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Facebook, NAC To Pay Canadian Artists For Online Shows

cuddy-1.10951255 TORONTO, ON - MARCH 27: Singer Jim Cuddy on satge at the 2011 Juno Awards at the Air Canada Centre on March 27, 2011 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Jag Gundu/Getty Images) (Jag Gundu/Jim Cuddy, pictured in 2011. Jag Gundu / Getty Images)

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Facebook and the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa announced Thursday they have created a $100,000 fund to pay Canadian artists for online performances during the COVID-19 crisis.

The NAC’s executive producer of variety and popular music, Heather Gibson, said in a release that she hopes the initiative provides short-term relief for artists who had to cancel performances.

NAC president and CEO Christopher Deacon added that “music, dance and theatre have an enduring power to comfort, to inspire, to lift our spirits.”

Artists willing to stream performances between 45 and 60 minutes can apply to the NAC before the end of March via email (canadaperforms@nac-cna.ca)

Jim Cuddy was joined by sons Devin Cuddy and Sam Polley and guitarist Colin Cripps for the first of the #CanadaPerforms series.