Canadian Genius

I just found out that the Canadian government offers grants to Canadian music act, which is a amazing because it gives a band or artist the ability to work on their craft without having to worry about making ends meat. They offer grants for both recording and touring. I learned about this when I heard that Broken Social Scene took advantage of this opportunity. It is just another reason why I might need to emigrate to Toronto or Vancouver.

I believe that this probably had two outcomes that I think can create great music. The first is that application for grants can be very difficult to write and it takes a certain amount of motivation and commitment to finish one. Not only that it takes effort to go out ans seek the grant and figure out how to write it. The point being is that the artist going after these grants must be motivated and intelligent people, which would lead you to think that their music in turn would be motivated and intelligent. I love intellectual music that makes you think, politically, artistically, or any new way. This is one of the reasons that I love K'Naan so much. On that thought, K'Naan is considered a Canadian artist having gotten his start in Toronto. I wonder if he's ever taken advantage of this opportunity...

The other outcome of this program is that it frees artist to focus entirely on their music. It give them time and energy to produce new and interesting creations. The only band that I know for sure applied and received a grant is broken social scene, but think about all the other great Canadian acts; K'Naan, Arcade Fire, Feist, STARS, Metric, The New Pornographers, The Fembots, Wolf Parade, and I am quite sure there are many many more that I have never heard and need to know. also some of the best acts in music history have come from out of Canada and I am excited that the Canadian government is supporting these artists in such an ingenious way.