Liberals, New Democrats promise to bolster investments in arts and culture fftimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fftimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ontario s Liberals and New Democrats are promising to bulk up spending on the arts sector, whose funding they say was already being whittled away before the COVID-19 pandemic closed galleries and cancelled concerts.
Ontario s Latest COVID Restrictions Ban Livestream Concerts
Performances broadcast from empty music venues will be prohibited for the next four weeks
Photo via the Horseshoe Tavern s Facebook
Published Apr 06, 2021
Not even emergency brake shutdown measures can slow the ineptitude that has defined the Ontario government s pandemic response, as the province deals another blow to its arts and culture industries by outlawing livestream concerts for a second time this year.
The province-wide restrictions, which officially came into effect April 3, prohibit recorded and livestreamed performances to be hosted or broadcast by local venues for the next four weeks. Similar measures were enacted in January as part of the government s stricter stay at home order.
The details arrived today via Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries.
She revealed the Unison Benevolent Fund will receive a one-time grant of up to $2 million to provide immediate support to individual musicians and industry workers, the vast majority of which have been out of work for over a year due to the ongoing pandemic.
Another $500,000 will be given to the Canadian Live Music Association to help foster the local music communities in a post-COVID-19 economy. Ontario s music industry provides thousands of jobs for musicians, stage and touring technicians, venue staff, agents and many others working behind the scenes, said MacLeod in a statement. That s why it s important to support individual musicians and local communities, so they can continue to meet their financial obligations, obtain and create sustainable opportunities, and plan for their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.