When first presented on November 4th, The City of Peterborough’s 2025 Draft budget proposed the discontinuation of city contribution to the Art Gallery of Peterborough (AGP). Through speaking with Debby Keating, the Board President of the AGP, I was able to gain more insight into the potential impacts of such funding cuts.

In 2000, the AGP became a partner of the City of Peterborough, making its staff municipal employees, as well as providing and maintaining the facility that the AGP operates out of.

City funding accounts for approximately two thirds of the gallery’s operating budget, while the other third comes from governmental grants (from the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Canadian Heritage Funding and Support Program), revenue generated through programming, fundraising operated by the AGP board, as well as sponsor, membership, and donor support.

The cuts outlined in the Draft Budget would essentially remove the AGP’s ability to operate, said Keating, as a lack of facility would prevent the exhibition of art, the running of programming, and the proper maintenance of their collection.

“We [wouldn’t] have an ability to have a collection,” Keating explained. “A collection of art has to be stored under very particular conditions in order to retain the Category A status that we have as a collecting institution.”

The AGP saw an estimated 22,000 visitors in 2024, and the direct and indirect economic impacts of tourism to the gallery are seen through visitors combining their trip to the AGP with expenditures like shopping, eating, staying overnight, and travel costs.

Organizations supported by the Ontario Arts Council, like the AGP, contribute $1 billion to the provincial GDP. For every dollar invested by the Ontario Arts Council, $25 is generated in other revenue sources.

According to Michelle Chawala, the Director and CEO of Canada Council for the Arts, the arts and culture sector contributes $60 billion to national GDP, with “arts and culture tourism having three times more economic impact than other types of tourism.”

The AGP’s Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour is a weekend long event that has been running for 40 years and attracts approximately 5000 tourists to the region annually. Over the past ten years, the event has contributed an estimated $5 million into the local economy, with participating artists reporting over $900,000 in direct sales during the weekend.

This event gives community members and tourists the chance to visit an artist’s personal studio, meet the artist, develop a better understanding of their creative processes and the mediums that they work with, and purchase art.

Keating described the Autumn Studio Tour as “a critical opportunity for artists, who make their living as artists, to get better known and to promote themselves.” Through directly connecting artists to community members, they are able to build up a returning customer base that is essential for maintaining their career.

The AGP is committed to supporting the growth of local artists, which Keating described as “critical to the income and employment of artists in our community.” The AGP’s gallery shop represents 66 regional artists, with all of its print and promotional materials produced by local businesses. The gallery also offers juried exhibitions, which invite local artists to apply for their work to be included in a public exhibition.

“We see how artists have begun their career through the support of the Art Gallery, and we see them 20 and 30 years later as they’ve become nationally-known artists,” Keating explained. One example of this is Arnold Zageris, whose work is currently exhibited at the AGP. The Peterborough-based artist is internationally-known, with work in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

This support is not restricted to established artists, as their Youth Art Mentorship Program—which started in 2022—provides high-school aged students who are considering pursuing a career in the arts with the opportunity to work alongside a mentor artist. Through their guidance, participants develop their portfolio for post-secondary applications as well as confidence and new creative skills.

The gallery also offers a variety of children and family programming including day camps, Saturday Art Club, and Family Sundays, allowing opportunities for youth and families to connect through the arts.

The proposed cuts devalue the AGP’s economic and community contributions, deeming it as an unnecessary expenditure, but many community members and other arts and culture organizations disagree.

Keating attended the “Community, Not Cuts” rally outside of City Hall on Tuesday, November 12^th, and echoed the sentiments of other speakers who emphasized that “a lot of people have chosen to live in Peterborough, and chosen to stay in Peterborough because of the arts and culture sector.”

The AGP Board of Directors has been “overwhelmed with the community support so far” and encourages anyone with stories or testimonials surrounding the positive impacts of the AGP to reach out to their councillor and to the mayor to “make their feelings known about how much they value the AGP in this community.”

Keating would also like to thank the Council for their support of the AGP over the past 24 years, and says that this “long history [of collaboration] is because we’ve had a council that has supported us and has seen the value of our contributions. We know we have their support, and we just really hope that it translates into continued [financial] support through maintaining our full budget in 2025.”

‍During the General Committee meeting held on November 19th, the AGP was one of 75 community and arts organizations who saw their funding restored at the 2024 levels in the upcoming 2025 budget.