An Open Letter to Ontario Interactive Media Stakeholders
As you may know there is wide speculation that the federal government may not renew the $14.5 million Canada New Media Fund (CNMF) when it’s current contract expires on March 31, 2009. You may have read about this issue on the front page of Saturday’s Globe and Mail or in today’s Playback daily newsletter.
The annual $14 million CNMF, administered by Telefilm, supports new media and Internet-based content creation and marketing activities. The loss of this fund has far-reaching implications for IO’s membership, and the Ontario Interactive Media industry as a whole.
The government has already announced the following programme cuts, some of which will have a detrimental impact on our industry:
- Trade Routes, $9 million
- The A-V Preservation Trust, $300,000
- The Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund, $1.5 million
- The National Training Schools Program, $2.5 million
- PromArt, $4.7 million
Interactive Ontario and the Canadian Interactive Alliance (CIAIC), are committed to remain at the forefront of this issue. For the past two years we have been calling for an increase to this fund, which has been very effective supporting emerging companies and higher risk projects. Many critical and market successes – in Ontario and around the world - would not have been possible without the support of the CNMF.
I have already engaged key policy makers at the provincial and federal levels, in an effort to gather more information regarding the potential cuts, and also to gain information regarding programmes and funding that could ultimately replace the CNMF.
It is of the utmost importance that the Canadian government supports domestic creators of Interactive Media content so that this exciting industry may continue to flourish in a province rich with innovation, new ideas, and intellectual property. IO and the CIAIC will continue work on your behalf to ensure our collective concerns are heard.
It seems certain that there will be a federal election this fall. To this end we are planning a number of activities and a call to action to ensure that together we make the strongest possible case to become an important part of the economic and cultural agendas for all Canadian political parties.
Please stay tuned for further details.
Yours truly,
Ian Kelso
President, CIAIC
President and CEO, Interactive Ontario
IO's Image Sponsor for 2010