OTTAWA — CBC/Radio-Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts announced Tuesday a new, time-limited funding initiative called Digital Originals to help artists, groups and arts organizations showcase their original digital content to online audiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Canada Council for the Arts will provide a total of $1 million in funding to successful applicants to develop, create and share original or adapted digital works with Canadian audiences online, says the news release. CBC/Radio-Canada will showcase and amplify the discoverability of select projects on one or more of its platforms.
“Digital Originals will help to keep Canadian artists working, while connecting them to audiences from coast to coast to coast,” said Catherine Tait, president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, in the news release. “In this time of social isolation, CBC/Radio-Canada is delighted to collaborate once again with the Canada Council and to kickstart creativity, bring creators’ work to new audiences, and ensure that our cultural sector thrives, now and in the future.”
The Canada Council will fund approximately 200 projects, and digital content creators and artists will be able to apply for a maximum of $5,000 in funding per project. CBC/Radio-Canada will curate and feature select projects in a digital showcase, and these showcased projects will receive a $1,000 grant supplement. For more information, please visit the Canada Council for the Arts website.
In addition, CBC also announced today it is launching Art Uncontained, a rich collection of innovative content offering inspiration for audiences and support to the Canadian artistic community.
New original CBC Arts content includes:
- CBC Podcasts’ PlayMe: The Show Must Go On, featuring adaptations from Canadian playwrights whose projects have been disrupted by the pandemic
- COVID Residencies, video diaries from artists sharing how isolation has affected their art
- Showcasing provocative original theatre from the National Theatre School of Canada’s Art Apart program, which supports young and emerging Canadian theatre artists
- Scenes From an Exhibition, offering exclusive virtual tours of Canada’s finest galleries and museums
- CBC Books’ Transmission (launching April 24), featuring Canadian writers reflecting on these uncertain times
- CBC Music’s Quarantunes, highlighting Canadian music created in isolation
- A Covid-19 resource list for artists and freelancers
- Weekly virtual arts listings to help people explore culture from home
Radio-Canada also continues to add new cultural offerings to its digital platforms, including:
- La commande culturelle is asking Canadians to submit their ideas for special cultural commissions — songs, readings, poetry, dance, comedy acts or visual art to help them get through these trying times. These ‘command performances’ will be published on Radio-Canada.ca and on its Facebook page.
- On the Radio-Canada OHdio app, Théâtre à la carte gives listeners the chance to revisit original theatre productions that were recently on stage or on the radio, adding to the app’s cultural offering of comedy shows, audio books and music playlists that showcase Canadian talent.
- ICI ARTV, Canada’s only French-language specialty channel focused on culture, continues to promote local artists and their works through its programming, on its social media and on ARTV.ca.
