Canada Magazine Fund

Support for Editorial Content Support for Business Development for Magazine Publishing

we are going to inform you about government funding for magazines

Numbers
Canada Magazine Fund and PAP: PAP: $45 million from Canadian Heritage, another $15 million from Canada Post CMF: $15.5 million Total: $75.5 million New Canada Periodical Fund: approximately $75 million

Facts
Canada Magazine Fund launched in 2000. The initiative was designed to... enhance the competitiveness of Canadian content magazines in an open marketplace by supporting the creation of diverse Canadian editorial content that will attract Canadian readers, by strengthening the sustainability and infrastructure of the Canadian magazine
industry as a whole, and by assisting Canadian magazines in exploring options for

growth and development that will provide greater access to Canadian readers.
(SEC Applicants Guide)

Objectives
1. Content 2. Sustainability

4 components
formula-based Support for Editorial Content (SEC) formula-based Support for Arts and Literary Magazines (SALM) project-based Support for Business Development for Magazine Publishers (SBDMP) Project based Support for Industry Development (SID)

Goals
vibrancy of the Canadian magazine industry work with other industry policy such as PAP produce high-quality magazines a variety of subject matter and creators development of business and infrastructure for small magazines

SEC Objective
Support for Editorial Content helps eligible publishers offset the cost of producing Canadian content.

Criteria
To be eligible for SEC a publisher must be: majority CDN-owned and -controlled in fact by CDNs have its principal place of business in Canada

Eligible Magazines
must be edited, designed, assembled, and printed in Canada appear in consecutively numbered/dated issues and be published under a common title at regular intervals no more than once a week. and at least twice every year have minimum paid circulation of 50% of their total circulation contain at least 80% CDN editorial content (calculated as a percentage of total editorial content)

Category A vs. Category B

Category A have minimum editorial expenses of $9000 per year or average editorial expense of $1000 per issue contain no more than 70% advertising content which is calculated as a percentage of total advertising and editorial content of the magazine have average total circulation of 2500 up to 10000 copies per issue Category B have minimum editorial expenses of $30,000 per year or an average editorial expense of $3000 per issue. contain at least 5% advertising content and no more than 70% advertising content which is calculated as a percentage of total advertising and editorial content of the magazine generate ad revenues of at least $20,000 have average total circ over 10,001 copies per issue

Canadian Content is:

text, photographs, graphics, illustrations created or translated by a CDN citizen or permanent resident of Canada. Canadian-derived content (authored by a Canadian) that is adapted or condensed by a CDN citizen or permanent resident is likewise considered CDN content by the CMF. if the author of the text, photographs, graphics, or illustrations is not Canadian, or if authorship cannot be established, the content is considered foreign

Which qualifies as Canadian content?

photo by Stephen Harper photo by Barack Obama

Ineligible Publications
publications that are electronic only fraternal, trade and professional orgs, trade unions, credit unions, co-operatives, religious, community, recreational or business publications which primarily report on the activities of the group or organization, or sell their services mags distributed to Canadians from any location outside Canada mags whose editorial content is primarily reproduced or repeated from current or previous issues of the same publication or of other publications mags in loose-leaf format mags published directly or indirectly by any government or its agencies newsletters, comic books, newspapers, community newspapers, weekly community papers, alternative newsweeklies, directories, guides, financial reports, catalogues, magalogues, schedules, calendars, timetables or listings.

Are you a newspaper?

Broadsheet format, tabloid format or outsized (larger than 8.5 by 11) Unbound Printed on newsprint of any quality Identified as a newspaper 2 points 3 points 1 point 1 point

Cover subdivided Advertising on front cover Divided into detachable regular sections
A publication with six (6) or more points is a newspaper

1 point 1 point 1 point

The most support via SEC in 2008-09

Title Amount Received

Maclean's

$393,053

Canadian Living

$216,334

Chatelaine

$225,084

Canadian Business

$172 752

Loulou (English and French editions)

$168,478

SBDMP Objectives
strengthen the financial viability increase access to the market develop next generation of magazine professionals enhance the diversity of titles and editorial content

Q: What can you do with SBDMP? A: Improve stuff, such as...

business practices circulation advertising editorial digitization (creation of) website

Criticisms of CMF
SEC rewarded profitability over cultural contribution Didn't demand that Cdn. mags tell Cdn. stories Multinationals advertise in mags that received SEC small regional (rural) magazines are left out free and online mags excluded little flexibility in spending e-circulation does not count strict rules about format restricted innovation and experimentation industry experts not included in forming of criteria

What Now? 2010

CMF?

PAP?

What Now? 2010

CMF? goodbye

PAP?

Introducing the Canada Periodical Fund

Three parts: Aid to Publishers Business Innovations Collective Initiatives
(where is SALM?)
Literary/Arts Mag recipients 2008-09

The CPF will:

build on previous programs and maintain jobs reallocate funding to small and mid-sized titles to support a diversity of Canadian magazines and newspapers throughout the country; [ed's note: REALLY?!] provide greater flexibility in spending funds strategically more funds for web and digital development reduce paper
(from: Heritage Canada News Release "The Government of Canada Creates Canada Periodical Fund to Better Support Magazines and Community Newspapers")

Winners and Losers

WINNERS farm publications (exempt from 1.5 million cap) magazines with large newsstand sales (especially in QC where newsstand sales are higher) Ethnocultural, aboriginal and GLBT mags other qualifying magazines LOSERS The big 5 (see next slide) Small scholarly, arts, and literary magazines Professional association magazines

(from: Masthead Online "Canada Periodical Fund: Winners and Losers")

The Big 5
Macleans: $1.45 million less under the new regime Canadian Living: $1.36 million less Chatelaine (English only): $1.2 million less Readers Digest (English edition only): $728,558 less Canadian House & Home: $123,492 Total to be re-distributed: approx. $4.9 million

Quotable
"The CPF will no longer offer support to titles that sell fewer than 5000 copies total per year, or specialized support for arts and literary magazines, including those that sell fewer than 5000 copies a year. A recent evaluation of our existing programs found that specialized funding for arts and literary magazines currently offered by the Department was duplicating the funding offered by the Canada Council
-Minister James Moore (via canadianmags blog)

From the point of view of our magazine or any other that [previously] received Canadian Heritage support, theyve created this dependency and now theyre basically withdrawing it and leaving us with no way to make it up... In that sense, its a bit of a cruel joke. - Andris Taskans , Editor of Prairie Fire (via quill & quire)

THE END
of small scholarly, arts, and literary mags?