In 2008, Music PEI began to offer multiple funding programs to members of the Island music industry. These programs were created with funding from the Provincial Government’s Department of Culture in an effort to assist the growing industry in key areas that would help to develop both the artists and the infrastructure in the province. To date Music PEI has awarded over $350,000, funding 124 projects by members of the Island music industry. In the three years since the inception of the Music PEI programs there has been a substantial amount of notable growth and achievements within the industry.
After three years it was time to assess the funding programs. This past winter Music PEI took on the important task of revamping the current funding programs. After many months of reviewing the existing funding programs, consulting with other music industry associations across Canada and with previous Music PEI funding recipients the new funding programs will be launched on Wednesday, September 8th. Music PEI has made these changes to improve the overall performance of the funding programs and assist the members in developing their music careers. Among the many significant changes will be a re-branding of the three existing funding programs and revised criteria for each.
Devin Casario (Program Officer) will be available by appointment to meet and educate members of Music PEI on the new changes from September 8th until October 29th. An information session (on the newly revised programs) and grant-writing workshop will be held at the Music PEI office on Saturday, September 18th from 1pm–3pm. Anyone considering applying for the October deadline should attend. Please register by contacting Devin at devin@musicpei.com.
The Music PEI Grant Funding Program has two deadlines per year. One in the spring and one in the fall. There are 3 levels of funding:
1.Emerging Music Program (up to max $1,500 per applicant)
2. Export Development Program (up to max $3000 per applicant)
3. Career Investment Program ($16,000 two year program)
Applications are reviewed by the Music PEI Program Officer to insure they are complete and meet the eligibility criteria. All applicants are encouraged to meet with the Program Officer prior to submitting applications. Only PEI residents and Music PEI members are eligible for funding.
The Program Officer selects a jury of experienced music industry professionals from a pool of jurors Music PEI has been recruiting since the funding programs began. To qualify for the jury they must have a working knowledge of the business side of industry. The Program Officer is responsible for directing the jury in their duties but does not cast a vote is the process. In the past jurors have included artists, recording engineers, broadcasters, producers and promoters from PEI and Atlantic Canada.
Music PEI Board of Directors and staff are excluded from being a juror on the Music PEI Funding Juries. The Board of Directors have no control over the decisions of the jury nor have prior knowledge of who the jurors are. Directors are eligible to submit grant applications, a policy which is consistent with other Provincial music industry associations as well as with FACTOR. This policy does not discourage or discriminate against any Island resident, especially those with strong backgrounds in the music industry, from seeking an opportunity to serve on the board. Because of the arms length nature of the jury process, conflict of interest issues as in the case of board member grant applications, are avoided. In turn, the Board (which is volunteer) is in place to insure that correct procedures are followed and to oversee the overall funding and operation of the Association.
As Music PEI is an industry association and not an arts council, all funding decisions made by the jury are based on the business quality of the applications and not necessarily on the artistic merit of the product. The jury is solely responsible for these decisions. Each application is graded separately on its own merit. The jury is instructed to evaluate the applicants understanding of the music business and how the assistance of a grant will help to grow the applicant's career in the music industry.
As per the guidelines, the jury scores each application out of a possible 100% with various aspects accounting for different portions of the total score. The final aggregated scores of all the jurors are used to determine whether or not funding is granted to each applicant and the amount. As Music PEI has limited funding, it is not always possible to provide grants for all applications. As a result, sometimes applicants receive partial funding and/or lower scores receive no funding.
All eligibility criteria, guidelines and applications are outlined on the Music PEI website on the Funding Applications page. Music PEI has made great efforts to insure that our programs are designed to assist our industry in key areas that will help to develop our artists and infrastructure in our province. We have studied and subsequently adapted appropriate examples from many of the already established music industry associations from across the country as examples to guide our decisions.
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