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Directors Guild petitions to save BravoFACT and MuchFACT funding bodies

The Directors Guild of Canada launched a petition for Minister of Canadian Heritage Melanie Joly and Bell Media this week asking them not to discontinue two major funders of homegrown music videos and short films, BravoFACT and MuchFACT.

“This week, buried in hundreds of pages of broadcast licensing regulations, CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais announced the decision to kill two of Canada’s most important sources of financing for music videos and short films – Bravo!FACT and MuchFACT,” reads the petition. “These production funds help many of our country’s top creative talent cut their teeth in film and television, not to mention promote and celebrate hundreds of our nations top recording artists and performers. Music videos and shorts open the first door in the industry for so many young, dynamic and diverse filmmakers, actors, artists and creators. We call on Minister of Heritage Mélanie Joly to reverse this shortsighted and destructive decision by the CRTC.” 

By the end of the day on Friday, May 19. the petition had garnered 1264 signatures.

Bell Media issued a statement in response to concerns on Wednesday, correcting the record, saying the programs had not yet been cancelled – yet:

“Bell Media was granted flexibility by the CRTC in making contributions to MuchFACT and BravoFACT no longer conditions of license for its Much, Gusto, and Bravo specialty channels,” it reads. “We are currently reviewing both programs and no decisions have been made regarding their future at this time. Both programs continue to accept grant applications in anticipation of their next funding deadlines later this year.”

Toronto’s Jared Raab, who has directed videos for bands like Ohbijou, July Talk and Born Ruffians, posted this message on his Facebook page on May 18:

Just days the Prism Prize put the best of Canadian music videos in the spotlight, highlighting them as one of the most inventive and groundbreaking art forms in this country, the CRTC essentially signed their death warrant.

On Monday, the CRTC approved the deletion of the MuchFACT program from Bell Media’s CRTC requirements, along with a number of other important clauses in their broadcast license designed to protect Canadian film and television.

For years MuchFACT has operated as one of the only sources for music video funding in Canada. Despite being part of their massive viewership and growing cultural importance, music videos are often overlooked or dismissed as commercial work. In reality, they are much more. Music videos have given us some of our best narrative short form work, germinated the careers of our biggest directors and made Canadian music stand out on the world stage.

At the Prism Prize last weekend, a juried showcase of Canada’s best music videos, half of the top 20 music videos were funded by MuchFACT, including the winning video. Time and time again, I’ve been blown away by the huge cultural impact that this relatively small pool of money has had.

Though I doubt Randy Lennox would like his legacy at Bell to be the dismantling of music video production as we know it in Canada, it seems that this move is positioning the company to do just that. If Bell scraps the program, our production in Canada is essentially gutted. Bell is, after all, a massive media corporation and MuchFACT does more for the greater good of TV, film and music then it does for their pocketbooks directly. I imagine this is why the CRTC mandated MuchFACT’s existence in the first place. Why they couldn’t see the impact it has is beyond me.

On a personal note, I have watched MuchFACT, a relatively small operation considering it’s output, nurture the careers of countless Canadian musicians. I’ve observed firsthand the impact and importance of innovative video content for emerging and established artists. Quite simply, small bands become big bands. Locally successful bands become internationally successful bands. On top of this, MuchFACT has become an important player in nurturing new creative voices in Canada. Of last year’s top 20 Prism Prize videos, a quarter of the directors had films in TIFF this year. My advice for bands in Canada looking to make a great video has always been to find a talented director and apply for a MuchFACT. Without it, I am at a loss.

By the time we wake up and realize that we allowed a vital cultural funding source to evaporate on the whim of a massive media corporation, it will be too late. My question then, is this: who will step up to keep Canadian music videos alive? Will the CMF or OMDC be able to create a new fund in its wake? Will the arts councils start to see the music video as a legitimate form of artistic expression? Can FACTOR allocate a music video-specific funding body that will pick up where MuchFACT leaves off? If we care about our artists, Canadian music, and nurturing new talents, we must do something.

See the petition here.

website@nowtoronto.com | @katierowboat

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