Canada New Media Fund lives... but where?

The Conservative government announced $439 Million in spending to support arts and culture over the next two years in the budget handed down earlier this week. While Finance Minister Jim Flaherty barely mentioned the arts in his speech that lavished money on tax cuts and infrastructure spending, background documents confirm that arts & culture are indeed part of their plans.

• $100 million in spending over two years on arts, music and comedy festivals.
• $60 million over two years for infrastructure spending that could help in repairing theatres, museums and other cultural buildings.
• $28.6 million over two years to the Canada New Media Fund, which creates interactive digital content.
• $20 million over two years for a national arts training program.
• $30 million for Canadian magazines and community newspapers.
• $200 million for the Canadian Television Fund (CTF).

Techvibes readers will be most interested in the third line item - $28.6 million over two years to the Canada New Media Fund (CNMF), which creates interactive digital content.

Does this translate into a continuation of the Canada New Media Fund through Telefilm? Not necessarily. If you read the budget document, the funding for the CNMF has been approved as an ongoing part of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Although Telefilm is an agency of Canadian Heritage and has been responsible for the CNMF to date, it has yet to be confirmed whether Canadian Heritage will maintain the program with Telefilm.

Stay tuned. Telefilm is still not currently accepting new applications for the CNMF. If you want to be among the first to find out, be sure to subscribe to their email newsletter.