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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOverall view of the Nova Scotia legislature is shown in Halifax on March 24, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Andrew Vaughan<\/p>\n
Falk says Perform! gets $65,000 annually from the province.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the most recent budget, that grant funding was cut entirely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The $1.2-billion budget tabled by Tim Houston\u2019s Progressive Conservatives this week cuts about $130 million combined from more than 280 government grants. It reduces or eliminates funding for scholarship programs, arts funding and Mi\u2019kmaw and African Nova Scotian programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perform!, which has been around since 1999, employs about 40 artists who travel to schools around the province to teach performing arts and serves roughly 14,000 students every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, NDP MLA Susan Leblanc questioned Culture Minister Dave Ritcey about the cuts during a legislative question period.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI want the minister to explain what more this program needs to do to prove its value, and I want him to explain how, if this budget is about defending Nova Scotians, how can he justify those job losses?\u201d Leblanc asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are tough situations, tough decisions to make,\u201d Ritcey said. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to invest in arts, just like we do in every part of the education system.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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Ritcey\u2019s department cut the Creative Industries Fund from $1.9 million to $1.1 million. Along with arts programs, that fund supports publishing, fashion and music programming in the province.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Falk says arts programs are already underfunded, and this round of cuts could be devastating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s $65,000 with such a deep impact. I actually cannot think of a better bang for your buck.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
\u2013 With files from Devin Stevens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HALIFAX \u2013 A Nova Scotia theatre coordinator says the provincial government\u2019s cuts to the arts sector are \u201ccruel\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-507676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}