OTTAWA — To support Canadian artists during the Covid-19 crisis, SiriusXM and RBC Foundation announced Saturday they are each donating $200,000 toward the #CanadaPerforms initiative, which to date has featured more than 40 livestreamed performances by Canadian artists, garnering more than 1.3 million online views.
Developed in collaboration with Facebook Canada, the National Arts Centre’s #CanadaPerforms relief fund was launched Thursday, March 19 with an initial amount of $100,000. On Saturday, March 31, a subsequent gift of $100,000 from Slaight Music was announced.
With this weekend’s announcement of an additional $400,000 available in artists fees, the Facebook-Canada National Arts Centre Fund for Performing Artists (the official name of the fund) will be able to continue providing direct support to artists selected to take part in #CanadaPerforms.
The period of livestreamed performances will now be extended until May and showcase more artists and genres, says the news release.
“Artists are facing real challenges during this time and being able to provide them with not only an opportunity to earn performance royalties through the satellite broadcast and streaming of our Canadian channels, but also funding and a performance platform through #CanadaPerforms, is important to us,” said Paul Cunningham, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, in the news release.
The lineup of upcoming performances can be found on the National Arts Centre’s website.
