Question Period Note: Recovery and Reopening Funds Announced in Budget 2021

Budget 2021 announced a $300 million Recovery Fund for the Arts, Culture, Heritage and Sport sectors that are still struggling due to the pandemic, and a $200M Reopening Fund to help Canada’s local festivals, community cultural events, outdoor theatre performances, heritage celebrations, local museums, amateur sport events and more.

• The Recovery Fund for Arts, Culture, Heritage and Sport Sectors will leverage existing programming to provide $300 million over two years to organizations that are still struggling due to the pandemic. It will support recovery for these sectors by providing organizations and individuals with the financial means to help build organizational resilience and pursue business innovation and transformation. This will also contribute to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in these sectors, as well as greening activities.

• The Reopening Fund will inject $200 million over two years through existing programs to help Canada’s local festivals, community cultural events, outdoor theatre performances, heritage celebrations, local museums, amateur sport events and more. It will support organizations and projects that deliver in-person experiences or events that draw visitors to our communities.

• Funding will be delivered primarily through a mixture of top-ups to existing recipients and application-based programming. The rollout of funding will be gradual and will ramp up over the course of the 2021-22 fiscal year. This is largely due to the need to calibrate new supports with existing programming and application cycles, as well as to provide time for new program elements to be onboarded to the Department’s online application portal.

Current Status of the Recovery and Reopening Funds

• As the Government makes daily progress to implement many recovery and reopening support measures for the arts, culture, heritage and sport sectors, program launches, application assessment, and funding delivery continue to roll out on an ongoing basis.

o Of the $300 million recovery fund total, the Government of Canada has committed over $47 million in funding support and has provided over $13.9 million to eligible recipients (as of November 8).

o Of the $200 million in reopening funds, the government has made decisions for over $9.6 million in funding requests and has provided over $1.6 million to eligible funding recipients (as of November 8).

o 16 funding components are currently rolling out support measures. Another 10 are expected to launch by the end of 2021 and 7 components should be implemented in 2022 (as of November 8).
• As of November 8, 2021, the following lists detail the current status of Recovery and Reopening Fund initiatives:
Already Flowing Funding or Recent Program Launch

Recovery Fund:

o Canada Cultural Investment Fund (CCIF) — Strategic Incentives: The CCIF supports not-for-profit arts and heritage organizations collaborative projects that strengthen business practices and diversify revenues, including strategic use of technology, innovation and development. It prioritizes projects serving equity-deserving groups and greening initiatives.

o Canada Arts Training Fund — Enabling Stability: Recovery Funding for Professional Arts Training Organizations: This funding provides targeted recovery support to not-for-profit professional arts training organizations. These funds will support the business continuity of arts training organizations by reinforcing their recovery. Equity-deserving arts training organizations, as well as other organizations that have experienced funding inequities, would be eligible to receive a greater level of support.

o Harbourfront Centre — Addressing Capital Deficiencies for the Harbourfront Centre: This funding will provide the finances needed to undertake urgent capital improvements and repairs including those necessary to reopen safely for staff, visitors, and audiences.

o Canada Book Fund — Support for Publishers Top-Up: This component of the Canada Book Fund will offer additional financial support to publishers already receiving the Support for Publishers funding, to encourage recovery in the sector.

o Canada Periodical Fund — Aid to Publishers (Community Newspapers and Magazines) Top-Ups: This funding is part of the Special Measures for Journalism initiative and will provide a top-up for all eligible periodicals to the Aid to Publishers grant in 2021-22. This is equivalent to 14% of the grant received that year through this component.

o Canada Periodical Fund — Aid to Publishers (Digital Periodicals) Top-Ups: This funding is part of the Special Measures for Journalism initiative and will assist free, digital, and small-circulation magazines and weekly newspapers (those not normally eligible to the Canada Periodical Fund’s Aid to Publishers component).

o Local Journalism Initiative — Top-Ups: The Local Journalism Initiative will provide an additional $5M in 2021-22 and in 2022-23 to facilitate the hiring of more journalists in underserved communities.

o Creative Export Canada — Targeted Export Support: Targeted support to export-ready Canadian creative businesses and organizations through increased funding.

o Telefilm Canada — Cinema Emergency Support Fund: To ignite the return to cinema experience, a year-long promotional campaign will be launched in cooperation with industry stakeholders to celebrate Canadian cinema and put a spotlight on the cinematic ecosystem and the people behind it. As a vital complementary tool, a marketing HUB will be launched for exhibitors to discover and book Canadian films, promoting greater access of Canadian movies to the public.

o Sport Support Program — Athlete Travel Costs: This component of the program will provide funding to support the additional travel costs associated with respecting mandatory quarantine requirements, and other health regulations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, incurred by Canadian athletes, coaches and officials returning home from competition or training.

o Creative Export Strategy — Canadian Creative Accelerator (in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada) and Trade Accelerator Program (in collaboration with Montreal Chamber of Commerce): Funding to accelerate the growth of creative exporters through training and mentorship opportunities. Funding will enable creative businesses and organizations to acquire new exporting skills through the Trade Accelerator Program and Canadian Creative Accelerator.

o Canada Media Fund — Supporting Third-Language Community Productions: Extension of the relief funding provided during the pandemic to support the recovery of third-language community productions. Support would go to producers working in languages other than English and French, who depend on advertising revenue to finance their productions.

     Reopening Fund:

o Telefilm Canada — Film Festivals: This funding enhancement through Telefilm’s Promotion Program will provide augmented support to small and medium-sized festivals to enhance their online and in person activities and stabilize their foundations.

o Building Communities through Arts and Heritage (BCAH) — Support for Local Festivals Top-Up: This component of BCAH will help stabilize funding amounts to existing clients and support new recipients at commensurate funding levels. This additional funding will also better enable BCAH to connect Canadians to their communities and each other; address elevated demand and increasing costs; and encourage greater representation of equity-deserving groups through expanded reach to LGBTQ2+ and Indigenous applicants.

o Museums Assistance Program — Reopening Fund for Heritage Organizations: This funding is an extension of the Emergency Support Fund (ESF) for Heritage Institutions to support ongoing operating costs in institutions as they seek to recover from pandemic-related losses. This investment will ensure that heritage institutions are able to contribute to the resilience of their communities as Canada recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

o Sport Hosting Program — Sport Event Hosting Recovery: Funding will help organizations continue to host events by offsetting losses due to higher costs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Upcoming Program Launch before December 31, 2021

Recovery Fund:

o Canada Media Fund — Local News and Local Programming by Independent Broadcasters: This initiative administered at arm’s length by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) will renew the News Support Initiative for independent commercial radio and conventional television stations and community and campus radio.

o Canada Arts Presentation Fund — Recovery Funding for Professional Arts Presentation Organizations: This initiative provides targeted recovery support for not-for-profit organizations in the professional arts presentation sector experiencing significant viability and business continuity challenges, specifically organizations that own or operate presentation venues with greater financial risk.

o Canada Cultural Spaces Fund — Supporting the Foundations of Cultural Infrastructure: This initiative will support the Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall as well as le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde and will advance the recovery and reopening objectives by addressing post-pandemic demand, supporting adaptation projects, and increasing support for eligible organizations.

o Development of Official Language Communities — Post-COVID Activities and Capacity Building for Official Language Minority Community (OLMC) Organizations: This initiative is to support Official Language Support Program (OLSP) clients that were ineligible for ESF funding last year and to support OLSP clients with multiple mandates such as arts, culture, and heritage activities.

o Canada Council for the Arts — Supporting Domestic Touring: This additional investment will help Canadian artists present and disseminate their work to communities across Canada, re-engage with the public, and develop a stronger artistic profile in Canada. This initiative will improve access to funding for youth, official language minority communities, and historically underserved and marginalized communities, including Indigenous, Black, racialized, Deaf and disability, and LGBTQ2+ and gender-diverse communities, women, and artists at intersections of these groups.

o Canada Periodical Fund — Special Measures for Journalism: This initiative includes two components, the first being Aid to Publishers (Community Newspapers and Magazines) which will provide top-ups for all eligible periodicals to the Aid to Publishers grant in 2021-22. This is equivalent to 14% of the grant received that year through this component. The second component will be the Aid to Publishers (Digital Periodicals) which will assist free, digital, and small-circulation magazines and weekly newspapers (those not normally eligible to the Canada Periodical Fund’s Aid to Publishers component).

o Sport Support Program — Recovery Support for Sport Organizations: Support for National Sport Organizations, Multi-service Sport Organizations and the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, which are struggling financially to restore programming and services cancelled/stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic (i.e., those organizations that rely on revenue from additional sources such as ticket/merchandise sales from events or enrolment fees).

   Reopening Fund:

o Canada Council for the Arts — Support for audience re-engagement (core recipient formula): Funding provided through one-time grants for eligible arts organizations that can attest to expenses related to the relaunch of their activities aimed at re-engaging existing audiences and building new ones. This is to offset the risks associated with re-opening due to a gradual return to live events and the likelihood of reduced box office revenues.

o Development of Official Language Communities — Post-COVID innovation support for OLMC organizations: To support OLSP clients with a mandate in arts and culture, or that pursue arts, culture and heritage activities among others.

o Commemorate Canada — Celebration and Commemoration Reopening Fund: Funding for post-COVID celebration and commemoration initiatives as the country emerges from the pandemic. This additional funding will enhance major events such as Canada Day and Winterlude in 2022 and create a time-limited grants and contributions fund for events and activities across Canada.

Launch Scheduled for 2022

Recovery Fund:

o Canada Council for the Arts — Stimulate original artistic and literary creation by individual artists, arts groups and non-core funded organizations: This funding will support the independent Canadian arts scene for its recovery, for research, creation and production of artistic projects by increasing funds for two existing Council programs: 1. Explore and Create; and 2. Creating, Knowing and Sharing: The Arts and Cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples, as activities are relaunched.

o Canada Council for the Arts — Strategic Fund for the Innovative Rebuilding of the Arts Sector: This initiative will support research, development, prototyping, piloting and sharing of innovative solutions through a Strategic Fund for the Innovative Rebuilding of the Arts Sector.

o Canada Book Fund — Support for Shipping: This initiative supports publishers in the Canadian book industry to cope with the costs related to the shipping of books to promote access and sales of these books across the country, especially to rural or more isolated regions.

o Canada Book Fund — Diversity and Inclusion Measures: This initiative supports the implementation of changes to the Canada Book Fund’s Support for Publishing component program to better support the success of Canadian book publishers and authors from racialized, official language community and Indigenous communities and promote access to their books.

o Creative Export Strategy — Trade Accelerator Program (in collaboration with Toronto Board of Trade and Vancouver Board of Trade): This initiative seeks to accelerate the growth of creative exporters through training and mentorship opportunities. Funding will enable creative businesses and organizations to acquire new exporting skills through the Trade Accelerator Program and Canadian Creative Accelerator.

Reopening Fund:

o Canada Arts Presentation Fund — Re-engaging Audiences: Targeted funding for not-for-profit organizations in the professional arts presentation sector for costs that support and encourage the return of audiences, including enhancements to programming, marketing and outreach.

o Canada Music Fund — Stimulate economic recovery of for-profit music festivals: Continued emergency funding to Canada’s live music sector to help ensure that music venues, for-profit festivals and other key players in the sector can maintain operations while they generate no revenue due to ongoing public health and safety measures and help them prepare for the reopening of in-person concerts and events.

Support for Workers Background

• $181.5 million in new funding announced in the Fall Economic Statement:

o $116.5 million delivered by the Canada Council for the Arts to support engagement of artists through creation, production and presentation activities across the spectrum of artistic disciplines;

o $40 million delivered by three PCH programs to stimulate short-term contracting of workers in the live events sector, through the Support for Workers in the Live Arts and Music Sectors Fund;

o In addition, $25 million in extended Budget 2019 funds for the three delivering PCH programs to encourage sector stability through regular program delivery at current levels.

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