Thank you to everyone who came to one of the rallies and has contacted their MLA, the Premier, the Finance Minister, and the Minister of Communities, Culture, Tourism, and Heritage to protest these devastating budget cuts. We know that the MLAs are feeling the pressure and some have been saying publicly that the budget cuts surprised them. If you haven’t already, there is still time to contact your MLA (again or for the first time) to tell them that arts, culture, and heritage are the heart of Nova Scotia and there is still time for them to do better!

Please join us for an inclusive, intersectional rally at Province House in Halifax at noon on Tuesday, March 10th to ask the government to go back to the drawing board on their budget. When our environment, cultural communities, seniors, children, workers, people with disabilities, when Nova Scotians are attacked by our own government, we must both draw attention to our own sector, and also join with others to ensure that we speak with one voice. We need to show all MLAs that Tim Houston’s budget cannot pass and that they can stand up for their communities to make the right decision. Please join us for a 1-hour, critical mass, peaceful demonstration in support of Nova Scotia and against this budget.

Call and email the Premier and your MLA today to tell them to stop these cuts and save NS arts and culture! Template letters you can use to send to your MLA can be found here: nsarts.ca and here: visualarts.ns.ca/advocacy-resources/ and here: halifamous.ca/speak-up. YOUR voice matters.

Please sign up to speak at public bills about the impact of these cuts. Call 902-424-8941 and say you want to speak to the Financial Measures Act. They have remote presentations so you don’t have to come in person. if that isn’t possible, make sure to ask that the communication you send to your MLA is read into the Hansard. This ensures your words are part of the public record of this fight!

Culture is Critical!

LETTER TEMPLATE

WRITE YOUR MLA: Find out your Electoral district and MLA here: https://enstools.electionsnovascotia.ca/edinfo/.

CC: FinanceMinister@novascotia.ca, MIN_CCTH@novascotia.ca, PREMIER@novascotia.ca

Dear MLA ____________ (find your MLA here), The Honourable John Lohr, Minister of Finance, The Honourable Dave Ritcey, Minister of Communities, Culture, Tourism & Heritage, and The Honourable Tim Houston, Premier of Nova Scotia,

My name is ____________(your name), I live in ____________(your constituency) and I am deeply concerned about the 2026-27 provincial budget’s impact on arts and culture in Nova Scotia.

Optional: Add a personal note about yourself (as an artist, a parent, a community member, a business owner, etc)  to help illustrate the impact these cuts will have.

The proposed provincial budget slashes $14 million from arts and culture — 72 grant programs fully or partially cut, 12 of 28 museums closing, Artists in Schools eliminated. Nearly 14,000 Nova Scotians work in the culture sector — more than farming, fishing, and forestry combined — contributing $1.18 billion to our GDP annually. This budget includes devasting cuts to arts and culture, and also to youth programs, disability services, education, equity-focused funding, Mi’kmaq programs, African Nova Scotian initiatives, and more.

Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) supports visual artists throughout every stage of their careers through mentorship, professional development, sharing work opportunities, exhibitions, advocacy and more. A 20% reduction across the board, especially in funding to non-profit arts organizations, is a major blow to their operations. Besides the 20 – 30% cut to operational funding, taking away the funding stream “Artists in the Schools” means the destruction of the Professional Artists in the Schools (PAINTS) program – a program that has thrived for 20 years.

I urge you to abandon these cuts to arts, culture, and heritage. The solution to the province’s fiscal health is in realizing the sector’s potential and trusting in the economics of long term investment. I am asking you to oppose these cuts and advocate for their reversal.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

____________(your name and postal code)

What can I do?

Write and call your reps
Call and email the Premier and your MLA today to tell them to stop these cuts and save NS arts and culture! Template letters you can use to send to your MLA can be found here: nsarts.ca and here: visualarts.ns.ca/advocacy-resources/ and here: halifamous.ca/speak-up. YOUR voice matters.

Premier Tim Houston
Email: premier@novascotia.ca
Phone: 902-424-6600

Your MLA
Find your electoral district/ MLA: https://enstools.electionsnovascotia.ca/edinfo/

Minister of Communities, Culture, Heritage and Tourism Dave Ritcey
Email: mlaritcey@gmail.com
Phone: 902-897-0884 (constituency office)
Phone: 902-424-4889 (CCTH office)

Minister of Finance John Lohr
Email: FinanceMinister@novascotia.ca
Phone: 902-424-5554

***********

Please sign up to speak at public bills about the impact of these cuts. Call 902-424-8941 and say you want to speak to the Financial Measures Act. They have remote presentations so you don’t have to come in person. if that isn’t possible, make sure to ask that the communication you send to your MLA is read into the Hansard. This ensures your words are part of the public record of this fight!

VANS Advocacy in Action