Funds for Canadian musicians top $1.5M
Grants, online streaming help artists pay the bills during coronavirus crisis
The impact of COVID-19 is being felt in the music industry from cornerstone Toronto festivals (June’s NXNE was moved to August) to international event albums (will we ever hear Lady Gaga’s “Chromatica”?). As a community, performing artists may have had an early glimpse into the challenges that have only begun to reverberate across other sectors.
“We were the first to lose our jobs,” says Mark Marczyk, the leader of the 12-plus piece Toronto band Lemon Bucket Orkestra. “Suddenly everything was cancelled. Music is a social experience, so as soon as social distancing comes into play, artists don’t know what to do.”
While the financial need for music industry workers has been immediate, the philanthropic response has been just as swift. These four funds are bringing more than $1.5 million combined to musicians in need.
#CanadaPerforms Organizer: The National Arts Centre and Facebook Canada Benefiting: Performing artists in Canada On March 11, Kevin Chan, head of public policy for Facebook Canada, saw a show on Broadway with his family. The next night, every show was closed. “Performing artists literally overnight saw their whole livelihood come to an end,” he says.
Forseeing the impact in Canada, he contacted the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Together, they came up with #CanadaPerforms, which offers $1,000 for selected artists to give 45- to 60-minute performances online.
Facebook Canada’s $100,000 donation was matched by Slaight Music, with $200,000 in donations coming from both the RBC Foundation and SiriusXM Canada. With $600,000 in donations, the program is set to continue through May.
After launching with a live performance by Blue Rodeo frontman Jim Cuddy, pop and classical musicians have emerged as the most eager participants. After 12 days, performances in the #CanadaPerforms series had been streamed 1.6 million times. A performance by New Brunswick singer Lisa Leblanc was streamed 229,000 times.
“Managers and agents have said that normally they would see about 10 per cent of the streams, so the amplification is massive,” says the NAC’s Heather Gibson, lead programmer for #CanadaPerforms. “The audiences who are working from home like the rest of us are starting to discover people from across the country.”
For details, go to NAC-CAN.ca
Unison COVID-19 Relief Program Organizer: Unison Benevolent Fund Benefiting: Canadian music industry professionals
As live events such as the Junos were cancelled in midMarch, Unison, a charity supporting the mental, physical, and financial health of musicians, saw their applications spike by 1,900 per cent. In response, the organization made $250,000 available for a COVID-19 Relief Program, which the philanthropic Slaight Family Foundation matched, bringing the fund to $500,000.
On March 27, Spotify announced that it would match donations made to Unison as part of its COVID-19 Music Relief fund (of the five charities Spotify has announced it will support, Unison is the only Canadian organization). Spotify has pledged to contribute up to $10 million.
Donate at UnisonFund.ca
TOArtist COVID-19 Response Fund Organizer: Toronto Arts Council and Toronto Arts Foundation Benefiting: Toronto artists
The dramatic changes that have taken place in recent weeks can be seen reflected in how people have reacted to the Toronto Arts Council’s TOArtist COVID-19 Response Fund.
In addition to the $450,000 put up by the Toronto Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Foundation, the fund has received $94,325 in private donations.
On the other hand, the fund has received more than 900 applications from artists for grants worth up to $1,000.
Hxouse, an arts-focused startup backed by Toronto’s The Weeknd, have promoted the initiative to its more than 100,000 followers on social media.
“They are helping to get the word out to urban creatives who may not know about the Toronto Arts Council,” says Claire Hopkinson, director and CEO of both the council and the foundation. “This fund is for every artist.”
TorontoArtsCouncil.org
URGNT Organizer: Mark Marczyk of Lemon Bucket Orkestra Benefiting: The Toronto Music Industry
Marczyk was supposed to be on tour in Europe with his wife Marichka right now. Instead, he’s organizing shows every other day as part of his streaming concert series URGNT.
The series, which kicked off March 20 with opera singer Measha Brueggergosman, pays $100 to everyone involved in putting each video out. The series has raised nearly $17,000 through a GoFundMe page.
“In terms of the industry, I think people are panicking right now because the value of a social experience is changing radically,” Marczyk says. “There is a big question mark looming. Is it ever going to return to what it was? Maybe this is going to be, at least for the quarantine period, a way for us to still have the semblance of going to concerts.”
Watch at Urgnt.ca