“
a popular sentiment in normal times — has to remind themselves
that they’re people, too, just trying to do the best they can, for as
many people as they can, as quickly as they can.
“All three levels of government have been really receptive to
artists’ message, I think,” says Mulholland.
As a prominent artist
advocate who has been in the
weeds of the creative indus-
tries’ lobbying efforts in recent
years, Mulholland has had a
front row seat as the govern-
ment scrambles to provide
financial relief then backfill the
holes in their plans. From the
early days of the shutdowns,
she has been in regular contact
with Ontario Minister of Tour-
ism, Culture, and Sport, Lisa
THE FELDMAN AGENCY’S
MacLeod, as well as the federal
TOM KEMP
Minister of Canadian Heritage,
Steven Guilbeault, and his parliamentary secretary, Julie Dabrusin.
She is also on a working group with Toronto Mayor John Tory.
“I think the metaphor that came up in one of these calls is,
‘We’re building a plane while we’re taking off.’ It’s monumental, obvi-
ously, what they’re trying to do,” Mulholland says sympathetically.
For the first month of the crisis, the biggest concern was
making sure musicians were eligible for the $2,000-per-month
Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). Based on the CERB’s
initial eligibility criteria, many worried that earning just small royal-
ty cheques, for example, would disqualify them from much-need-
ed government support. Thankfully, on April 15 th , Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau and Minister Guilbeault announced changes to
CERB so that artists and other gig workers were covered.
In that week-and-a-half of uncertainty, being the middle
person between the artist community and the government, Mul-
holland was in a bind. She was hearing the anxiety and frustration
building among artists; at the same time, she knew help was
coming but couldn’t say much.
“What scared me the most was hearing people say, you
know, ‘the government is trying to fuck us over,’ and what I was
hearing from government was, ‘we’re going to get there,’” she says.
“I think it was the panic from artists that really scared me, because
people were saying, like, ‘Should I take my music down off all the
platforms so I don’t have an income, so I can still apply?’ My mes-
sage, unofficially, kept being, ‘If you need it, apply for it because
this is what it’s for.’”
On the business side of things, Benjamin was and remains
in constant communication with governments to get relief for
shuttered venues, out-of-work promoters, and everyone else in
the association’s orbit.
“Government has been amazing,” she says off the bat. “I am
just so grateful for how flexible, in particular the federal govern-
42 C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N
ment, has been on the relief measures. We’ve gone to them when
we’ve heard what the challenges are, and sometimes these are
one-sentence emails to a senior official with no preamble, no
nothing, like, ‘Here’s a real-time story, take this to the minister.’
Or sometimes I’m lucky enough to go directly to the minister
with this anecdotal stuff and say, ‘It’s great that you’ve done
this, but look here at this little snapshot of how this is not work-
ing,’ and then the next day stuff changes. Of course, a lot of
sectors have similar challenges and it’s not just the live music
industry influencing policy, but we’re one voice and we’re
certainly in there loud and clear.”
When we spoke in late-April, Benjamin said they were
still in the “stop the bleeding” stage. The 75-per-cent em-
ployee wage subsidy and the federal-provincial partnerships
on commercial rent relief had been announced but not yet
implemented, in addition to other tax deferral and interest-free
loan programs. As well, Trudeau had just announced but given
few details about $500 million in federal support for the arts,
culture, and sporting industries.
“The reality with the $500 million is there are a lot of stake-
holders on that list,” offers Benjamin. “I’m cautiously optimistic
that it’ll do some good and we’ll certainly be working with
government to help point them in the direction we think it
would be most needed.”
Overall, though, remembering that 71 per cent of her
association’s members thought in mid-March that they would
be out of business within six months, does Benjamin think the
government’s programs have eased some of that concern?
“I am really optimistic, but again, we’re talking about three to
four months of relief measures. So, yes, it may keep the wolves
at bay for 12 to 16 weeks, but what really matters now is what
happens after that.”
For Britton at Six Shooter, “in terms of some of the business
support, I think the loan is excellent,” she shares. “The wage
subsidy is great, although it remains to be seen how you can
prove your loss of income. In the music industry, specifically for
labels and such, our loss of income isn’t going to show now; it’s
going to show in a few months when we get our payments.”
As holes in the existing government relief programs have
been filled and concerns addressed, Mulholland and Benjamin
say their focus now turns to extending the existing benefits like
CERB beyond the current four-month plan.
“I think this is going to be such a longer haul than orig-
inally thought,” says Mulholland. “If everybody is off the road
until at least January, and even then it’s not like on January 1 st
everyone is back and it’s ‘go play!’ That’s just not the way the
music industry works. So, there are going to have to be a lot of
really thoughtful, staggered assistance programs in the fall.”
According to Benjamin, the Ontario government is eyeing
late-May or June as the time to ease some restrictions and al-
low certain non-essential businesses to reopen. Other provinc-
es have already begun to implement their multi-phase plans.
“That bodes really well, I think, for all of our peace of mind to
know there is some good news. But the reality is for all live
music people, and all of the supply chain connected to those
stages, whether they’re indoors or out, the long-term piece
is huge. We need to really be working with government to
extend those programs and then be thinking about the long-
term – 18 months, 24 months, up to five years.”