The Canadian Film Centre Thursday announced that it will launch The Slaight Family Music Lab this fall.

The lab is designed to promote and integrate music creators, including songwriters and composers, into the onscreen process and create business opportunities to increase use of Canadian musical talent onscreen, the organization said.

“The addition of an onscreen music lab completes the circle of integrated programs offered at the CFC,” centre CEO Slawko Klymkiw said, adding that the Screen Composers Guild of Canada has signed on as an industry partner.

“I believe you should discuss the music before you make the film,” CFC founder and chair emeritus Normal Jewison told a crowd gathered for a summer party on Toronto centre’s grounds, adding, “It is the most powerful marriage with the moving image that we have. The music is everything.”

The Music Lab will offer The Slaight Music Residency, aimed at two composers and two songwriters per session who want to work in screen-based entertainment.

Mychael Danna is on board as composer chair, and Blue Rodeo co-frontman Jim Cuddy has signed on as songwriter chair.

The nine-month curriculum will focus on developing business opportunities, professional network expansion, and increasing skills related to onscreen musical knowledge and the relationship of music to film and TV.

The residency will begin this September with a series of practical workshops and master classes over two to three weeks. The goal is to bring the CFC’s music, film, TV and digital media residents together with music and screen-based entertainment heavyweights and business and technical professionals.

The lab will also launch the Slaight/CFC Online Music Resource Bank, a method through which the music, film, TV, digital and gaming industries can access Canadian musical talent through a simplified rights and licensing process.

Also announced at the event was a new industry partnership between the CFC and Ernst and Young to provide workshops and masterclasses on entertainment business best practices and entrepreneurial skills for CFC residents.

Eligibility criteria and applications for the music lab will be available July 2, 2012.

Photo: Jim Cuddy, Gary Slaight, Norman Jewison, Slawko Klymkiw, Mychael Danna / by Ernesto DiStefano