On May 8, 2020, the Minister of Canadian Heritage announced the details of a new COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations. The $500-million Emergency Support Fund provides additional temporary relief to support cultural, heritage and sport organizations and help them plan for the future.

The Fund will help maintain jobs and support business continuity for organizations whose viability has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund is intended to provide financial support to organizations in these sectors that complements the government’s existing COVID-19 support measures for wages and fixed costs for organizations.

A two-phased approach was taken in order to accelerate the distribution of funds.

Today, the details of the final components of Phase 2 were announced. It primarily includes funding for arts and culture organizations that do not currently receive funding from Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada, the Canada Media Fund, Musicaction or FACTOR, and/or did not receive funding in Phase 1.

As in Phase 1, the second component of Phase 2 emergency support will be provided through grants and contributions. The distribution of funding is as follows:

  • $45 million for special measures in support of journalism under the Canada Periodical Fund to assist free magazines and weekly newspapers, including those that serve official-language minority or ethnocultural communities.
  • $25 million distributed through partners to help independent broadcasters that invest in news and community broadcasts.
  • $20 million to help presenters in the live music industry (artist managers, booking agents, concert promoters, for-profit festivals and venues, etc.) through the Canada Music Fund.
  • $2.5 million to support producers of content in a language other than English or French through the Canada Media Fund.
  • $52.1 million to various arts and culture organizations that do not usually receive funding from Canadian Heritage programs and/or did not receive funding in Phase 1. This amount will be provided as follows:
    • $8.2 million for the arts sector;
    • $27.8 million for the audiovisual and digital media sector;
    • $5 million for the music industry;
    • $10 million for the publishing sector; and
    • $1 million for arts and culture organizations that serve official-language communities.

Simplified funding application processes have been put in place to support organizations in need as quickly and efficiently as possible. As of July 7, it will be possible to submit applications for assistance under the Canada Periodical Fund. Application details for the other Phase 2 funding opportunities will be available shortly on the dedicated COVID-19 emergency funding section of the Canadian Heritage website.