Ottawa announced another round of financial aid on Friday for the performing arts community, which has yet to recover to its full pre-COVID-19 pandemic strength.
Posted at 3:35 p.m.
It is a slice of 10 million for the whole of Canada which was thus announced in Montreal by the Minister of Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, including 2 million for Quebec. Similarly, pan-Canadian organizations obtain funds that will also benefit Quebec.
The sum must be used to finance 59 projects, piloted by organizations that themselves come to the aid of self-employed cultural workers in the live entertainment sector.
This can be legal assistance, career transition assistance, financial management or mental health, for example.
This sum of 10 million comes from a fund which had 60 million and of which the first 50 million had already been distributed, said Minister Rodriguez at a press conference.
The cultural sector has been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Today, in general, in terms of GDP, the cultural sector has recovered, returned to roughly where we were before the pandemic. But for the performing arts, the GDP is still 60% of what it was before the pandemic,” he pointed out.