Funding arts programming has always been a real workout, and for performing arts shows whose underlying music is not Canadian and thus are cut out of the ‘distinctly Canadian’ higher level of funding, another curveball has been thrown out there for producers to field.

Rounding up a slew of funders and sponsors and a lot of rallying round of arts forces is the traditional solution, and such collaboration is key on two new initiatives out of the Bravo! box, as the artscaster gets in the salon with the National Arts Centre and Bravo!fact cozies up with tfo to give shorts access to a wider tableau.

Ottawa-based Sound Venture Productions, which produced the Footnotes ballet series on Bravo!, is now doing a classical music documentary series featuring musicians from around the world as they tour through the nac.

Wholenotes, six half-hours hosted by pianist Jon Kimura Parker which peep into the natural habitat of classical musicians, is slated to air on Bravo! Tuesday nights next year. nac is coproducer with Sound Venture, and the $600,000 series is shooting there, and may be using the orchestra as well. Individuals associated with the Montreal and Toronto orchestras will also be visited by the series.

SCN and Knowledge Network are the prelicensed second windows in Canada.

A French unhosted version is slated, which will be budgeted additionally.

The series is steaming ahead with ctcpf eip and lfp involvement, and Sound Venture president Neil Bregman is one of the lucky ones, as this is a documentary series and qualifies at the ‘distinctly Canadian’ level.

With performing arts series, no matter how Canadian the performers and producers may be, if the underlying music is not Canadian (ruling out most classical music), they are not eligible for the super Canadian bonus, as Bregman discovered with another project he was attempting to produce, but which he had to withdraw as it ultimately could not be financed without the full participation.

Fortunately, there are always new funding avenues being discovered. In tandem with tfo, Bravo!fact is taking its arts shorts funding into new territory with its first half-hour package, Dances For a Small Screen.

The compilation of three separate short dance videos produced by Mark Hammond and Laura Taler will air as a half-hour on both Bravo! (June 8 @ 8 p.m.) and the following week on tfo. Due to this longer-format window, the project, budgeted at over $200,000, accessed ctcpf funding from both the eip and lfp sides.

The federal tax credit, as well as the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, the nac and cultural sponsors also kicked in support.

The project is not only unique in that Bravo!fact and tfo’s Ontario doc funding collaborated to open new funding doors, artistically it is groundbreaking.

To make the dancers and choreographers come up with something new for the camera, the three teams were given footage and cost parameters, but no music. The music was chosen after the footage was delivered.

The Barber’s Coffee Break, directed by Taler, features monk Tedd Senmon Robinson performing to the Barber of Seville; The Golden City depicting dancer Jose Navas was directed by Moze Mossanen; and Motel, directed by Nick de Pencier captures Holy Body Tattoo – Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras – in their first separate performances.

The editor on all three is Vesna Svilanovic, Philip Strong is sound editor and Louise Garfield exec produced for Triptych Media. dops are Marcus Elliot and Michael Spicer.

In addition to Dances and Witnessed, directed by Allen Kaeja and Mark Adam, heading to the Canadian and American dance fests in June, a dozen of Bravo!fact-sponsored literary videos are screening at Toronto’s Royal Cinema May 27, including the preem of Elimination Dance, directed by Bruce McDonald who cowrote the piece (based on the Michael Ondaatje book) with Don McKellar.

Bravo!fact, which has been dishing up funds (over $2 million) for three years now, kicks in on 70 to 80 projects a year on average, typically a half dozen of which are fully funded – $25,000. Bravo! has non-exclusive broadcast rights while copyright remains with the awardee.

Bravo!fact exec director Judy Gladstone is looking at offering producers the option of including their shorts in thematically packaged hours to be sold internationally.