Instructions: Items in yellow highlight require your attention before you send your email to support a funding increase for East End Arts. Thank you for supporting community arts by raising your voice!

Copy and paste the text below in an email to your city councillor! Advocate for arts funding in the East End of Toronto to Toronto City Council before they vote on Feb 14th, 2024!

To find your ward click here.

Subject: I support an increase to East End Arts, my LASO!

Dear Councillor <<your Councillor’s Last Name>>,

Thank you for your support of East End Arts as they strive to maintain services in your ward, particularly for seniors, newcomers, emerging artists, and youth. In advance of the February 14th council meeting and in light of the $8 million funds still being allocated, I write to you with a request to support the Local Arts Service Organizations located across Toronto and serving 21 wards.   

As you are aware, the LASO funding has been flatlined by the City since 2019 – half a decade. Specifically, just $1.8M has been distributed annually across 6 organizations with collective catchment areas that cover 84.2% of the population of Toronto, a total of 2.73M people.

Mayor Oliva Chow recognized the importance of the LASOs contributions and the challenge faced by their limited resources when she included a promise to double the LASO funding envelope in her election platform.

By increasing the LASO funding by just $900,000 this year, to be dispersed over the six organizations, this funding will allow East End Arts to:

• Meet the demand for community arts programming outside the downtown core for residents of all ages and backgrounds.
• Provide east end community members (particularly those who are underserved) with guaranteed arts programming that helps to combat social isolation, builds social cohesion, offers safe spaces for all age groups, beautifies neighbourhood spaces, and builds neighbourhood pride among residents.
• Catch up to inflation and invest in their teams, spaces, and resources and materials as a local community arts organization.
• Bring economic opportunities outside the downtown core by providing more jobs, entrepreneurship, and learning opportunities for artists (both emerging and established) living in the east end.
• Stimulate the local east end economies and engage with local businesses/BIAs through events, festivals, and citywide initiatives that ultimately support local tourism.
• Build safer communities in the east end through the arts, specifically by providing opportunities for collaboration, learning, and civic engagement amongst east end residents.

<<OPTIONAL – Include a personal story or statement about an experience you had with East End Arts, OR what community arts mean to you>>

Accessible community arts programs are a cornerstone in building a healthy, connected, and inspired city. This is particularly important in light of the Toronto Foundation’s Vital Signs report, which highlights Toronto’s increasing lack of connectedness among its residents. The arts bring people together through shared opportunities like celebrations, events, and learning opportunities, and now is not the time to flatline those opportunities!

Thank you, as always, for supporting community arts in your ward.

Sincerely,

<<YOUR NAME>>

<<OPTIONAL – Your Contact Information / Postal Code>>