After Nova Scotia productions racked up several Canadian Screen Award nominations last week, a couple of local artists are now highlighting the need for provincial funding.
A total of 20 nominations were shared between six local productions, including eight for The Trades. A workplace comedy starring Robb Wells (Trailer Park Boys), the series was recognized for Best Comedy Series, as well as other categories.
Another show that got noticed was Everybody’s Meg, a local web series that earned two nominations after receiving four the previous year.
“The recognition was super amazing,” says creator Katie McCulloch about the nominations. “The Canadian Screen Awards are the highest honour you can have in film and television so for this show, which was made with such a labour of love and (by) so many incredibly talented Nova Scotians, it feels amazing that it is holding its own on a stage with shows from across Canada.”
McCulloch says that, as the only East Coast production in the web category, the recognition shows regional productions can work, but they need provincial support.
“I just hope it sends a message that the talent we have here in Nova Scotia needs to be supported,” says the Tantallon native about the nominations. “We are being recognized on such a public and national stage, and if our own government and province can’t support us, what does that mean for the culture and ecosystem that we’re in?”
Another local nominee is Taylor Olson, whose comedy series, Hey Halifax, Hello! Today!, has earned two CSA nominations.
Olson says his show relied on provincial funds in order to get produced. Those funds have since been reduced, including one grant program that would help producers attend the award show in May, which, in turn, would allow them to make connections and create potential business going forward.
“If we’re going to do interprovincial co-productions with other companies and things like that, you have to go meet them, shake their hands, sit down with them for coffee,” says Olson.
This all comes more than a month after the province cut millions of dollars in funding, much of it to the arts sector, in its budget plan for 2026-27.
Without that funding, Olson says keeping Nova Scotia productions on the national stage will remain a challenge.