Nine Canadian artists are receiving brand new video grant funding today, as recipients of the inaugural Music Video Production (MVP) Project, a partnership between RBCxMusic and the Prism Prize.

The announcement comes nearly a year-and-a-half after MuchFact ceased to exist, slashing crucial video funding for Canadian artists. The MVP Project was created in 2018, and potential recipients who identified as “emerging artists” were asked to submit music and video proposals to a peer-based jury.

The artists who will receive this year’s grants are:

• Beatchild and the Slakadeliqs, with producer Rinku DasGupta and director Dan LeMoyne (Toronto).
• GOVI, with producer Imad Elsheikh and director Jorden Lee (Ajax, Ont.).
• Jeremy Dutcher, with producer Julie Baldassi and director Chandler Levack (Toronto).
• Jordan Klassen, with producer Shelby Manton and director Farhad Ghaderi (Vancouver).
• Milk & Bone, with producer Sebastien Hotte and director Soleil Denault (Montreal).
• Sean Leon, with producer Noor Khan (Scarborough, Ont.).
• Tim Baker, with director/producer Jordan Canning (St. John’s).
• Wild Black (Saskatoon, Sask.), with producer/director Lindsay Goeldner and director Lulu Wei (Toronto).

Jessie Reyez is the ninth recipient, though she didn’t apply for the grant — her work is being commissioned by the MVP Project, and Reyez will be working with producer Mad Ruk and director Peter Huang.

Each artist pairing will receive approximately $10,000 for their projects.

“I think these types of grants are very helpful to the music community and will invite others to have a seat at the table, groups in the past who have been left out,” said director LeMoyne, who will be working with Beatchild and the Slakadeliqs.

“This particular grant will be used to perpetuate a song that is being used for a very large McDonald’s ad campaign,” said Beatchild. “With this grant we have the ability to build upon the McDonald’s opportunity but with images that are reflective of the artist and not the product.”

Baker, formerly of Hey Rosetta!, will be using the grant money to create a video for his song “Dance,” which he released last October.

“Having the MVP on board will allow us to make something more impactful than we could have otherwise done,” Baker and director/producer Canning expressed in a joint statement. “And the costs the artist no longer has to bear can be put to so many other important uses, for this video and most likely toward another. [MVP’s] support is absolutely instrumental in us pulling this off, and we couldn't be prouder to be part of this inaugural round.”

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