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Business for the Arts awards $15,000 for Orangeville arts

June 24, 2015   ·   0 Comments

The Town of Orangeville has been awarded $15,000 for the arts from Business for the Arts, Canada’s only national charitable organization of business members in support of the arts. Last Thursday, the organization announced that Orangeville would receive matching incentive grants, mentorship and sponsorship training for 2015-16 through a program called artsVest.

The program, launched on Monday at the Orangeville Public Library, is designed to assist small to medium-sized arts and culture organizations in the development of new and mutually beneficial partnerships with local businesses.

The artsVest launch locally was made through a networking event at the Library, which was designed to bring together existing local arts and culture organizations, businesses and community leaders for an in-depth training sponsorship workshop.

“We are thrilled to be launching the program in Orangeville for the very first time,” said Clair Hefferon, artsVest National Program Director at Business for the Arts. “Through artsVest, we have seen the incredible impact this program can have to smaller communities and look forward to witnessing creative partnerships between the arts and business sectors over the coming year.”

The next step in the program will include encouraging local arts and culture organizations to apply for a matching incentive grant which will match new sponsorships with local businesses dollar for dollar. During the program, those involved will receive mentorship from experts across the country, to help provide support in achieving each organization’s sponsorship goals.

“Orangeville is excited to have been selected as one of five Ontario communities for the 2015/116 program,” added Councillor Sylvia Bradley, Vice-Chair of the Town’s Arts and Culture Committee.

“Participation in artsVest was a recommendation within our Cultural Plan. Supporting partnerships between business and the arts provides a great opportunity to further develop our growing and vibrant cultural sector.”

The artsVest program is delivered in Ontario through funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Along with operating in Toronto, artsVest also has bases out of Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and aims to leverage public sector dollars in order to build partnerships within the arts community and stimulate new business investments in the arts. The program also works to train arts and cultural organizations to approach the business sector with partnership plans, as well as activate municipal cultural plans and help build local cultural assets. Through each of these, artsVest is able to help communities and organizations showcase what is possible when business invests in the arts.

Since artsVest’s program expansion across Canada in 2011, 1,913 partnerships have been created between arts and business, and of that number, 1,181 are long-term. The program was originally introduced in Ontario in 2002, and between it’s inception and the year 2014, has seen 2,334 businesses partner with 678 cultural organizations. Of those numbers 1,509 businesses were first time sponsors.

Over the past 12 years, $4.06 million in matching funds has generated over $9.96 million in private sector sponsorship, resulting in an influx of more than $14.02 million to the nation’s cultural economy.

For more information on the program or its history visit www.artsvest.com.

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