The Effects of the Pandemic on the Arts & Creative Sector in Québec : How Anglophone Artists, Creators, and Performers are Faring in a Time of Adversity

The arts, entertainment, and recreation sector is infamous for being in a state of constant flux. The experience of consecutive short-term contracts and annual seasonal employment terminations is a familiar reality for many creators, producers, and performers in Québec (Jeannotte, 2021). What is unique for some Québec artists is the experience of a linguistic divide in the provincial arts sector. In 2016, English-speaking artists in the province earned less than their Francophone counterparts, on average, making a median income of “85 cents for every $1 made by Francophone artists’’ (Hill, 2020). On the national level, statistics from the 2016 Canadian Census show that Anglophone artists from Québec have a lower median income than the rest of Canadian artists. These findings are especially surprising when considering that, nationally, English-speakers in Québec represent a significant portion of Canadian artists. Anglophones in Québec account for 4.6% of all Canadian artists, despite only representing 2.8% of the Canadian labour force (Hill, 2020). The data indicate that two factors, occupation and language, are related to discrepancies in income levels in Québec.