About 2,000 people gathered outside Province House in Halifax on Wednesday to let the Houston government know grant cuts to Nova Scotia’s arts, tourism, culture and heritage sectors would cause irreparable harm, but the premier says his government intends to proceed with the budget.

“It’ll be about $14 million saved in the [provincial] budget and it will decimate entire art groups,” Kimberlee Stadelmann, the executive director of Neptune Theatre, told CBC News.

“It’s not a huge savings for what they’re looking for, but can really destroy our arts and culture, our museums, our theatres and individual artists’ practices.”

Overall, the province is looking to cut $130 million in government grants for the 2026-2027 budget. The province says the cuts are needed to restore fiscal balance.

The Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage plans to cut $14.3 million from its grants for the upcoming year. Some grants, like the $700,000 Publishers Assistance Program, will be eliminated entirely. Others, like the Arts Equity Funding Initiative, have seen their provincial grant cut in half to $175,000.

In downtown Halifax, people carried signs, chanted, read poetry and gave speeches against the cuts.

Stadelmann said Neptune Theatre, which she said brings in more than 80,000 patrons a year to the downtown area, will be affected by the cuts.

She said Neptune is expecting a $150,000 reduction to their budget due to the cuts.

“They should avoid the cuts because [the arts sector] brings in a gross GDP of $2.6 billion and we bring about 22,000 jobs to the province and that’s both within the city and rurally as a sector,” she said.

“These cuts can make a big difference to what we’re able to do, how many people we can hire and what we can output and bring into the province.”

Francine Deschepper with the Directors Art Guild of Canada told CBC News that art and culture are part of a healthy province.

“Sadly whenever we run into hard economic times, [arts] seem to be the easiest thing to cut,” Deschepper said.

“We get pitted against things like health care where they said, ‘You know, we can support art or health care’ and I don’t believe that to be true.”

Musician Ben Caplan said arts and culture funding is more important than ever.

“It’s about allowing Nova Scotians to have a voice and create culture and have the opportunity to develop themselves as artists in a moment where algorithmic-driven content is erasing local culture,” he said.

“And these kinds of investments allow artists to take the risks that are necessary to contribute to the local arts conversation and allow ourselves to see ourselves reflected in the art that we consume.”

Nathan D. Simmons, an actor and musician, told CBC News he showed up to the protest to speak up for the arts.

Simmons said grants and scholarships made a huge difference to his career.

“You’re going to see a lot of people leave the industry, you’re going to see a lot of Nova Scotian culture start to dissipate,” he said.

“There’s something special about Nova Scotia that is going to be lost if the province isn’t funding the people creating it.”

Similar rallies were planned in nine communities across the province this week.

More than 160 people took part in a protest outside the provincial building in Sydney on Wednesday. Veteran comedian and actor Bette MacDonald said she took part because she is concerned about how the wider arts community in Cape Breton will be affected. 

“Arts, culture and heritage is literally who we are,” MacDonald said.

“So why do we have to, time and time again, explain the importance of arts and culture to a place that’s defined by it? But here we are.”

WATCH | Commotion on the case for preserving arts funding in Nova Scotia:

Premier stands behind tough decisions

Inside Province House, where chants from protesters could be heard, Premier Tim Houston stood firm on the cuts.

“The reality is a $1.2-billion deficit last year, a $1.2-billion deficit this year—I mean, something has to give,” Houston told reporters.

“We’ve had to make some tough decisions. We’ve held the line on no new taxes, those are things that I think matter to Nova Scotians as well. it’s a difficult time but we’ll move the budget through the house.”

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