/living-here/resources/Arts-and-Culture/20200206FinalAccblCMP-1.pdf
Executive Director, Susan Taylor says, “Council’s support of the Gallery positions the Gallery to plan strategically to work with our municipal government to integrate arts and culture more fully into our community and leverage an increased economic return for our community through cultural tourism.”
Kawartha Art Gallery in collaboration with the City of Kawartha Lakes, works to meet the City’s objective to support and promote arts, culture and heritage under the Exceptional Quality of Life, guiding principles of the Kawartha Lakes Strategic Plan 2020-2030, by investing back into the City of Kawartha Lakes community through the Gallery’s continued development of annual cultural events, ongoing cultural project partnerships such as A Place Called Home’s mural art project for youth, sponsor support of Made in Kawartha Lakes and Concerts in the Park, and continued weekly art programming for youth. Admission for the weekly art programming for youth is a donation to Kawartha Lakes Food Source.
https://jumpinkawarthalakes.ca/strategic-plan
For more information please contact:
Susan Taylor
Executive director
Kawartha Art Gallery
