Creative Saskatchewan today announced a partnership with SaskTel to administer the Creative Saskatchewan SaskTel Equity Fund.

The Creative Saskatchewan SaskTel Equity Fund is designed to provide funding support to Saskatchewan-based television production. The financing for this fund comes from SaskTel and is not connected to any other grants provided by Creative Saskatchewan.  SaskTel’s funding to Creative Saskatchewan amounts to approximately $440,000 per year.

"We are excited about this partnership with SaskTel," said JP Ellson, CEO, Creative Saskatchewan. “The Creative Saskatchewan SaskTel Equity Fund is a great complement to the programs we currently manage.” 

As a provider of television services, the CRTC regulates that SaskTel make financial contributions to support the production of Canadian programming. SaskTel can make financial contributions to the Canadian Media Fund (a national fund) and a CRTC certified independent production fund.  The CRTC recently approved the Creative Saskatchewan SaskTel Equity Fund as a certified independent production fund.  SaskTel makes the maximum contribution permitted by the CRTC so Saskatchewan producers have the greatest likelihood of benefiting from the funding. 

A jury of industry professionals with no direct connection to or conflict of interest with the applicant will adjudicate applications; preference will be given to applications who demonstrate significant economic, cultural and employment benefit to the Saskatchewan industry.

"SaskTel is pleased to be able to contribute to this important fund," said Ron Styles, SaskTel President and CEO.  “Our Province is full of talented and creative people and this gives them an opportunity to make valuable contributions to local communities while sustaining Saskatchewan’s vibrant visual media arts community.”

Interested screen-based media production companies can visit the Creative Saskatchewan submission website at www.creativesask.ca for additional program and application details.

About Creative Saskatchewan
Creative Saskatchewan is dedicated to the growth and commercial viability of Saskatchewan's creative industries; visual arts and craft, publishing, music and sound recording, live performing arts, and screen-based media. Creative Saskatchewan's funding programs are designed to introduce Saskatchewan's creative products to the global marketplace. The agency facilitates the expansion of a business environment advantageous to the growth of the creative industry and to the growth of new employment, investment and production opportunities in Saskatchewan, and encourages and supports innovation, invention and excellence in the creative industry by stimulating creative production and new models of collaboration. For more information, visit www.creativesask.ca.

About SaskTel
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation (SaskTel) is the leading full service communications provider in Saskatchewan, with $1.1 billion in annual revenue and over 1.45 million customer connections including over 600,000 wireless accesses, 528,000 wireline network accesses, 230,000 internet accesses and 95,000 Max™ (TV) subscribers. SaskTel offers a wide range of communications products and services including competitive voice, data, internet, entertainment, national security, messaging, cellular, wireless data and directory services. In addition, SaskTel International offers software solutions and project consulting in countries around the world. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have a workforce of approximately 4,100 employees. Visit SaskTel at www.sasktel.com.

Creative Saskatchewan contact:
JP Ellson
Creative Saskatchewan
jpellson@creativesask.ca
306-535-6753

SaskTel contact:
Tara Tibeau
SaskTel Manager of External Communications
Tara.tibeau@sasktel.com
306-777-4548