Rollout of new $181.5 million federal funding boosts digital and COVID-safe live events for arts and music sectors
Amid the programs, Canada Council offers one-time Digital Now funding, while Heritage department stimulates short-term contract workers
Livestream and digtial shows are getting funding, but so are live events.
THE CANADA COUNCIL for the Arts and the Heritage department have detailed the rollout of $181.5 million in new federal funding that was released as part of the Liberal government’s fall economic statement.
Unveiled late yesterday, it largely targets contracting workers for live COVID-safe events and the creation of digital programming for 2021-22.
The Department of Canadian Heritage is putting $40 million toward a "COVID-safe events fund". It’s meant to stimulate short-term contracting of workers in the live events sector through three Canadian Heritage programs: Building Communities through Arts and Heritage, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund, and the Canada Music Fund. Information on accessing the new fund will be available next week on the Canadian Heritage website.
The financial support tops out at $100,000 and can cover up to 100 percent of a project's costs. At least 50 percent of the project's budget must be dedicated to paying artists, art workers, and support staff.
The funding is meant to stimulate hiring amid the risks of show cancellations due to shifting pandemic restrictions. Recent measures, including the sudden shutdown of all theatres in BC in November, have made arts groups wary of hiring and planning for live shows and festival events.
The new federal money for live events comes at a time when BC arts groups are taking tentative first steps to planning reopening. A working group of cultural leaders has put forward proposed measures to operate venues safely, just as restaurants and sportsbars are allowed to.
The government has also extended a one-year renewal of funding of $25 million for the three Canadian Heritage programs.
For its part, the Canada Council will invest $116.5 million, with $50.5 million earmarked for the Digital Now, a one-time digital-innovation initiative aimed at enabling arts groups to create new work or adapt existing work for virtual audiences.
The other $66 million of new Canada Council funding will go to Explore and Create, a program to stimulate research, creation, and production of new work. The idea is that artists who can’t perform right now will at least be able to develop projects for when they can.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weighed in on the announcement with the Tweet below, telling artists “we’re going to make sure you have the support you need.”
“It is during these challenging times that artists and cultural workers—whose outputs and creations so uplift and inspire all Canadians —need our government’s support the most,” Canada Council director and CEO Simon Brault said in yesterday’s press statement. “We are honoured to receive $116.5 million to support the recovery and sustainability of the arts sector, by making it possible for eligible recipients to financially bridge this prolonged period of pandemic restrictions.”
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