artsVest is a matching incentive program run by Business for the Arts which is designed to stimulate business investment in arts and culture, bolster municipal cultural plans and help develop the creative economy.  Over the past three years, Business for the Arts has brought the artsVest program to eleven Ontario municipalities and has seen 130 arts organizations go through sponsorship training and secure 370 business partners in funding relationships; 222 of those businesses had never sponsored the arts before!  To date, $535K matching funds have stimulated $925K in business dollars, generating $1,46M in total for arts and culture in eleven Ontario communities - representing a 142% increase over the matching funds.

Thanks to the support of our Business Members at Business for the Arts, the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Ministry of Culture, Business for the Arts is able to bring the artsVest program to another fifteen communities over the next four years. 

The artsVest program helps spark funding partnerships between the arts and business community, while leveraging the efforts of the municipal leadership to activate their municipal cultural plans.  The program provides incentives to the business community to invest in the arts by matching sponsorship dollars up to $10,000 for each arts organization.  artsVest also provides training to the arts and culture organizations on how to approach the business community with a value-based partnership plan to attract prospective business partners.  As a result, the community on the whole is bolstered by the increased investment in the creative economy. Business for the Arts has a proven track record to demonstrate that, if you choose to participate, artsVest will make a difference in your municipality.
 

Business for the Arts will bring a matching challenge fund to communities who have demonstrated a commitment to fostering arts and culture in their municipalities by way of a municipal cultural plan.   The matching funds range from $25,000 for a rural/small municipality to $75,000 for a larger municipality.  

Matching challenge funds will be allocated to five communities as per the chart below:

If you have any questions, please contact Éilis Karry, National Program Manager, at 416.869.3016 x 222 or e_karry@businessforarts.org