CWC Newsletter
May 2026

Dear readers,

Summer is so close!

A few news items from us to share in this beautiful month of May. Keep reading to get a glimpse of our Individual Revenue Survey reports from the 2024 revenue data collection. Reminder, our members now have access to the 2023 revenue reports.

As always, we encourage folks to sign-up or renew their memberships!

Kind regards,

Grégoire

Grégoire Gagnon, D. Mus., MPA & MBA
Executive Director, Culture Works Canada

Let’s Talk About Banking!

Our colleagues at Mass Culture put together a very short survey on banking, Culture Works Canada encourages organization leaders to respond.

Question: What kinds of financial tools and infrastructure would actually support arts and cultural organizations?
To answer this, we need better information about:

• what banking products organizations currently use
• where barriers exist
• and what tools could better support their work

This research is not just about finance. It's about understanding the systems that shape how organizations operate, and whether those systems align with the public value the sector creates. The rules governing finance are not fixed. They are designed, and they can be redesigned.

You can help! Share your organization’s experiences today. Your insights will help inform what comes next.

Because if we want a resilient and equitable cultural sector, we need to understand how money actually moves through it, and how it might move differently.

Survey: https://survey.zohopublic.ca/zs/hPCD9L

This quick survey should take 5 minutes to complete.
Survey closes on June 21, 2026.
We'll anonymize and share insights with you this Summer.

SWP Internships

The Student Work Placement has received a lot of requests and we’re now well past the 150 of 322 Agreements that we are scheduled to deliver. As always, you are invited to join our live open daily drop-in information session that runs from 13:00 to 13:30 EDT.

Individual Revenue Survey

Culture Works Canada is coming to the end of the reports on the 2024 collection of data. 9 reports so far and 1 last one coming soon.

From the first report, a glimpse at the total percentage of hours worked and combined cultural revenue sources from 348 individuals (N=352) that worked in cultural occupations.

The survey instrument has attracted more attention from seasoned workers. More than half of respondents (203 of N=352) indicate having 20+ years of experience in the cultural sector. More than 3/4 (79.5%) have 10+ years of experience.

Thanks to the questionnaire, Culture Works Canada can analyze the data in different ways. How about comparing revenues by education attainment vs experience?

Lots of analysis and data points available for those who participated in the survey.

If you are interested in more of these results, contact us at info@cwc-coc.ca to purchase a copy.

You can also sign-up to receive the survey link when we begin the 2025 revenue data collection.

AI Research

Our colleagues at Mass Culture have prepared the results of the Curiosity poll for artists on AI.

Teaser…750 responses, 59% of which declare that they do not use AI at all. Click on the link above for more results and analyses.

Other news

The Social Safety Net in Culture Initiative by Compétence culture aims to strengthen the socioeconomic security of artists, artisans and cultural workers through three pillars of social protection.

Culture Works Canada was thrilled to participate in the day-long conference to discuss everything from access to employment insurance to benefits to income averaging and everything in-between.

Grégoire Gagnon (CWC) and Pascale Landry (Compétence Culture)

Listings from CultureWorks.ca

Canada's national job board for the whole cultural sector!

Job Postings on CultureWorks.ca

CWC's team at your service!

A list of Board members can be found on CWC's web site at www.cwc-coc.ca

Featured Organisation Plus Member

Copyright Visual Arts (COVA-DAAV) represents, supports, and advocates for visual artists across Canada and internationally. Their mission is to empower Canadian visual artists, by ensuring they receive fair and timely income through licensing of their works, and upholding their copyright—so they can focus on creating.