Toronto has double the "average concentration" of artists as the rest of Canada, making us the largest magnet for artists and cultural workers in the country, according to a recent study by Hill Strategies Research. The study, called "Mapping Artists and Cultural Workers in Canada's Largest Cities," (
pdf), showed that Toronto is home to 82,600 artists and cultural workers who make up almost 6% of the workforce. It may not surprise many locals in this city of "highest these" and "first those" to learn that this is higher than the number in any other city in Canada.
Vancouver and Monteal can claim bragging rights too, however, for beating Toronto in the number of cultural workers as a percentage of the total labour force.
The study shows the migration of cultural workers within the city between 2001 and 2006 census periods, too. Parkdale, now the most artistically populous of the city's neighbourhoods, had been sixth just five years before, while the north Annex fell from the top spot for artists to fourth in the same period. Meanwhile the east-end stroller-and-small-dog hubs of Riverdale, the Danforth and the Beaches are home to the greatest local concentrations of cultural workers.
The study was funded by the cities of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Hill Strategies Research, City of Toronto