Creative BC, a Canadian governmental programme that supports British Columbia’s creative sector, has launched a Pilot Podcast Program with a budget of $100,000 for creating new podcasts and supporting existing podcasters.
The funding is divided into two separate streams, each worth $50,000, with one dedicated to the creation of new podcasts and the other to supporting existing podcasts with financial support for production or promotion.
Each eligible project under the Podcast Pipeline can be awarded up to $10,000 from the funding budget and must be a documentary or narrative storytelling podcast pitch. The funding will go towards building a pitch for commissioning editors with research and pre-interviews, conceptualising and outlining, constructing episodes and chapters, and recording audio samples.
The second streamline, Podcast Connect, is divided into two sections, with the first helping existing projects improve and expand their audience by transforming their archive resources into a podcast format, creating companion podcasts to pre-existing commercial properties such as books, magazines and TV programmes, and covering training costs for the relevant skills needed. The second part can help increase discoverability with marketing support and promotional activities. Applicants are eligible for either or both sections of Podcast Connect depending on the proposal and can gain a maximum of $15,000 from the fund.
This initiative is part of Creative British Columbia’s aim to improve the presence of podcasts based in the region against other domestic and international podcasts. Canada is a growing market in the podcast industry, with 34% of Canadian adults being podcast listeners according to the Media Technology Monitor (MTM) Spring 2022 survey.
Podcasts or organisations can be eligible for funding if they have a registered society, company or non-profit in British Columbia or in Canada, headquartered in British Columbia, and have been established for at least one year. The deadline to send in applications is 30 April and each of the submissions will be assessed based on programme eligibility, viability and market potential, creative evaluation, and existing number of podcast subscribers.
Successful applicants are also required to publicly acknowledge the support from Creative BC by placing it in the audio credits and end credits of the completed production, and they are also encouraged to acknowledge the programme on social media.
