Welcome to Arts and the advancement of education, Promoting the commerce or industry of the arts, Art form and style criterion, part of the Arts Activities and Charitable Registration (Guidance CG-018).

Now we'll discuss each of the three main charitable purposes and how they can meet the charitable benefit part of the public benefit test. The first purpose:

Arts and the advancement of education

Activities such as teaching or training artists, art students, or the public can further purposes under the advancement of education.

The activities must be sufficiently structured, meaning they:

• have a teaching or learning component; and
• are a legitimate, targeted attempt to educate.

Generally the charitable benefit requirement will be presumed to have been met under the advancement of education if these criteria are present.

Under the fourth category, proving that a charitable benefit exists is different because there are few quantifiable measures to show that the public's appreciation of the arts has been advanced. Basing the elements on case law, the guidance outlines the criteria that will be used to show that a benefit exists.

Activities that focus on exhibiting, presenting, or performing artistic works may further purposes under the fourth category purpose of advancing the public's appreciation of the arts.

The charitable benefit will be shown by meeting:

• the art form and style criterion; and
• the artistic merit criterion.

We will discuss these criteria in a few moments.

Promoting the commerce or industry of the arts

Charities whose activities focus on enhancing an art form and style within the arts industry for the benefit of the public may be registered under the fourth category purpose of promoting the commerce or industry of the arts.

The benefit part of the public benefit requirement must be met through:

• the art form and style criterion; and
• the artistic merit criterion.

We'll discuss these requirements in further detail in the next few slides.

Art form and style criterion

The art form and style criterion as well as the artistic merit criterion are concepts that originate in common law. Various court cases have commented on both the type of art and the quality of the art as conditions of registration, so the position taken in the guidance document is not new. What is new is that the guidance now outlines how decisions will be made regarding these two criteria and how organizations can meet them.

To meet the art form and style criterion, an organization must establish a common or widespread acceptance of both the form and style of art within the Canadian arts community.

If the art form and style that the organization wants to work with are listed in Appendix C, no more information is required. The list is made up of art forms and styles that we have generally accepted in the past. As an example, under music, it will list different types of music, such as classical, gospel, and orchestral, to name a few.

If the art form and style are not listed in Appendix C, the guidance gives examples of the types of information required to meet the criterion. Organizations are expected to provide enough information to enable the CRA to assess each art form and style they are working with.

The CRA chose this approach because it allows the organization to provide expert evidence on new and emerging art forms and styles that the Charities Directorate may not be aware of.

Organizations are not limited to one art form or style. Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary art forms and styles that are combinations of the forms and styles will also be recognized.

Here are some examples of acceptable art forms and styles:

• a dance company that offers performances of classical ballet only. The dance is viewed as the “art form” and the classical ballet is viewed as the “style.”
• a dance company that offers performances of ballet, jazz, contemporary, and modern dance. Once again, the dance is viewed as the “art form” and the ballet, jazz, contemporary, and modern dance are viewed as the “styles.”
• an arts centre that offers exhibitions, performances, and presentations of several forms of art such as dance, theatre, and visual arts with different styles of each.