The CUTV Grassroots Coverage Fund provides funding to video and other coverage of underreported issues, social movements, and topics important to communities underserved by the corporate media (in keeping with our mandate adopted in 2013).
There are two kinds of applications to this fund:
Rapid response coverage – we can allocate up to $200 for events, press conferences, actions, demonstrations that are happening on a short timeline. The deliverables for rapid response coverage are typically either a short, lightly-edited video of a few minutes (e.g. few shots of a demonstration and a clip of one of the organizers explaining) OR unedited footage or live broadcast of a significant event.
Project funding – video projects involving teams of two or more people, with requests of up to $1500, will be considered by a Grassroots Coverage Fund committee that meets once a month. Request can include honoraria for production and creative work.
How we prioritize
Projects with the following criteria will be prioritized (you can still apply if you don’t meet some of them):
- Video: other types of coverage will be considered, but our focus is on video projects
- CUTV members: at least one CUTV member must be involved to be considered for funding; projects with more members will be prioritized
- Amplification: if the video highlights a demand coming from a community or a representative group, or brings an under-reported issue important to underserved community or movement more prominence
- Grassroots groups: if the organizations or groups involved are mainly driven by the energy of unpaid members (as opposed to staff-driven organizations mainly responding to funder priorities)
- Pertinent to Montreal, Quebec, or Canada: the fund does not cover anything that would be considered local news outside of Montreal, regional news outside of Quebec, or national news outside of Canada. Projects will be evaluated according to their relevance to our core viewership in Montreal.
How we review applications
Our grassroots coverage fund committee meets at the beginning of each month to review any applications over $200 from the month prior. Please submit your applications before 9 AM on the first Tuesday of each month in order to have them considered for funding, otherwise we will not be able to review your application until our next monthly meeting.
Since they are more time sensitive, rapid response applications are reviewed on an ad hoc basis shortly after the application is submitted.
Conditions
The following apply to all projects that receive funding:
- CUTV owns non-exclusive copyright and distribution rights, along with the content creators
- Videos include the CUTV front bumper
- Payment will be made upon delivery of agreed-upon production
How to apply
To apply for funding, fill out the following form. If you are applying for $150 or less, very short answers or “not applicable” are acceptable for many of the questions. However, successful funding requests over $400 will have thorough answers to each question.
Apply to the Grassroots Coverage Fund!
If you have any trouble with the form below, please feel free to email us at coveragefund@cutvmontreal.org
