One-stop reporting of finances and statistics will ease literary mag applications

Good news for cultural, literary and art magazines that apply for public funding. Starting soon, one standard set of financials and statistics will be accepted by most funders.

Often such magazines find themselves preparing two sets of data according to the application rules for, say a provincial and a federal arts funder.

A new integrated financial and statistical online database called CADAC (Canadian Arts Data/ Données sur les arts au Canada) is to be launched in late 2008.The web-based database, hosted by the Canada Council, will allow organizations to submit one set of financial and statistical information. It will be hosted by the Canada Council.

For years, arts funders have heard from the organizations they fund that they would like a more unified approach to the complex and comprehensive funding application processes. A key element is the financial and statistical data required by each funding agency.

The initiative, originally conceived by the Intergovernmental Roundtable of Arts Funders and Foundations (IRAFF) in Ontario and shepherded through the development phase by the Ontario Arts Council will have the following member partners:

• Alberta Foundation for the Arts
  
• British Columbia Arts Council
• Canada Council for the Arts
• Manitoba Arts Council
• Ontario Arts Council (OAC)
• Saskatchewan Arts Board
• Toronto Arts Council

Other provincial, territorial and municipal arts funders are being encouraged to join the partnership.

The CADAC benefits for arts organizations, arts funders and the broader sector [says a release] are:

• Arts organizations will have access to reports and historical data on their own organizations, as well as reports that compare their data to all the data in CADAC for similar organizations - by size, region or discipline.

• Financial and statistical information will be secure. Only the arts funders will have access to the information provided by arts organizations applying to their programs.

• Arts funders and arts organizations will be able to use the aggregate data to identify trends and monitor the overall health of the arts sector.

• The arts sector will be able to speak with a common voice on the impact of the arts.

Pilot testing of the database is expected to begin in October with a number of arts organizations and will proceed throughout the fall. Once the testing is complete, CADAC will be phased in gradually over the next two years, beginning in late 2008.

The CADAC initiative has supporting partners: the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, the Ontario Ministry of Culture, the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the City of Toronto.

The Canada Council for the Arts will be the secretariat and host for CADAC. For more information please contact: CADACInfo@thecadac.ca