Goverment of Canada increases support for young musicians of the morningside music bridge program

March 12, 2010

CALGARY – On behalf of the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, Lee Richardson, Member of Parliament (Calgary Centre), today announced additional funding for Morningside Music Bridge at Mount Royal Conservatory, a summer program that provides professional training to young musicians. With this funding, the Government of Canada is fulfilling a commitment made in 2009 in Canada’s Economic Action Plan.

“Canada must stay competitive in the global economy, and for artists, excellence begins with world-class training,” said Minister Moore. “We are confident that increased funding for arts training will help the next generations of artists reach a new level of artistic excellence in Canada and abroad.”

“We recognize the valuable contributions made by the arts community to the high quality of life we enjoy as Canadian citizens,” said Mr. Richardson. “We are grateful to the people at Morningside Music Bridge for helping talented young musicians attain their full potential and live their passion.”

 “In the midst of a challenging economic period, all non-profit arts programs are facing increasing challenges to maintain programming and balance bottom lines,” said Paul Dornian, Director of the Mount Royal Conservatory. “The Government of Canada’s support to Morningside Music Bridge has been the sole area of growth in our funding and has allowed us to balance the budget without reducing opportunities for the young artists we support. I thank you, our faculty thanks you, and most importantly, our students thank you.”

Morningside Music Bridge is a four-week performance-based program for piano, violin, viola, and cello students aged 12 to 18 from some of the world’s leading music schools. It allows young Canadian musicians to train with some of the world’s best. The program includes private lessons, master classes, chamber music, and recitals. The 14th Morningside Music Bridge international training program will be held from July 2 to 30, 2010.

Thanks to the Economic Action Plan, an additional $30,000 in funding will be added to the $70,000 that the Conservatory is already receiving for 2009–2010, bringing the total funding for this year to $100,000.

The Mount Royal Conservatory was founded in 1910 and is a Canadian leader in arts education. Today, close to 5,000 youth each year participate in the exceptional training offered in a variety of credit and non-credit programs, including music, speech arts, and theatre. The Conservatory is affiliated with Mount Royal University but is not funded as a provincial post-secondary education activity and does not grant post-secondary qualifications.

Canada’s Economic Action Plan provides $20 million over the next two years for training in the arts sector. It includes additional funding of $7 million in 2009–2010, as well as the renewal of an existing $6 million plus $7 million in new funds in 2010–2011. The budget is thus rising from $17.1 million to $24.1 million per year, an increase of 41 percent. The increased funding will be provided on an ongoing basis.

The Canada Arts Training Fund (formerly the National Arts Training Contribution Program) offers funding to non-profit Canadian professional arts training institutions for training of the highest calibre. With the success they achieve, artists trained in institutions that receive support from the Fund provide outstanding cultural leadership.