By Sophie Wallace

The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) has awarded The Image Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) a grant of over $92,000, which will be renewed over the next three years.

The OAC announced in an Oct. 20 press release it is investing $23 million across 435 arts organizations throughout the province, as part of its 2026-2027 Ontario Arts Operating Fund.

Image Centre director Paul Roth says the funding will have a significant impact. “It’s extraordinarily valuable,” he said, in an interview with The Eyeopener. 

The OAC’s previous model awarded funding on an annual basis, but this grant secures provincial funding for the next three years.

“When you get a grant like that from the provincial arts council, you know that you have the confidence of the council and of the community,” said Roth.  

The gallery is primarily funded by the university, as well as national organizations like the Canada Council for the Arts. Roth said government grants are often awarded on a project-to-project basis, whereas the Ontario Arts Operating Fund is not project-dependent.

The grant will make up around three to five per cent of the gallery’s total funding for the year, said Roth. “[It] sounds small, but it’s not, it’s really significant,” he said. “[It will help] keep our collections safe and keep our gallery open.”

The Image Centre describes itself as, “Canada’s leading institution dedicated to the exhibition, research and collecting of photography.” As the largest of only a few art galleries on campus, The Image Centre gives the TMU community an opportunity to engage with a medium close to the university’s own history.

“We are a part of a really rich photography community in the GTA,” said Roth. “For 50 years, the university has had what is widely considered the strongest photography education program in the country.”

According to Roth, the application process is extremely rigorous, as the province “wants to make sure that people’s tax dollars are being spent wisely.” 

The new funding model was introduced in January, streamlining the OAC’s number of funding programs from 16 to one. 

The OAC press release says the arts organizations selected for funding generate an estimated $524.4 million in GDP, run over 22,000 public events across the province and support over 7,000 artist and arts worker jobs annually.

Alongside the funding, the OAC plans to collect data to show “the program’s role in strengthening the arts sector and local economies,” according to the organization’s press release. 

The OAC says more funding recipients are to be announced early next year.