Gov’t announces new $35M fund for cultural content exports

MONTREAL — Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly outlined Tuesday the allocation of $125 million the federal government had previously earmarked for a creative content export strategy, promising both money for existing initiatives and a new $7-million-a-year fund. “With this strategy we are laying the groundwork to identify and target key export opportunities for our industries. We’re strengthening our presence in key priority and emerging markets and helping grow new opportunities for Canada’s creative entrepreneurs,” Joly said at a press conference in Montreal. The new $7-million-a-year Creative Export Canada fund will give Canadian companies that produce content like TV shows, movies, video games and virtual reality (VR) products funding for their efforts to export their content, the government said in a press release. The government first promised to allocate $125 million over five years for a cultural export strategy in September 2017. In response to a question about whether the strategy is aimed at independent producers or if large companies would also be eligible, Joly didn’t specify who will qualify. She said that while the existing programs the government is topping up are for independent producers, the new fund is for aimed at “companies that have really great potential in exporting and that are actually innovating while developing their new projects.” She added the maximum amount companies can access through the new fund is $2.5 million over five years. The government also plans to put in place “additional resources” in a number of Canadian embassies and consulates, including in New York and Los Angeles, Paris, London and Berlin. The release added the strategy would provide exporters with research and data to help them better understand the markets they’re targeting and make decisions. Tuesday’s release also said the government would increase export funding in existing programs, such as the Canada Music Fund and Telefilm Canada. At the press conference, Joly told reporters she didn’t have specific numbers for those increases, but said they would be “substantial.” The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) issued a statement from president and CEO Reynolds Mastin praising the announcement, saying that the “global appetite for independently-produced Canadian content has never been higher, and the combination of on-the-ground support in key international markets and the newly announced $7-million-per-year fund will help Canada’s independent producers capitalize on this demand.” The Canada Media Fund (CMF), which has an export program of its own, also put out a press release in favour of the strategy Tuesday. But NDP heritage critic Pierre Nantel said, while it’s good news for the creative sector, the announcement won’t actually do much to help the sector without regulatory change. “To me, mostly, this is like the icing to make us forget the garlic cake that she baked for us. The garlic cake being that the CRTC made the right conclusions to the situation for Canadian content in this new media world” which Joly chose not to implement, Nantel said in a phone interview. “I think she should listen to the CRTC’s analysis.” In the Creative Canada document published in Sept. 2017, Joly ordered the CRTC to produce a report on future content distribution models, which it released earlier this month. The regulator recommended an approach to funding content that would include implementing contributions from telecom service providers and see online services make “equitable” contributions, as well. Joly then launched a previously-announced review of the Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act, saying that the expert panel appointed to spearhead that review would have to figure out how to how to ensure all companies “pay their fair share” without increasing any costs for Canadians. They have until January 2020 to do so. Nantel, who has previously taken Joly to task for delaying action on the issue until after the next federal election, said that “to me, it’s pure treason to the Canadian content players.” Given how long it will take to put any resulting policy in place “nothing’s going to happen for a minimum of four years,” he said. “The reality is that these four years will be crucial.” Nantel added: “She’s jeopardizing four crucial years for the Canadian content players in order to get re-elected.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Bryson Masse at bmasse@thewirereport.ca

Gov’t announces new $35M fund for cultural content exports

Broadcast | June 26, 2018

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Gov’t announces new $35M fund for cultural content exports

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