The Canada Media Fund has launched a $360,000 pilot program to accelerate projects funded through its Experimental stream.

The Accelerator Partnership Pilot Program (A3P) is designed to give projects in the stream increased access to mentorship, markets and capital by connecting producers – who have received previous CMF development or production funding in the CMF experimental stream – with Canadian business acceleration programs.

“The CMF is building links with the investment sector, incubators and accelerators to provide CMF-funded projects with access to additional capital and expertise,” said CMF president and CEO Valerie Creighton in a statement.

The CMF has selected eight accelerators to work with producers in developing or refining their projects, accelerate market rollout and stimulate company growth. The selected accelerators include: Execution Labs (Montreal); FounderFuel (Montreal); GrowLab (Vancouver); HYPERDRIVE (Waterloo region); ideaBOOST (Toronto); Inno-Centre (Montreal); INcubes (Toronto); Ryerson Futures and Digital Media Zone (Toronto).

The CMF will connect the accelerators with projects that have opted-in for consideration in the A3P program, and the accelerators will choose projects based on their normal selection criteria.

Once an accelerator has selected a CMF funding recipient, the CMF will provide funding to the A3P applicants, to a non-refundable maximum of $30,000.

Full guidelines and eligibility criteria are available online.