During budget talks on Nov. 17 and 18, councillors can consider all proposed spending and debate potential additions or deletions to the 2026 draft budget document.

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(November 11, 2025) Peterborough’s grant program for individual artists may offer $25,000 in 2026 — same as what had been budgeted for 2025.

However, it’s half the sum from 2024. On Monday night at a general committee meeting, artists urged councillors to reinstate the funding of $50,000 for next year. 

Councillors did not debate it on Monday night; at the general committee meeting, they were meant to receive feedback from citizens on spending proposals for next year. 

During budget talks on Nov. 17 and 18, councillors can consider all proposed spending and debate potential additions or deletions to the 2026 draft budget document. The budget is planned for adoption on Dec. 8.

On Monday night, local artists spoke up. Here is some of what they had to say:

Kimball is president of the board for Electric City Culture Council (EC3, which administers the grants).

He called the grants “a pillar” of council’s support for the arts, saying they “provide a huge boost” to artists’ careers.

“Leaving the budget at $25,000 will cut its effectiveness — leaving a gaping hole in local artistic production,” he said.

Graham is a Peterborough writer whose new book of poetry, “Calling It Back to Me,” is set to be released in the spring by McClelland & Stewart. She is also the publisher of the literary journal “Brick.”

Graham called it “a really significant thing” for an emerging artist to receive a municipal grant.

“It’s kind of a stepping-stone to professionalization — to getting other grants for future projects,” she said. “Basically, grants are a down payment on future cultural and economic vibrancy. They are the city saying, ‘We want to see the art you make, in our community.’”

Yeh is a touring violinist for 20 years, and also worked for a decade in finance and in publicity.

She said a new city staff report to councillors suggests EC3 could potentially be dismantled, and its work reassigned to city staffers.

However, the report recommends a budget of $100,000 for operational funding for EC3, for 2026, plus $50,000 to fund both the Artsweek festival and for and for the Grants to Individual Artists program next year.

But it does state that EC3 relies heavily on municipal funding for its operations, which “limits their ability to operate independently.” That reliance makes it difficult for the city to treat EC3 as an arm’s-length organization, the report adds.

Yeh said she’s concerned the implication is “that EC3 is some sort of gravy train, and that the city is capable of making better use of EC3’s budget.”

Not so, she said; EC3 has the expertise to evaluate early-stage art proposals, she stated as an example, plus it has the know-how to run professional development workshops for artists.

Yeh added that grants for individual artists are critical because tourism largely relies “on the end product” of artists’ long years of practice — none of which is revenue-generating, she said.

Yeh likened arts grants to business incubators, which offer money to startups: “Some go on to succeed, some fail — but everyone involved benefits in the process, including our broader community.”

Pillon is a Peterborough realtor; she also sings, attends and organizes arts events, and is a board member for EC3.

Pillon urged council to restore the $50,000 in funding for grants. To reduce it by half, she said, would be to mitigate the good that can be done with the money.

“New plays have been created and gone on tour … and new recording projects finished, and gone on stage,” she said.

Her band, Babe Chorus, is a folk-pop band based on harmonies.

When she received a municipal grant in 2024, she said it felt like she’d been given the Golden Ticket: “It was tangible recognition of the labour, passion and dedication I’d been pouring into my growing artistic practice.

“It (that first grant) gave me what I needed to grow.”