CIMA and MusicOntario Participate In 2016 Pre-Budget Consultations
The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) and MusicOntario has filed a pre-budget submission to Ontario's Minister of Finance, Charles Sousa, on behalf of CIMA's Ontario-based membership as well as MusicOntario.
Thematically, this pre-budget submission covers many of the same topics as our recent submission to the Ontario Cultural Strategy consultation (see that submission here). While thanking the Government of Ontario for its leadership in renewing the Ontario Music Fund on a permanent basis, the submission offers recommendations for further action to support Ontario's music industry.
These recommendations are:
- Strengthening the Ontario Music Fund by lowering the maximum funding limit for the Company Development Streams (A and B) to $750,000 per company (from its current level of $1.5 million per company). Given the competitive nature of the fund, we believe that this will allow more money to be circulated through the funding system and potentially allow for more recipients to receive funding for projects in the first place.
- Investing in music education should be a key priority for Ontario's government. The positive benefits of music education - both for individuals and society - have been well-documented, and we believe that this is vital to allowing Ontario to unlock its creative potential in the digital economy.
- We believe that there is an important link between business tourism and music that has yet to be exploited. Specifically, CIMA recommends that convention centres be leveraged to provide visiting business tourists with information about local entertainment options, including local venues, performance spaces, festivals, etc. Conceptually, it’s useful to visualize these convention centres operating as a sort of ‘turnkey operation’ where they are provided the necessary information and resources to link together these conference operators with local entertainment options, even perhaps securing entertainment for the conference.
Please read our full pre-budget submission by clicking here.
If you have any questions about this submission, please contact CIMA's Research and Communications Coordinator, Lisa Fiorilli, by email at lisa@cimamusic.ca.