Minister of Canadian Heritage Steven Guilbeault announced on Twitter that the Canadian government will support cultural and sporting organizations that have cancelled events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, Guilbeault wrote, “We will keep dispersing grants and contributions to arts, culture and sports organizations, even in cases of cancelled events. The dispersed funds should be used to cover costs incurred and reasonable costs of cancellations up to the total amount of the grant or contribution. This includes lost income for affected artists and technicians.”

On its website, the Canada Council for the Arts states, “Our next step is to understand and capture how the impacts of COVID-19 will affect individual artists, groups, and organizations. We are asking all grant recipients to document related effects on their operations. We are presently working with Canadian Heritage and our federal government on practical and immediate ways to help the arts sector face the challenges of COVID-19. Further information will be provided as soon as decisions have been made.”

Canada Council funding from the period of March 16 to May 15 for any projects that rely on domestic and international travel, including touring, have been cancelled.

Here is my message regarding #Covid_19 and the recent cancellations of sporting and cultural events. pic.twitter.com/t1hOPg9n5e

— Steven Guilbeault (@s_guilbeault) March 13, 2020