Re-imagining Customer Relationships & Advocacy in Ottawa

November 26, 2024

The past two weeks Executive Director Brad Lepp has been in Ottawa supporting conversations about re-imaging customer relationships, participating in Arts Day on the Hill and meeting with MPs and representatives from Canada Council for the Arts. Read Brad's summary of the two weeks below. 

It has been a busy two weeks of advocacy, convening conversations, and reconnecting with partners.

First, PACT in partnership with Orchestras Canada, CAPACOA, and the National Arts Centre, hosted a forum of around 70 organizations to discuss new approaches to audience loyalty beyond subscription models, sharing success stories, and ideating on how we can better share results.

The brainstorming session in Ottawa marks a vital first step in the Re-imagining Customer Relationships research project. This collaborative endeavor, represents the first of three anticipated phases, contingent on funding. We extend our sincere gratitude to The Azrieli Foundation and the George Cedric Metcalf Foundation for their generous support in launching this first phase.

I was proud to participate as a delegate with the Canadian Arts Coalition’s Arts Day on the Hill, advocating that this government make a permanent allocation of 1% of government spending for arts, culture and heritage – including $140 million in new funds for the Canada Council for the Arts. We pushed home the urgency of this ask now so that funds could start being dispersed in the Spring round of applications.

Finally, The Canada Council for the Arts and Mass Culture hosted a two-day conference bringing Arts Service Organizations and funders together to discuss joint approaches to some of the challenges facing the sector. Among it all were good meetings to advance PACT’s priority asks, including with the PMO, Finance, Tourism, and Heritage, and meetings across party lines with members of the Conservative Party of Canada, NDP, and Liberals.

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