Invitation to be heard: an important call to action for Canada’s live music community

Calling all live music companies, venues, festivals and organizations:

This is your official invitation to join a special sector-wide town hall hosted by the CLMA, CAPACOA and Festivals and Major Events (FAME) as they join forces to launch a new advocacy campaign aimed at inspiring the federal government to act by reinvesting recovery funding in the live performance sector through the next budget cycle and beyond.

Canada’s live music industry has proven that by working together we can forge real change. Still in the grips of pandemic-related disruption, we are rebooting our advocacy machine and we need your voice and support for maximum impact.

In 2019, after sustained advocacy efforts by the performing arts community, the federal government granted temporary funding increases to the Canada Arts Presentation Fund and the Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program. These supplementary funds are currently set to end on March 31, 2024. Since 2019, these two already oversubscribed programs have seen their number of recipients increase significantly. Divesting in these programs is not an option. That is why the live performance sector is asking the federal government to make the supplementary funds permanent and to invest an additional $30 million per year in these two programs. 

Live performance associations articulated a strong case for these investments in their pre-budget submissions (see CAPACOA’s recommendations for the 2023 federal budget).

They will share their strategy to engage the federal government on the question of permanent and increased funding for a range of Canadian Heritage programs, including those that are accessible to both not-and-for-profit entities.

Please mark your calendars now and join them on November 28 at 3pm EST as they assess current realities and talk about tangible actions that each and every one of us can take. Presenters: Frédéric Julien (Director of Research and Development, CAPACOA) and Erin Benjamin (President & CEO, CLMA).

Sign up here.