Mr. Speaker, in today's market, the art we hear about the most are often the one-off pieces that garner million-dollar price tags, but everyday art can also generate significant economic value. Art is cultural expression and a powerful conduit for healing, wellness, and economic development. Art is essential for individual and community success.
When we look at the global art scene, we marvel at infrastructure like New Zealand's Te Papa, artist-in-residence programs like Fogo Island, and events like Burning Man, but grassroots initiatives just like these exist in the NWT. Our Northern Arts Centre is lush with renowned and passionate artists from the salt plains to the pingos. We just need to be ready to support them.
In 2019, many northern artists, myself included, participated in the NWT Arts Strategy public engagements. Today, we eagerly await for the Arts Strategy that we hope will not only renew this government's commitment to arts and culture but also actively pursue a robust arts industry through education, funding, marketing, infrastructure, and policy work that supports the success of NWT arts.
Mr. Speaker, in addition to a plan, this government needs to reconcile where the arts belong. Today, the responsible for culture and heritage, along with the NWT Arts Council, sits within Education, Culture and Employment, but Industry, Tourism and Investment drives the NWT arts brand, economic diversification, festival funding, business grants and loans, and tourism. You cannot separate art from culture, and you cannot deny the economic potential of either. Supporting the arts is not just about culture or employment or history or community health or self-discovery; it is all of those things. This government needs to own the responsibility of properly housing and fostering its arts and culture to generate employment, expand economic opportunity, and foster community wellness.
Arts in the NWT is at a crossroads. It is time to reset its importance to value the role of all artisans and recommit to art as a foundation to community well-being and our economic future. In its fall 2020 economic statement, the federal government announced $181.5 million in additional funding for Canadian heritage and Canadian Council for the Arts. We need to ensure that we are well-positioned for this funding as a territory through clear, strategic support of NWT arts that elevate our world-class artists to its rightful place on a global stage. Money is ready to flow to propel the arts, Mr. Speaker, but are we ready to receive it? Thank you.