Waiting for a coronavirus COVID-19 test in Scarborough, Ontario. Image – iStockphoto: Bob Hilscher
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Deadlines Adjusted for Virus-Era Complications
As Publishing Perspectives readers will remember from our July announcement of the Marian Hebb Research Grants, Canada’s Access Copyright Foundation calls itself “an arm’s length foundation” of Access Copyright, the English-language Canadian copyright management agency.
The foundation’s stated purpose is to “provide support to creators and organizations engaged in the development and dissemination of publishable Canadian works in the literary and visual arts.”
And the new announcement is for another round of grants, this time worth an overall 40,000 Canadian dollars (US$30,460).
The Professional Development Grants are going this year to projects that include an examination of the connection between Artificial Intelligence and poetry.
Another is meant to allow an independent Canadian publisher to train an in-house sales assistant.
Margaret Reynolds
Another grant goes to the creation of a new multilingual play by providing the funds for an online playwrighting course.
Margaret Reynolds, co-chair of the Access Copyright Foundation, outlines the intent of these grants, saying, “A critical part of creative work is the opportunity to develop new skills, network, and meet with colleagues, and to learn and be mentored by more experienced peers.
“This year’s Professional Development Grants help to continue to further these important components that will ultimately result in new Canadian published works.”
2020 Professional Development Grants
- Art Babayants; Toronto, Ontario
- Frances Boyle; Ottawa, Ontario
- Janine Cross; North Vancouver, British Columbia
- Nora Decter; Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Michelle Elrick; Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Aaron Friend Lettner; North Vancouver, British Columbia
- Guernica Editions Inc.; Hamilton, Ontario
- Erica Isomura; Vancouver, British Columbia
- Terry Jordan; Quadra Island, British Columbia
- Carol Kavanagh; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
- Katherine Koller; Edmonton, Alberta
- Aleksandra McHugh; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
- Leanna Dawn McLennan; Vancouver, British Columbia
- Sean Michaels; Montreal, Québec
- Ontario Book Publishers Organization; Picton, Ontario
- Lisa Richter; Toronto, Ontario
- Mohammed Tabesh; Toronto, Ontario
- Jess Taylor; Toronto, Ontario
- Phoebe Tsang; Toronto, Ontario
- Kenneth Wilson; Regina, Saskatchewan
As was the case with last month’s announcement, the program has extended deadlines for these grants around the disruption of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, working with applicants on projects and goals upended and compromised by the onset of the outbreaks and mitigation efforts. An article here describes the program’s offer to applicants in various grant areas in terms of adjustments available under the pandemic’s complications.
These grants are awarded through a peer-adjudication process administered on behalf of the foundation by the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
Jurors for the 2020 Professional Development Grant program were literature professor Owen Percy; Manitoba Book Publishers executive director Michelle Peters; and Shoshanna Wingate, executive director of the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick.
In its 9:28 a.m. ET update (1328), the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center sees Canada with 128,380 infections and 9,144 fatalities, in a population of 37 million.
Toronto shoppers distancing on May 2. Image – iStockphoto: RM Nunes
More from Publishing Perspectives on Canada is here, our coverage of the work of Access Copyright is here, and more from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here and at the CORONAVIRUS tab at the top of each page of our site.