The Fonds capital culture Québec

Howdy!

Close but not quite what I’ve been preaching for a while now. They also don’t really seem to be looking to help visual artists specifically, but every little bit helps.

Basically the government of Quebec and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ got together and decided that throwing $100 million at cultural organizations in order to help them gain some recognition on the other side of the border. [The press release is here.]

The press release isn’t clear if by Export, they mean the rest of Canada, or if it truly is just for use to break into the United States and overseas markets. But what they are clear on is that the primary things they will be investing in are: Show production, book publishing and purchase and sale of publishing rights, cross-platform, film and television production, production of sound recordings and the purchase and sale of catalogs, digital production and interactive video. (In the original French: La production de spectacles, l’édition de livres et l’achat et la vente de droits d’édition, la production cinématographique et télévisuelle, la production multiplateformes, la production d’enregistrements sonores et l’achat et la vente de catalogues, les productions numériques interactives et les jeux vidéo.)

My guess would be that visual artists could sneak in through “digital production.” Although I’m not certain at all how to interpret the “purchase and sale of catalogs” although given its proximity to the sound recordings, I would presume that it is more intended to help someone purchase something like the rights to the songs by Three O’Clock Train and then get them used as background music for commercials in Italy and theme music for Australian films instead of as an auxiliary means of circulating information about an art exhibit.

Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what they invest in and how they structure those investments. I’ve stuck a note in my agenda to follow up with them in three months.