CBC is rolling out two new initiatives to support Canada’s arts community: Digital Originals, a new time-limited funding program with the Canada Council for the Arts; and Art Uncontained, a collection of arts and culture programming to connect audiences and highlight Canadian artists.

Offering a total of $1 million in funding from the Canada Council, Digital Originals gives artists, groups or organizations the chance to develop, create and share new or adapted projects with Canadian audiences online. Creators and makers can apply for a maximum of $5,000 in funding, with the Canada Council backing roughly 200 projects.

“Digital Originals will help to keep Canadian artists working, while connecting them to audiences from coast to coast to coast. In this time of social isolation, CBC/Radio-Canada is delighted to collaborate once again with the Canada Council and to kickstart creativity, bring creators’ work to new audiences, and ensure that our cultural sector thrives, now and in the future,” said CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Catherine Tait in a statement.

Housed on a dedicated CBC/Radio-Canada website, the pubcaster plans to showcase selected projects on one of its digital platforms. Additionally, these select featured projects will receive a $1,000 grant.

Meanwhile, Art Uncontained offers original digital content and series, in addition to podcasts, artist resources, curated art recommendations from CBC Arts, CBC Books, CBC Music and CBC Podcasts.

New original content part of the collection include: CBC podcast PlayME: The Show Must Go On (CBC Podcasts), launched on April 15, the program features audio adaptations of contemporary works from Canadian playwrights impacted by COVID-19; COVID Residencies (CBC Arts), which highlight video diaries from artists on how isolation has impacted their art; Art Apart (CBC Arts), original theatre from the National Theatre School of Canada’s Art Apart program; and Scenes From An Exhibition (CBC Arts), virtual tours of Canadian galleries and museums, to name a few.