CBC/Radio-Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts unveil Creation Accelerator projects

CBC/Radio-Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts today presented the eight digital projects chosen for production as part of the Creation Accelerator, a catalyst tool launched in May 2019 to amplify digital creation in Canada and provide Canadians with more original content.

The artists whose projects were selected received financial support from the Canada Council and collaborated with CBC/Radio-Canada to develop their projects. They were also paired with independent producers to transform their bold, original ideas into digital projects. The works, ranging from podcasts to digital original web series, artistic performances, documentary and animation films, as well as sound art, will be produced and then presented on CBC/Radio-Canada digital platforms over the coming year. 

“Now more than ever, Canada’s public broadcaster is committed to helping our country’s creators shine and to bringing their art to new audiences, both here at home and around the world. Congratulations to the artists whose bold and original digital projects were selected, and thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts for their ongoing commitment to supporting and promoting Canadian arts and culture.”

Catherine Tait, President and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada

“Congratulations to the artists and creators whose innovation and creativity are now relevant more than ever. Initiatives like Creation Accelerator provide artists and arts organizations with a crucial entry point to the digital world. The Canada Council is proud to continue to partner with CBC/Radio-Canada to ensure original Canadian content rooted in this country’s inventive, diverse and dynamic arts sector is made available to growing numbers of Canadians.”

Simon Brault, Director and CEO, Canada Council for the Arts

Here are the projects being produced as part of the Creation Accelerator: 

• FUTURE FUTURES, by Company 605 and director Brian Johnson, taps into the science fiction genre to explore the digital evolution of the future human through a series of short experimental dance films that investigate the perceived borders of humanity and envision how we might move beyond. Future Futures is produced with Screen Siren Pictures Inc. 

• MIXED UP, by Ananya Ohri and Fiona Raye Clarke, is an animated adventure series for tweens, featuring two brave 10-year-old friends, Shree and Macoya, as they discover the world and chosen family in a magical and mysterious new community centre. Shree is an indiscriminate inventor, while Macoya is an enthusiastic performer, but what both girls have in common is a longing for the familiar. Produced with Davin Lengyel.

• DREAMS IN VANTABLACK is a poetic animated series featuring the voices of six Black youth. The young poets reach within to make sense of a world that has often silenced them, revealing their truths on bullying, mental health, identity and racism. Told through rotoscoping and 2D animation styles, the series is a journey into magic realism. Directed by Ian Keteku, Dreams in Vantablack is produced with Sherien Barsoum.

• Written and created by Lauren Gillis and Alaine Hutton, CONTENT FARM is a satire series that riffs on the proliferation of endless clickbait and internet throwup to playfully critique our relationship to social media and the internet. Fusing absurdist comedy and avant-garde mashup aesthetics, this series delivers an eerily plausible dystopia. Content Farm is produced with Archipelago Productions.

• HOW TO LOSE EVERYTHING is a series of animated short films that explore personal stories of loss. Created by Christa Couture and produced with Michelle St. John, each film is written and animated by a different pair of Indigenous artists, representing Cree, Ojibwe, Ktunaxa, Inuit, Chippewa, Potawatomi, Atikamekw and Métis nations. 

• EIGHTY THOUSAND STEPS is a first-of-its-kind app that allows podcast listeners to power the audio as they walk, one step at a time. Based on a true story, this interactive podcast follows creator/host Crystal Chan as she uncovers a decades-old family mystery. Eighty Thousand Steps is produced with Stitch Media.

• POLY is a six-episode documentary podcast chronicling the work of actors Marie-Joanne Boucher and Jean-Marc Dalphond as they create the documentary play Projet Polytechnique. Produced by Picbois Productions, Poly takes listeners inside the two actors’ creative process as they tackle complex, unsettling subject matter.

• LES AMOURS EXTRAORDINAIRES is a podcast produced by Transistor Média. This audio drama project consists of six 20-minute episodes exploring issues and questions around non-monogamous relationships. Through a chorus of characters, Les amours extraordinaires delves into emotional and love relationships that lie outside what most people would call “normal.”

The Creation Accelerator is one of many collaborations between CBC/Radio-Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts. In December 2020, the two institutions unveiled the projects selected for Digital Originals, which aimed to help artists pivot their creations to online audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic by either adapting existing works or creating original ones. CBC/Radio-Canada and the Canada Council are currently working together on Digital Now, an innovation initiative designed to stimulate the Canadian cultural sector’s recovery.

About CBC/Radio-Canada

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.

About the Canada Council for the Arts

The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada’s public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. The Council champions and invests in artistic excellence through a broad range of grants, services, prizes and payments to professional Canadian artists and arts organizations. Its work ensures that excellent, vibrant and diverse art and literature engages Canadians, enriches their communities and reaches markets around the world. The Council also raises public awareness and appreciation of the arts through its communications, research and arts promotion activities.

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