Equiflash Archive

Equity would like to thank our membership for participating in this valuable survey, designed to ascertain how many members accessed federal support programs during the pandemic as a result of lost work opportunities and how many require further support following the conclusion of the Canada Recovery Benefit program.

While the government has clearly indicated they have no intention of replacing the CRB with a similar ongoing support program, they are considering implementing an emergency short-term and targeted relief program for independent artists. With these results and similar data collected by our live performance coalition partners (IATSE, the Canadian Federation of Musicians (CFM) and the Associated Designers of Canada (ADC)), Equity will be able to further our efforts in working with all relevant government departments to ensure that our members and the live performance sector are included in any pandemic recovery programs.

The survey was shared with 5163 Equity members and completed by 1458 respondents, a statistically valid response rate of 28.24%. Based on the results of the survey, two points seem particularly salient and worth noting:

• The vast majority of artists working in live performance required federal support programs throughout the pandemic. 82.51% of respondents accessed the CERB or CRB and a further 17.02% of those who did not access a federal support program needed to, but did not qualify.


• A significant number of artists who accessed federal support programs feel they require further support to meet their basic needs in the immediate future. 51.74% of respondents feel that they “cannot meet” now or will not be able to meet “for much longer” their needs or the needs of their family without continued support.

A copy of the complete survey results is available here. For further reference, we have included a statistical comparison of artists working and their earnings in 2019 v 2021, for the months August, September and October.

Clearly, though live performance arts have begun to finally return, available work opportunities and earnings remain significantly reduced.

For more information, please contact communications@caea.com.