By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – There is something new about the indirect result of governments’ stay-at-home advice in the age of Covid-19. Many more people than usual are channel-surfing, binge-watching streaming services and other things, but all this watching will eventually get old once the staleness of replaying reruns sets in and viewers want something new.
While broadcasters and streamers alike are assuring viewers they have enough new content to satisfy us at least for a few more months or so (except for sports channels, perhaps) Canadian creators are not only itching to get back to work to create new content, their very survival depends on it.
Last Friday, Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault offered a lifeline when he announced a $500-million emergency response fund for cultural, heritage and amateur sports organizations to support artists and athletes as part of the federal government’s multibillion-dollar Covid-19 Economic Response Plan.
Guilbeault this week shared with Cartt.ca his thinking on what Canadian media producers might expect in terms of government support, and when.
Christopher Guly: When do you plan to release details of the fund?
Steven Guilbeault: I’m hoping very soon, and by very soon I mean days. We are working hard and want to get the details, and obviously the money out the door as soon as possible.
CG: Last Friday, you said that the Canada Council for the Arts will be a partner in this initiative. Will other organizations be involved?
SG: The Canada Council is a privileged partner in terms of funding for arts and culture in Canada. We are talking with a range of different organization to get some input and some ideas, and we didn’t get the green light for the announcement for the $500 million to seek advice from people. I have been talking with hundreds of representatives from the arts and culture sector in Canada for the past few weeks.
We are very close to announcing what the details of the program will be and people can start applying.
CG: This would be a one-shot injection to address the Covid crisis.
SB: Yes, absolutely.
CG: Would individuals and organizations be able to apply for funding?
SB: The ministry is not very well equipped to handle individual requests. We usually deal with organizations. The Canada Council does fund artists directly, so in that way we are very complementary.
In order for us to be quick, we are thinking we have to use existing tools. If we start to create new programs, these things usually take time. Our goal is to use existing programs and get money to organizations who then may be able to get that to artists and technicians and individuals who whom they already have a relationship.
In terms of the ministry, it would be more complicated. But some of our partners could definitely do that.
“If we need to do more to keep the sector going, to keep the sector afloat, we will be there to help them.” – Minister Steven Guilbeault
CG: Earlier this year, I mentioned to you that Ottawa and the surrounding area have become the Christmas-movie capital, and now a lot of film and television production has been put on hold. Do you envision some of the funding will give that sector a boost? And how would it work? Productions would ramp up after the lockdown eases, right?
SG: That’s certainly our hope. There will be public-health guidelines in place after we start easing the confinement measures. But our hope is that some artistic and cultural activities will be able to start again, and movie and TV production are amongst those. These are more of a controlled environment than say a live concert with 500 or 5,000 people where your capacity to control things is more limited.
But for film and TV production, there are probably things that we can do. Clearly, we are going to be very prudent. We’re going to work with our provincial and territorial colleagues and listen to what our public-health experts have in terms of advice on how we can do this safely. But yeah, I think that this certainly is in the realm of possibilities.
CG: Will some guidelines be released?
SG: One thing we did just before provinces and territories sent everybody to confinement is we did provide guidelines for arts organizations, large-event organizers, sports.
We gave them public-health advice.
We didn’t tell the Arctic [Winter] Games, for example, or the World [Figure] Skating Championships that was going to be held in Montreal, that they had to cancel their events. We gave them guidelines, and then using those guidelines, they decided to cancel their events.
The federal government is in close contact with the provinces and territories, and in terms of relaxing some of the confinement measures that we’re finding ourselves in, that will be done largely by provinces and territories and municipalities in some cases. Montreal, Toronto and a few other cities have come up with their own guidelines.
I can certainly envision us providing guidelines to provinces, territories or TV producers – but the decisions ultimately will be with the provinces and territories.
CG: What are you hearing from broadcasters or the film community?
SG: That it is devastating. They’re very worried. We can envision that for some sectors of our economy, the recovery will be faster and maybe less complicated, but we clearly know that for some sectors it is going to be long and more complicated. If you think of tourism, hotels, the hospitality industry, and arts and culture: Who’s going to go and see a live event, should it be a play, a concert, the ballet with 500 people until we either have herd immunity or a vaccine?
So, some of the physical-distancing measures that we have now will stay in place for some time and will affect certain sectors more than others.
The arts-and-culture sector is rightly-so preoccupied. It’s really hard to tell how things are going to unfold, but what we’ve told them, and we are in constant communication with them, is that we are monitoring the situation. We are talking with them, we are helping them now through the crisis – and if we need to do more to keep the sector going, to keep the sector afloat, we will be there to help them.
(This week the Canadian Media Producers Association released numbers that illustrate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s film and television production sector.)
CG: Last week, you also announced that this year’s Canada Day celebrations will be virtual. So a lot of the folks we’ve talked about in the creative community could be part of that production?
SG: Absolutely. We will be releasing details of what a virtual Canada Day will look like in the near future.
