The Canada Media Fund (CMF) says it’s embracing a future model that focuses on supporting creators and stories regardless of platform, following calls for change from the industry in how projects are funded.

The Crown agency announced Monday that the Department of Canadian Heritage had “unlocked new authorities” for the not-for-profit organization to administer moving forward.

“The CMF has played a valuable and key role for Canadian content production for more than a decade,” said Canadian Heritage Min. Pascale St-Onge, in a release. “We have been listening to the industry’s feedback and understand the need for a more flexible and content-focused support model to respond to the sector’s needs and ongoing transformation. These new authorities will provide the CMF with a modern, more agile funding approach to ensure it remains an integral part of a competitive and resilient Canadian audiovisual sector for years to come.”

CMF says the proposed modernization is in line with its 2021 report, Spark Courage: What We Heard, with stakeholders voicing a need to build more capacity, enable innovation, and generate high-quality Canadian content across all platforms.

CMF says in close collaboration with Canadian Heritage, program changes will include:

• New opportunities in program criteria to reflect the many ways content is created
• A move away from the siloed approach of Convergent [supporting the creation of convergent television and digital media content] and Experimental [interactive content and leading edge software applications for digital media platforms] streams
• Better alignment with the evolving market and regulations
• Advancing an inclusive and sustainable industry through expanded sector development
• A renewed focus on financing all phases of audiovisual content across platforms

CMF President & CEO Valerie Creighton said in the same announcement that CMF’s priority will “continue to be putting Canadian and Indigenous stories first—stories that represent who we are and who we aspire to be.”

The program changes will be phased in over the next two fiscal years with upcoming consultations to begin later this fall.

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