Groundbreaking research into New Brunswick arts, culture, and heritage venues

July 31, 202331 July 2023

An exciting research project is investigating the impacts and post-pandemic challenges of cultural venues in New Brunswick.

The goals of the project are to better understand venues’ contributions to the cultural community and all New Brunswickers, as well as their financial health and community engagement.

The research includes three key elements:

1. Analysis of census and other data on the arts and culture, including a statistical profile of the 2,700 professional artists in the province. Kelly Hill presented some key findings from this part of the study on January 31, 2024.
2. A survey of cultural venues (report now available)
3. Interviews with operators of cultural venues in June and November of 2023 (interviews completed, in the analysis phase)

The research will produce results that will inform the province’s arts, culture, and heritage sector for the next decade, and there is no other thorough source regarding the current challenges and importance of New Brunswick’s cultural venues.

The project’s partners will use the survey results to further their information sharing, policy, and advocacy activities for the betterment of the sector as a whole. The partners are ArtsLink NB, Association acadienne des artistes professionel.le.s du Nouveau-Brunswick (AAAPNB), and the Owens Art Gallery at Mount Allison University. The project is steered by a committee including Julie Whitenect of ArtsLink NB, Carmen Gibbs and Laurence Dubuc of AAAPNB, Emily Falvey of the Owens Art Gallery, and artist Emma Hassencahl-Perley.

The project is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and The Government of New Brunswick.