The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) announced two new programs today with the aim of providing further support to music creators and publishers in Canada.

Professional Development Assistance

The first program will be known as the “Professional Development Assistance Program.” This grant (limited to $1500) will be provided to “SOCAN composers, writers and music publishers across all genres of music, for upgrading their skills and knowledge or acquiring new skills and knowledge to advance their careers.” The application for this program lists conferences, courses, seminars, and workshops as outlets for use of this particular grant in the form of registration fees or other costs associated with such activities that support the applicants career growth.

Applications for this program will be ongoing giving creators and publishers to apply when they need to.

Work Commissioning Assistance

The second program will be known as the “Work Commissioning Assistance Grant.” The scope of this grant will be to “assist individuals, corporations, performers, ensembles, and presenters in the commissioning of SOCAN members to create new works in all genres of music.”

This program will work towards creating a greater reach outside of traditional regional, provincial and federal funding programs in an effort to commission new musical works from areas and people not previously met with other funding options.

This grant will work alongside a fundraising initiative in which the applicants grant will be matched based on how much they are able to raise during the fundraising period between $1000 to a maximum of $3000. Priority will be given to applicants who express an intent to provide a public performance of the commissioned work.

There will be two application periods per calendar year for this grant: March 15th and September 15th.

These two newly announced programs join the previously available “Travel Assistance” program. With the arrival of these new programs, SOCAN has made their attempt to diversify their funding and assistance options to greater breadth of creators.

More information, including application guidelines, can be found here