Broadcasting Accessibility Fund
As broadcasting content becomes widely available across many platforms – televisions, computers, phones – it is critical to ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with the practical and technical means to access this content.
The Broadcasting Accessibility Fund (the Fund) was established for this purpose.
The first of its kind in the world, the Fund is an independent and impartial funding body that will provide grants for innovative projects that will advance accessibility to broadcasting content in Canada.
The Fund anticipates that project proposals will address a range of accessibility needs, and encourages project submissions from a variety of applicants. Those that propose new technologies and applications are expected to employ inclusive design, which sees accessibility built in at the earliest possible stage of its development.
The Fund will support projects that work to advance accessibility to content across all platforms, and contribute to a model for innovation that will establish Canada as an international leader in broadcasting accessibility.
Our CEO/Funding Officer works in close collaboration with the Board of Directors, and in particular with a Grant Committee of the Board that will review all funding applications and make recommendations to the Board for final approval of projects.
The Fund was created as part of the tangible benefits package associated with BCE’s acquisition of CTVglobemedia. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved its creation together with initial funding of $5.7M.
What's Happening
Fall/Winter 2018
Follow the Fund on Twitter!
You can now follow real-time updates from the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund on Twitter. Follow @Broadcast_Fund, and stay on top of the latest news!
The Fund announces five new projects in the fourth round of grant funding!
The Broadcasting Accessibility Fund (the Fund) announced today that it will award $615,330 in grants to five new, innovative projects designed to advance accessibility to broadcasting content, with a total of $2.5M over four rounds of funding committed to addressing ongoing gaps in broadcasting accessibility.
To learn about these new projects, read the full Press Release here: https://www.baf-far.ca/en/news-releases
The Fund congratulates this round’s grant recipients and is excited to work with these groundbreaking leaders in broadcasting accessibility in the coming months. Stay tuned for the Fund’s announcement of the next Call for Letters of Intent, the first step in our application process, in February 2019.
Spring/Summer 2018
New Staff at the Fund!
The Broadcasting Accessibility Fund (the Fund) is pleased to announce its new Project Coordinator, Alena Wickware. Alena officially started in January 2018 and brings five years of Project Management expereince to the role. Alena monitors all current projects, assists with the administration of the Core Grant Program and carries out other special initiatives. Welcome Alena!
