Resources for the Arts and Learning sector during the COVID-19 pandemic

Last updated: February 14, 2022

The following is a list of resources that could be useful during the emergency measures enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Click one of the following links to jump to that section of the page, or scroll down for the full list. The Canadian Network for Arts & Learning does not endorse any of the programs or groups listed and recommends independent verification by users. The information surrounding COVID-19 is rapidly changing and some information may be out of date. Please let us know if there is something that is listed in error, or if you would like a resource added by emailing info [at] eduarts.ca.

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Arts-Specific Resources
Community Groups
Surveys
Digital Learning, Collaboration, & Skill Sharing
Digital Platforms & Apps for Collaboration
General Resources
Financial Support & Paid Opportunities
Resources by Province

Arts-Specific Resources

ACTRA COVID-19 Updates

Canada Council for the Arts program and service updates.

Canadian Actors Equity Association

Canadian Crafts Federation Craft based COVID-19 Financial Relief Resources

Canadian Dance Assemble Resources & updates

CAPACOA Coronavirus Information for the Live Performance Sector - Google Doc updated daily with the intention to provide factual information, recommendations and resources to help the live performance sector prepare for an response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Canada.

CARFAC response to COVID-19

Choral Online Resource List A list intended for choral teachers of all levels to share best practices, links, hyperlinks, etc...

COVID-19 Emergency Resources For Marginalized Artists & Communities includes Mutual Aid Funds, Petitions & more.  Compiled by The Margin of Eras Gallery & CUE.

COVID-19 & Freelance Artists A list designed to serve freelance artists, and those interested in supporting the independent artist community, including actors, designers, producers, technicians, stage managers, musicians, composers, choreographers, visual artists, filmmakers, craft artists, teaching artists, dancers, writers & playwrights, photographers etc...

COVID-19 DELAYED / LOST REVENUE AND EXPENSES INCURRED Google Spreadsheet you can download and use to track lost revenue and expenses incurred.

Gig Cancellations due to Coronavirus: Survival Tips for Freelancers

Here's where Canadian artists and freelancers can find help during COVID-19 shutdowns A list regularly updated, provided by CBC Arts

How to be an online musician and work from home

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees List of resources

Music Managers Forum Canada - COVID-19 Updates - a page of resources, online sessions, insurance, policies, etc...

OMEA COVID-19 Response and Resources

Professional Association of Canadian Theatres COVID-19 Resource Page

Resources for Choral Professionals During the Pandemic We are seeing the creativity, ingenuity, and leadership of choral professionals as they create and share resources to help themselves and others respond proactively! This page is an attempt to collect many of these ideas and suggestions together.

Resources for Workman Arts Members (and other friends!) during COVID-19 closure Google doc including mental health resources, community care resources, worker resources, and things to do.

Sourceful An international list of community Google docs offering information on remote work, online meetings, parenting, etc

Teaching Theatre Online: A Shift in Pedagogy Amidst Coronavirus Outbreak

Community Groups

I Lost My Gig Facebook Group - I Lost My Gig is a space for arts and other vulnerable freelance and gig workers in Canada and beyond to share stories and resources addressing the impacts of COVID-19 and growing income precarity more broadly.  Full website launching March 20.

Piano and Instrumental Teachers with Coronavirus Concerns A Facebook group for piano and instrumental teachers who are concerned about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their teaching, and who want to support each other adapting to best ways to safely continue to provide music education to their students.

Theatre Education Distance Learning Facebook Group - A resource sharing and support network

Surveys

Digital Learning, Collaboration, & Skill Sharing

50 Online Art and Music Resources to Help Kids Learn & Create from Home

All Digital School is a U.S.-based, online educational resource platform that curates lesson plans, materials, and educational tech with the sole goal of helping educators and parents create better learning experiences for students.  Their resource directory includes over 2000 listings, over 600 of which are in the arts & humanities.

Amazing Educational Resources A large collection of free educational resources covering all subject matter.

Arthouse Alive At-home learning on their YouTube channel

Arts Education with Mrs. Armbruster

Arts in Isolation is Arts Etobicoke's new initiative to deliver free online art classes and cultural experiences that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home. 

ArtVenture Online There are lots of ways to stay connected with the McMichael collection, educators and artists through art activities, videos, tutorials and more from home! Stay tuned for new posts every week.

Chordify provides free chords for over 16,000,000 songs for guitar, piano and ukulele. The platform is frequently used in music classes and by students to look up chords.

Chris Scribe is offering daily lessons via Facebook live video from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. CST for students in Grade 1 to 8, with topics including Cree language and storytelling.

“Courage to Love” (and Teach) in the Time of Coronavirus Blog post including a collection of links which focus on independent teaching artists and their work.

Creating the Perfect Home Studio for Beginners Article offering an easy guide for newcomers who want to setup an audio/video/photo home studio

Cultural Offerings from the Montreal Museum of Fine Art

Digital Art Hive - Twice daily (1pm & 8pm EST) Zoom webinar providing the opportunity to share arts

Doodle Art Challenge - Free online workshops take place every Monday and Thursday at 11am for children and every Friday at 11am for adults.  The only materials needed are paper and any kind of drawing implements you have available. To join please send an email to deirdre [at] artwill.ca

GrammarCheck is an online English spelling and grammar checker that can help students gain more confidence in their writing

How the Gimquat Found Her Song In this award winning television adaptation of one of Platypus Theatre’s most beloved family concerts, audiences embark on a musical expedition across continents and through centuries to help a discouraged bird discover her unique voice. Along with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, viewers laugh, chant and sing along with the Gimquat and her wizard guide as they explore musical styles from Gregorian chant to rap.

#KeepMakingArt campaign toolkit includes a Campaign Calendar with key dates, a Messaging Matrix to help you draft your messages to stakeholders, and a Graphics Pack with tons of images optimized for every social media platform. The Campaign's goal is to provide the communications mechanism to aggregate resources, etc to support young people, their parents, artists, educators, and cultural organizations - especially during this tumultuous time.

Kick Start Arts! Online Sessions with Artists is an initiative offering teachers an opportunity to invite guest artists to work with their students within a virtual classroom

Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery Home Learning Resources Download learning resources and art activities for all ages inspired by KWAG's exhibitions and Permanent Collection

Literacy through Story in the Junior Division: An Oral Language Development Unit for Remote Learning PDF - Dr. Cathy Miyata's Junior Storytelling Unit for teachers

London Arts Live A partnership of the London Arts Council and London Free Press First, LAL-O will provide local artists with paid work – something they now desperately need. Second, LAL-O will provide Londoner's of all ages and backgrounds, with a wide variety of LIVE arts-based performances and educational activities. This will enable Londoner's to connect, in real time, with members of the London arts community, and with each other. Moreover, this will provide families with experiential creative opportunities such as drawing, dancing, signing and writing.

LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems! Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence at Home. Learners worldwide can draw, doodle and explore new ways of writing by visiting Mo’s studio virtually once a day for the next few weeks. New episodes will be posted each weekday at 1:00 p.m. ET and then remain online to be streamed afterwards.

McGill Art Hive Initiative A Facebook page facilitating live art making activities.

My Learning at Home - Manitoba Education On this page, you will find parent guides and suggestions on how to set routines, creating a space for learning, and helping your child.

OrKidstra’s KiddlyWinks For a limited time, families and kids across the world can freely discover the wonderful world of music through these fun, professionally filmed videos.  Kids will love singing, playing, moving and learning with these fun and engaging videos featuring KiddlyWinks Director Venessa Lachance!

Performing Arts Learning with Prologue A YouTube channel with new videos every Friday featuring performances, workshops, and activities

Quarantined Museum is a space of virtual exchange where the public is invited each week to react artistically to a theme, and partake in a virtual exhibition. The Musée d'art de Joliette (MAJ) team will share perspectives or finds about the theme throughout the week on the Quarantined Museum blog. We encourage the public to interact by commenting on our blog posts and submitting artwork for our weekly online exhibitions. The community’s creativity is at the very heart of this new virtual space.

SSO For You Some special programming courtesy of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra to enjoy from the comfort of your home

Stars & Catz Free Music Education Tools & Downloads A suite of music education tools and resources

Skillshare - An online learning community with thousands of classes for creative and curious people, on topics including illustration, design, photography, video, freelancing, and more.

SMCQ Education An education platform offering educational activities, comic books, audio excerpts, music scores, videos and posters.  A free account provides access to all their resources.

Social Distancing Festival is a website for celebrating artists and the work that has been cancelled/delayed/disrupted. Submissions have included clips from rehearsals, scenes done with cast-mates over webcam, recordings from previous workshops, design plans, and performances.

Virtual Museum Tours - A list of 12 museums offering virtual tours

Digital Workshops & Storytelling with author Rukhsana Khan Join award winning author, motivational speaker, and storyteller Rukhsana Khan on her YouTube channel for  discussions about books, literacy, and herself (in that order) in hopes of providing strategies for parents and educators to engage youth people with fantastic stories!

Virtual Music Events Directory GoogleDoc - a comprehensive, up-to-date resource for anyone seeking guidance on how to stage alternative music events in this moment of significant upheaval for the industry.

VOX Online Compass Music Academy will be featuring a musician every week, who will also run you through a song! VOX will remain free, but any funds you can spare that are sent to us will be sent to whichever musician is highlighted that week

VSO Interactive Online Classes & Courses The virtual classroom is ready for you with programs for all ages and interests running the month of April. The VSO School uses Zoom so that participants can interact with each other and the instructors, connecting through music from the comfort of home.

Young People's Theatre Inside With Imagination video series.

Youth & Family Interactive Workshops by Artists Inspire Grants Create art, music and stories – Professional Quebec Artists Connect, Collaborate, Create & Celebrate with you!

    Digital Platforms & Apps for Collaboration

    Adobe Creative Cloud - Currently offering Creative Cloud apps for free to students who would normally have access on-campus (available through May 31).

    Acapella allows you to collab with any musician around the world. Whether you’re a musician and you play the piano, guitar, flute, drums etc or love to sing a cover song or simply jam and record music - you can use Acapella singing app as a multitrack tool to create multi frame music videos.

    BlueJeans Cloud-based meetings and large interactive events that are simple, scalable and secure.

    CADENZA Music Practice App currently offering free trials.  CADENZA is a digital tool created to support music learning in studios, ensembles, and classrooms.

    D2L & Brightspace Community- Resources for changing from classroom to online courses during the COVID-19 Virus Outbreak

    Flipgrid is used by millions of PreK to PhD students, educators and families around the world, Flipgrid helps learners of all ages find their voices, share their voices and respect the diverse voices of others. Educators spark discussions by posting Topics to a classroom, school, professional learning community, or public Grid. Students record, upload, view, react, and respond to each other through short videos. Flipgrid is video the way students use video ... social, engaging and fun!

    Google Classroom - makes teaching more productive and meaningful by streamlining assignments, boosting collaboration, and fostering communication. Educators can create classes, distribute assignments, send feedback, and see everything in one place. Classroom also seamlessly integrates with other Google tools like Google Docs and Drive.

    Google Meet Premium video meetings free for everyone.

    GoToMeeting is currently offering free emergency remote work kits for health care providers, educational institutions, municipalities & non-profit organizations.

    How To Use MIDI in 2020: The Beginners Hack

    Internet MIDI is the premiere solution for long distance teaching and performing, enabling you to connect any 2 MIDI instruments together over the Internet. For Mac & PC.

    JamKazam Using JamKazam, you can play music with other musicians from your homes across the Internet as if you were sitting in the same room. You can record your performances at the track level, share your recordings, and even broadcast your live sessions to family, friends, and fans.

    jammr Jam together online with jammr! For all types of musicians no matter what level of skill or type of instrument. jammr is the easiest way to jam with musicians from all over the world. Whether you are a bass player in Los Angeles or a violinist in Japan - jammr let's you play without lag.

    Kami is the leading PDF & document annotation app for schools. Improve engagement and interaction in the classroom with Kami as your digital pen and paper. Kami is offering FREE assistance to schools impacted by Coronavirus closures occurring worldwide

    Microsoft Teams Invite everyone you work with to chat, meet, call, and collaborate all in one place, no matter where you are. Collaborate without compromising privacy and security.

    NINJAM is open source (GPL) software to allow people to make real music together via the Internet. Every participant can hear every other participant. Each user can also tweak their personal mix to his or her liking. NINJAM is cross-platform, with clients available for Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows.

    Side Door is a platform matching artists with spaces to create shows anytime, anywhere (including online).  

    Skype is built for both one-on-one and group conversations and functions via mobile, PC, Xbox and Alexa.

    Wire A comprehensive collaboration suite featuring messenger, voice, video, conference calls, file-sharing, and external collaboration – all protected by secure end-to-end-encryption. 30-day free trial of Wire Pro.

    Zoom - Video communications platform for video and audio conferencing, collaboration, chat, and webinars across mobile devices, desktops, telephones, and room systems.

    General Resources

    Canada's COVID-19 Economic Response Plan

    Canada Emergency Business Account - CEBA: Provides interest-free, partially forgivable, loans of up to $60,000, to small businesses and not-for-profits for rent, utilities, insurance, taxes and wages. Recently expanded to include an additional interest-free $20,000 loan, 50% of which would be forgivable if repaid by December 31, 2022, effectively increasing support from a max of $40,000 to $60,000, including a max of $20,000 that may be forgiven. Apply before March 31, 2021, through banks and credit unions.

    Canadian Emergency Rent Subsidy - CERS: Canadian businesses, non-profit organizations, or charities may be eligible for a subsidy to cover partial commercial rent or property expenses, starting on September 27, 2020, until June 2021. Program provides payments directly to qualifying renters and property owners, without requiring the participation of landlords.

    COVID-19 Flash Survey Findings Survey findings conducted by the Ontario Nonprofit Network

    Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians

    Information for Canadian Heritage grants and contributions recipients related to COVID-19

    International Baccalaureate Facebook Group A group to assist and support families across Canada with children in IB grades 11 &  12. (2019 - 2022).  The aim is to to help share information, support parents, students and share resources which complement the national efforts for home education.

    Managing Information Overload - Informal advice from Information Professionals

    Regional Relief and Recovery Fund for businesses and communities

    Support for culture, heritage and sport sectors

    Financial Support & Paid Opportunities

    The AFC - An emergency relief fund for those in the entertainment industry.

    Behind the Scenes - A charity providing financial support to entertainment technology industry professionals, or their immediate dependent family members, who are seriously ill or injured.

    Emergency Support for Workers in the Creative Community Netflix Media has allocated $100 million for Emergency Support for Workers in the Creative Community. Included in the support package is $15 million in emergency relief to be distributed by non-profit organizations, including $1 million to be shared by AFC and Fondation des Artistes.

    Equity Member Advisory re: Financial Issues - Equity is introducing some immediate measures to help members during this period, including delaying the May 1 basic dues billing, reducing the basic dues,etc...

    #IndigenousYouthRise COVID-19 Support Fund is a grant to support Indigenous youth and promote community wellness during the COVID-19 pandemic! The Support Fund offers up to $500 for online projects that occur in Canada and are Indigenous Youth led (ages 13-30). Submit a short application for the event/project you want to lead. Projects must take place virtually.

    SOCAN’s new Encore! Program will pay music creators for live online concerts

    Unison Benevolent Fund / Fonds de bienfaisance - A non-profit, registered charity that provides counselling and emergency relief services to the Canadian music community.

    Writers' Trust of Canada Emergency funding to professional Canadian writers in mid-project

     

    Resources by Province

    Atlantic Canada (general)

    Craft Alliance Atlantic Association COVID-19 Financing and Support Resources for Craft

    Alberta

    Alberta Foundation for the Arts COVID-19 information for AFA stakeholders

    Province of Alberta Funding for arts & culture

    Calgary

    Elephant Artist Relief - Emergency relief funds for artists.  Also seeking donations.

    Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo

    British Columbia

    British Columbia Arts Council Updates and FAQ

    Creative BC - Survey assessing the COVID-19 Impact on business activity, events, and project cancellations.

    Manitoba

    Conseil des Arts du Manitoba Arts Council Updates and FAQ

    New Brunswick

    ArtsNB Updates and FAQ

    The New Brunswick Workers Emergency Income Benefit A one-time income benefit of $900 is available for workers or self-employed people residing in New Brunswick who have lost their job due to the state of emergency. The benefit will help to bridge the gap between when a person lost their job or closed their business on or after March 15, 2020, to when the national benefit takes effect. The benefit will end on April 30, 2020.

    Newfoundland and Labrador

    Northwest Territories

    Nova Scotia

    ArtsNS news and updates

    Nunavut

    Inuit Art Foundation Emergency Artist Supports

    Ontario

    Ontario Arts Council COVID-19 FAQ

    Ontario Nonprofit Network resources to help nonprofits adapt and respond to COVID-19

    Ottawa

    COVID-19 Resources for Artists Courtesy of Arts Network Ottawa

    Toronto

    City of Toronto Arts & Culture Sector Resources

    COVID-19 Toronto App Collaborative effort by Torontonians to help the city through these difficult times.

    Glad Day Book Shop Emergency Survival Fund for LGBTQ2S artists, performers, tip-based workers and Glad Day.  The website allows you to both donate to the fund and apply for funding.

    Helping Toronto's Artists Survive COVID-19 With thousands of artists suddenly thrown out of work by COVID-19, Toronto Arts Foundation is partnering with Toronto Arts Council to help provide immediate relief.

    Akin Rent Relief Fund Provides current Akin artists and creatives with anonymous, one time emergency grants of $150-$300.

    Toronto Arts Council COVID-19 Updates Includes workplace resources, resources for artists and arts organizations, and a listing of emergency funding initiatives.

    Toronto Dancers COVID-19 Relief Fund GoFundMe campaign dedicated to freelance dance artists in Toronto.

    Prince Edward Island

    Emergency Income Relief for the Self-Employed - The Emergency Income Relief Fund is a temporary program put in place to support the self-employed who have been significantly affected by COVID-19.

    Quebec

    Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec - Des mises à jour et annonces du Conseil, et aussi des foire aux questions.

    ELAN COVID-19 updates, news, resources, and tools

    Indemnisation pour les artistes pigistes suite aux annulations de spectacles (COVID-19) une pétition pour les artistes pigistes du milieu culturel demandent aux gouvernements provincial et fédéral de compenser de façon urgente la perte de revenus occasionnée par les annulations d’événements culturels en raison du COVID-19.

    Quebec Drama Federation Resource Roundup

    Saskatchewan

    CARFAC SASK Artists Emergency Relief Fund In an effort to assist Saskatchewan visual arts who are experiencing financial hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic, CARFAC SASK is launching the ARTISTS EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND.

    SaskCulture COVID-19 Response Updates

    Saskatchewan Arts Alliance COVID-19 Resource List

    Yukon

    Yukon Artist Relief Fund - The mission of the Yukon Artist Relief Fund Society is to provide short-term financial assistance to professional visual artists living in Yukon who are in urgent need because of debilitating health issues or personal tragedy.