Feds Commit $70M To Support Artists & Live
The $70M aid package includes $50M to be delivered in the 2021-22 cycle and is part of a much larger investment by the federal government to support the arts and culture sectors.
By FYI Staff
A new round of federal funds in the amount of $50M has been announced by Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault to ameliorate the damage to Canada’s live music sector by the pandemic.
The multi-million-dollar Emergency Support Fund for Canada’s Live Music Sector package commits $50M in 2021–22 with an additional $20M to be delivered in 2022–23 and 2023–24.
The announcement of the funds, first announced in the 2021 federal budget, made at La Tulipe in Montreal's Dominion Theatre, has been widely hailed by all the stakeholders who have quietly and overtly lobbied to ensure the budgetary promise became a fiscal reality.
Canada's live music sector has been one of the hardest hit segments in the economy, and the government view is the artistic and cultural sectors are a major economic driver and play an important role in strengthening communities all over Canada.
This isn’t a win-win for all those employed in the live sector. Ineligible applicants include service companies that specialize only in the sale and / or rental of staging equipment such as lighting, rigging and sound; and companies operating on the periphery of the live music sector in Canada such as transportation, catering, security, and ticketing.
This support for live music is in addition to the Support for Workers in Live Arts and Music Sectors Fund, of which $15M is delivered through the CMF this year, and the recently announced Recovery Fund for Arts, Culture, Heritage and Sport Sectors and Reopening Fund. That fund includes $7M for the CMF in 2022–23 to support music festivals not funded through other departmental programs.
In Budget 2021, the Government of Canada committed $1.9 billion to help support the arts, culture, heritage and sport sectors. This funding is intended to help ensure recovery and growth, “and help create good, middle-class jobs in these sectors”.
On June 28, 2021, the Government of Canada announced $500M over two years in continued support for arts, culture, heritage and sport sector organizations, through the Reopening Fund and the Recovery Fund for Arts, Culture, Heritage and Sport Sectors.
In the Fall Economic Statement, the government announced $181.5M in 2021–22 to the Canada Council for the Arts and the Department of Canadian Heritage to support the planning and presentation of Covid-19-safe events and the arts — including both live and digital — and to provide work opportunities in these sectors.
Details and the deadline for applications for the Emergency Support Fund can be found on the dedicated FACTOR page here and Canadian Live Music Assoc’s announcement here.
