Canadian musicians, music industry professionals, and music organizations are continuing to creatively adapt to the situation.
If you’re a Canadian musician, artist, writer, or media worker, you’re going to want to look at this list of links to resources that will help get you through the COVID-19 situation
Music Managers Forum Canada has a very thorough resource page that’s being constantly updated here.
Here’s some information on how various funding organizations are dealing with the situation:
SOCAN is continuing operations to ensure that our members receive their royalty payments for the duration of the situation.
CAPACOA is asking musicians to track cancellations affecting the Canadian live performance sector here.
I Lost My Gig Canada is a support group on Facebook for folks from various disciplines in the gig economy to gather, listen, and share.
The Government of Québec is providing a temporary assistance program for workers. The program is designed to provide financial assistance to meet the needs of workers who, because of the need to isolate to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus, can no longer earn the totality of their revenue, and who are not admissible to another financial assistance program.
The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec has established an emergency assistance program. It’s not a compensation or pre-payment measure, but special assistance using monies from existing programs that deal with short-term situations.
The National Arts Centre and Facebook Canada have announced a $100,000 fund to bankroll artists fees for home-based online performances. Among the performers are Jim Cuddy, Serena Ryder, William Prince, Lisa LeBlanc, Irish Mythen, Erin Costelo, and Whitehorse.
Almost daily since the onset of the quarantine, Roxane Bruneau offers coronavirus-themed parodies of songs from the Québécois repertoire. Have a look here and here.
Dan Davidson will be hosting a digital country music festival on Instagram Live, March 28, 2020, featuring Dallas Smith, Meghan Patrick, Jason McCoy with Clayton Bellamy, Jess Moskaluke, and many more.
Mark Marczyk, known as the ringleader of Lemon Bucket Orkestra, has established URGNT, a crowdfunded livestream concert series for Toronto musicians to perform in some of the city’s venues, as well as DIY and indie spaces.
Special COVID-19 hotline number of the Quebec ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (Minister of Health and Social Services): 1-877-644-4545
Stay safe!