MT&T, as part of a bigger initiative by the Stentor alliance of telcos, is pouring $1.9 million into a Culture and New Media Development Fund for Nova Scotia. Stentor aims to create a nation-wide fund to support new media applications for culture.

mt&t president and ceo Colin Latham, unveiling the details at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, said that arts and cultural industries contribute $645 million a year to the province’s economy and employ 29,000. Latham positioned the fund as a part of mt&t’s ‘growth strategy.’

Much of the fund, designed to support projects using new media as an influence or innovation, has already been promised. The Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation’s new media fund will get $400,000 and ‘a major sound stage multimedia lab’ will get $100,000 for development. Triad Films will be getting $100,000 for the creation of The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis, a video and cd-rom package.

On the training front, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design gets $290,000 towards a new program in multimedia design innovation, and Dalhousie’s Daltech facility gets $100,000 to help launch its new Masters in Internetworking degree, the first in North America.

The Nova Scotia Museum of Industry will receive $160,000 to create an interactive gallery for new media.

mt&t will also be using the cash to create two funding pools for artists. The $480,000 TARA Venture Capital Fund will finance projects contributing to the integration of new media through schools, government and business to advance the province’s cultural and economic status. The $130,000 Nova Scotia Arts Council Innovation Program will support traditional artists who apply new media to their work.