The $500 million Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations (ESF) was created to meet the financial needs of cultural, heritage and sport organizations facing significant losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fall Economic Statement 2020 announced additional measures for these sectors, including funding to support the planning and presentation of COVID-19-safe events and performances as well as to provide work opportunities in these sectors.
B. Background and Current Status
On April 17, 2020, the Prime Minister announced new actions to protect Canadian jobs and provide more support to businesses and organizations dealing with the economic impacts of COVID-19. These actions included $500 million to establish a COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations to address the financial needs of affected organizations within these sectors so they can continue to support artists and athletes. Further details regarding this funding were announced on May 8, June 18 and July 7, 2020.
The Fund was administered by Canadian Heritage and divided among select departmental programs and Portfolio organizations, as well as key delivery partners. A two-phased approach was followed in order to accelerate the distribution of funds.
Phase I, totalling $291.3 millionFootnote 1, provided funding to eligible recipients of the following programs:
Canadian Heritage – Arts and culture programs
Canada Periodical Fund - $15.4 million
Canada Book Fund - $8.7 million
Canada Music Fund - $7.95 million
Canada Media Fund - $88.75 million
Canada Arts Training Fund - $5.1 million
Canada Arts Presentation Fund (CAPF) - $7.3 million
Harbourfront Centre Funding Program - $1.25 million
Building Communities through Arts and Heritage (BCAH) - $4.46 million
Canadian Heritage – Sport Canada
Sport Support Program - $29.6 million
Athlete Assistance Program - $5 million
Bilateral agreements with provinces and territories - $32.5 million
Canadian Heritage – Digital Citizen Initiative
COVID-related projects - $3.25 million
Canada Council for the Arts - $55 million
Telefilm Canada - $26.8 million
Phase II of the ESF, totalling $206.1 million provided temporary relief to support organizations who had not previously received funding from Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada, the Canada Media Fund, Musicaction or FACTOR. These funds were distributed as follows:
$33.73 million through the emergency component of the Museums Assistance Program;
$45.5 million for special measures in support of journalism under the Canada Periodical Fund;
$57.5 million for the Canada Media Fund which included $25 million for independent broadcasters that invest in news and community broadcasts, and $1.2 million for producers of content in a language other than English or French;
$20 million for the live music industry through the Canada Music Fund;
$18.9 million for the Sport Support Program; and
Funding to various arts and culture organizations that do not usually receive funding from Canadian Heritage programs and/or did not receive funding in Phase I, including:
$7.75 million for the arts sector through the Canada Council for the Arts;
$3.9 million for the audiovisual and digital media sector;
$5 million for the music industry;
$11 million for the publishing sector; and
$1.7 million for arts and culture organizations that serve official-language communities.
As of December 31, 2020, 99.5% of the funding (which represents over $497 million) had been distributed to over 10,000 recipients.
On November 27, 2020, as part of Phase II, the Government announced the reallocation of $14 million that had been earmarked for sport organizations to bolster support for regional and community sport organizations through existing bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories.
At a minimum, all eligible organizations were required to attest the following in order to receive ESF support:
they were in need of funding to support a continuity of operations and to safeguard jobs;
they remained in operation at the time of application and planned to continue contributing to their sector in the future;
they were not receiving funding from multiple sources to cover the same costs (e.g., Canada Emergency Response Benefit, Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, Canada Emergency Business Account, and Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance for Small Businesses); and
where relevant, funds were used to support workers such as the self-employed and freelance workers, artists and creators.
Beyond emergency measures, the Fall Economic Statement 2020 announced the following measures for these sectors:
$181.5 million in 2021-22 to the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts to stimulate short-term employment of cultural workers, including a one-year renewal of funding provided in Budget 2019 for the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund and the Canada Music Fund;
relief to local television and radio stations by supporting the waiving of broadcasting Part II licence fees in 2020-21, which are collected annually by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission;
a short-term compensation fund for Canadian audiovisual productions announced in September 2020, which is a temporary measure administered by Telefilm Canada to fill the void left by the lack of insurance coverage for filming interruptions and production shutdowns due to COVID-19 in the audiovisual production sector. The maximum compensation is $1.5 million in the case of a temporary interruption and $3 million in the case of a complete shutdown of production. This measure has now been extended until March 31, 2022;
support for the construction of the new Library and Archives/Ottawa Public Library joint facility project; and
support for the National Arts Centre’s back-office systems.
On February 10, 2021, the Government announced that $50 million had been added to the initial funding for the Short-Term Compensation Fund for Canadian Audiovisual Productions and that the fund would be extended to March 31, 2022, for a total of $100 million.
These measures contribute to the following new commitments from the January 2021 supplementary mandate letter for the Minister of Canadian Heritage:
Support the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry to introduce sector-specific measures for industries that have been hit hardest by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the art[s], cultural, heritage and sport sectors; and
Support the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance to create over one million jobs, restoring employment to levels prior to the pandemic using a range of tools, including direct investments in the social sector and infrastructure, immediate training to quickly up-skill workers and incentives for employers to hire and retain workers, with a focus on the art[s], cultural, heritage and sport sectors.
On March 2, 2021, further details were announced about the implementation of $181.5 million in funding previously announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement:
$40 million in new funding will serve to stimulate short-term contracting of workers in the live events sector through three Canadian Heritage programs: Building Communities through Arts and Heritage, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund and the Canada Music Fund;
To help stabilize the overall environment for the arts and music sectors, a one-year renewal of funding of $25 million to three Canadian Heritage programs (BCAH, CAPF and the Canada Music Fund) originally provided in Budget 2019; and
$116.5 million in new funding to the Canada Council for the Arts, which includes $50.5 million for a new digital innovation initiative (Digital Now) which will enable arts groups, collectives and organizations to adapt or create works to be shared with virtual audiences; and $66 million of new funding to be used to stimulate increased research, creation and production of new work through the Explore and Create program.
C. Strategic Considerations
The Emergency Support Fund for the Cultural, Heritage, and Sport sectors has now ended. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the Department will continue to provide aid to the cultural, heritage, and sport sectors. Through this next phase of the pandemic, Canadian Heritage will provide a series of supports to be announced in the upcoming Budget 2021, which will focus on economic stimulus and recovery of these sectors.
The Department, in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada, and the Canada Media Fund, developed a survey to determine whether the Emergency Support Fund for Cultural, Heritage and Sport Organizations achieved its main objectives and to inform next steps in supporting these sectors going forward.
The survey has been administered in two phases, similar to the ESF. The fieldwork for Phase I and II took place during the fall of 2020. In April 2021, the survey will be sent to remaining recipients that had not yet received funds at the time of Phase I and II survey fieldwork.
To date, 7,322 recipient organizations received the survey and 4,452 completed it, leading to a response rate of 61%. Over 1000 pages of written feedback were received through the survey’s open-ended questions.
ResponsesFootnote 2 indicate that the Fund met its intended objectives of supporting business continuity and maintaining jobs:
84% of respondents reported they were operating and planned to continue operations, while 15% indicated that they had temporarily closed and planned to resume operations within the next six months. 1% of respondents were likely to permanently cease operations within the next six months and 0% of organizations had permanently ceased operations;
79% of respondents said the Fund helped them stay in operation to a large or moderate extent;
Paying for operating costs other than labour costs, adapting business model, and paying the wages of employees/paying self-employed workers/freelancers were the top three reasons respondents sought funding;
Respondents were satisfied with all aspects of the delivery process:
97% of respondents indicated that they were very or somewhat satisfied with the timeliness at which funds were received following the submission of the application/attestation;
92% were very or somewhat satisfied with the portal used to submit their application;
86% were very or somewhat satisfied with the information received throughout the process;
79% of respondents reported that their organization undertakes strategies to support diversity and inclusion and nearly half undertake strategies to support Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples; and
Respondents used complementary support measures to weather the effects of the pandemic. For instance, 38% of respondents received support from federal measures other than the ESF and 26% received funding from their provincial/territorial government.
Prioritizing equity-deserving communities is an ongoing high priority for the Department and the Government of Canada as a whole. Future funding decisions will need to continue to prioritize equity-deserving groups.
With public discourse accelerating on systemic racism, gender discrimination and accessibility, Canadian Heritage has been called upon to ensure that its programs are reaching the full diversity of the Canadian population, including equity-deserving groups that have been historically excluded and underfunded.
The Department intends to carry out a program review to identify and help remove systemic barriers to accessing programming for equity-deserving communities and support sectors in developing their own approaches to improve equity, diversity and inclusion.
