ARTS: Giving Trends & Insights

Join us on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, for the next edition of the Speaker Series!

At the top of the webinar, Nik Nanos will present the latest findings from the Arts Response Tracking Survey (ARTS), highlighting recent shifts in audience behaviour, donor activity, and giving intentions within the arts sector.

Together, we’ll explore how donation patterns have evolved over the past year, what motivates Canadians to give to the arts, and how these trends compare to broader charitable giving. We’ll also consider how organizations can apply these insights to deepen donor engagement and strengthen financial resilience across the sector.

Speakers will include:

• Heidi Reitmaier, CEO, Museum of Toronto

• Stash Bylicki, Executive Director, Chor Leoni
• Laureen Bardou, Senior Director, Philanthropy, Montreal Museum of Fine Art Foundation
• Nik Nanos, Chief Data Scientist & Founder, Nanos Research

Event Details:

When: Wednesday, November 19, 2025, 2:00 – 3:15 pm ET
Where: Zoom Webinar
Accessibility: This session will be presented with ASL interpretation and auto-generated English and French captions

About the Speakers

Stash Bylicki is the Executive Director of Chor Leoni, a choral organization that strives to engage and enrich the world through the art of choral singing. Under his leadership, Chor Leoni has grown to be one of the largest and most impactful choral organizations in North America with a live and digital artistic component, robust educational programming, a vibrant commissioning practice, a world-renowned volunteer and professional choir, and a deep-rooted connection with the community. The organization reaches more than 30,000 patrons each year and strives to inspire the next generation of young singers through two free youth programs. Stash is also a singer and a voice actor, and sings bass in Chor Leoni’s award-winning volunteer ensemble. Stash was a 2024 Business / Arts Emerging Leader and was recently recognized as a Business in Vancouver 40 Under 40.

What is the Arts Response Tracking Survey (ARTS)? 

ARTS is a partnership between Business / Arts, the National Arts Centre, and Nanos Research that conducts quarterly surveys of over 1000 Canadian culture-goers. Since its launch in May 2020, ARTS has offered valuable insights into audience behaviours and helped inform the reopening procedures and programming models of Canadian arts organizations throughout the pandemic.

To address the changing needs of our sector, ARTS entered a new, two-year phase in May 2023. With its newly structured approach, ARTS continues to offer insights into audience behaviours and attitudes on a quarterly basis, with each quarter focusing on a specific topic area. Winter focuses on marketing, spring on sales, summer on public perceptions and engagement, and fall on fundraising. Read more.

Arts Response Tracking Survey (ARTS)

ARTS Supporting Partners

Speaker Series Presenting Partner

Speaker Series Supporting Partners