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National Support Organizations

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  • Actors’ Fund of Canada

    The AFC is the lifeline for Canada’s entertainment industry. Through compassionate and confidential support, we help Canadian entertainment professionals maintain their health, dignity and ability to work. The AFC is an expression of the community’s good will, helping entertainment professionals when they are at their most vulnerable due to injury, illness or other personal hardship.

    https://afchelps.ca/

  • ACTRA

    ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) is the national union of over 27,000 professional performers working in English-language recorded media in Canada, including TV, film, radio and digital media.

    We are actors, recording artists, comedians, announcers, stunt co-ordinators and performers, dancers, narrators, voice performers, hosts, choreographers, models, singers, background performers, puppeteers and more.

    ACTRA’s principal role is to negotiate, administer and enforce collective agreements to provide performers with equitable compensation as well as safe and reasonable working conditions.

    ACTRA is proud to be a leading voice for Canadian culture and the development of Canada’s audiovisual industries. We lobby for regulation and government policies that protect our culture and encourage audiovisual production in all genres, thereby expanding work opportunities for Canadian performers.

    ACTRA Performers’ Rights Society (PRS) operates as a performer collective management organization (CMO) with a mandate to represent the rights and interests of artists who perform in audiovisual productions and on sound recordings.

    https://www.actra.ca/about-us/

  • Canada Arts Presentation Fund (Government of Canada)

    Provides financial assistance to organizations that professionally present arts festivals or performing arts series (arts presenters) and organizations that offer support to arts presenters.

    Canada Arts Presentation Fund

  • Canada Council for the Arts

    Offers a broad range of grants and services to professional Canadian artists and arts organizations in music, theatre, writing and publishing, visual arts, dance, media arts, and integrated and circus arts.

    canadacouncil.ca

  • Canadian Association of Stand-up Comedians

    CASC will engage aspiring and established professional Canadian comedians through advocacy, career opportunity, support for programming, as well as professional development and industry education. CASC will strive to enrich and further Canada’s professional comedy industry domestically and abroad.

    https://canadianstandup.ca/

  • Canadian Authors Association

    Provides writers with a wide variety of programs, services and resources to help them develop their skills in both the craft and the business of writing, enhance their ability to earn a living as a writer, and have access to a Canada-wide network of writers and publishing industry professionals.

    https://canadianauthors.org/national/

  • Canadian Crafts Federation

    As a Federation of organizations, the Canadian Crafts Federation / Fédération canadienne des métiers d’art works with the Provincial and Territorial Craft Councils and affiliate organizations to unite, enrich, empower and celebrate the professional contemporary craft sector through collaborative action, networking, and community development.

    https://canadiancraftsfederation.ca/

  • Canadian Dance Assembly

    Strives to cultivate a strong national voice for Canadian professional dance and to support the development of resources for this field of artistic expression.

    https://cda-acd.ca/en/

  • Canadian League of Composers

    The Canadian League of Composers (CLC) serves the interests of Canada’s art music composers. Through advocacy, communication and partnerships, the CLC upholds and nurtures a favourable artistic, social, political and economic environment for its members and their work.

    https://composition.org/

  • CARFAC

    Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC) is incorporated federally as a non-profit corporation that is the national voice of Canada’s professional visual artists.

    https://carfac.ca/

  • CARFAC-RAAV Visual Arts Fee Schedule

    The CARFAC-RAAV Minimum Recommended Fee Schedule provides guidelines on what visual and media artists should be paid for their copyright and other professional services. Canadian Copyright laws provide artists with the right to be paid for exhibitions and reproductions.

    https://carfac-raav.ca

  • Directors Guild of Canada

    The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) is a national labour organization that represents over 5,000 key creative and logistical personnel in the screen-based industry covering all areas of direction, design, production and editing. The DGC negotiates and administers collective agreements and lobbies extensively on issues of concern for Members including Canadian content conditions, CRTC regulations and ensuring that funding is maintained for Canadian film & television programming.

    https://www.dgc.ca/en/national/the-guild/about/

  • Graphic Designers of Canada

    GDC® is Canadaʼs national certification body for graphic and communication design and, since 1956, has established standards for design professionals, educators, and leaders. Through our certification program, GDC licenses the unique CGD™ certification mark to members whose services meet rigorous, standardized criteria. The CGD certification mark is recognized across Canada as the mark of professional services and ethical business conduct.

    GDC is a member-based organization of design professionals, educators, administrators, students and affiliates in communications, marketing, media and design-related fields. Our members come together via nine chapters across Canada to advocate for the advancement of the design profession.

    https://gdc.design/

  • PACT

    (Professional Association of Canadian Theatres) For the betterment of Canadian theatre, PACT provides leadership, national representation and a variety of programs and practical assistance to member companies, enabling members to do their own creative work.

    pact.ca

  • Playwrights Guild of Canada

    As a national arts service organization, the Playwrights Guild of Canada offer over twenty-five programs that promote and protect playwrights. Through this work, they also provide many opportunities for the public to access, explore, and enjoy the work of playwrights.

    https://playwrightsguild.ca/about/what-we-do/

  • Professional Photographs of Canada

    The Professional Photographers of Canada is a diversified group of creative artists dedicated to the highest standards in professional imaging. We welcome photographers of all genres to join our community of dedicated professionals.

    https://www.ppoc.ca/

  • SOCAN

    The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a not-for-profit organization that represents the Canadian performing rights of millions of Canadian and international music creators and publishers.

    socan.com

  • Songwriters Association of Canada

    The S.A.C. exists to nurture, develop and protect the creative, business, and legal interests of music creators in Canada and around the world through advocacy, education, and community.

    https://songwriters.ca/default.aspx

  • Unison Benevolent Fund

    Unison Benevolent Fund is a non-profit, registered charity that provides counselling and emergency relief services to the Canadian music community. We are here to help professional music-makers in times of hardship, illness or economic difficulties.

    For many, a career in music is a dream come true; however, the reality is that many members of the Canadian music community do not have access to the services that can make all the difference in a time of need: sick leave, medical benefits, pension plans, and unemployment insurance. Music makers can easily find themselves unprepared to deal with the financial and emotional burdens of an unforeseen emergency or illness. The Unison Benevolent Fund provides a lifeline in these times of crisis, and is there to ensure in the health of our friends, colleagues and collaborators.

    The Unison Benevolent Fund is an assistance program – created and administered for the music community, by the music community – designed to provide discreet relief to music industry professionals in times of crisis. There are two distinct types of support available through the fund.

    https://unisonfund.ca/about/mission

  • Writers Guild of Canada

    The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) is a professional association of more than 2,300 English-language screenwriters. WGC members are the creative force behind Canada’s successful TV shows, movies, and webseries, and their work brings the diversity of Canadian life and culture to the world’s screens.

    The WGC supports Canadian screenwriters through negotiating and administering collective agreements with independent producers and broadcasters to ensure that screenwriters earn fair pay and benefits, and advocates for policies that foster Canadian programming and production. The WGC is also an essential professional hub for screenwriters, bringing them together as a community, and boosting their profile in the industry and beyond.

    https://www.writersguildofcanada.com/