The exploratory artist is extremely important, and this is certainly one of the areas that the council helps out big time. As for the other thing it can help out, I'll go back to my world of expertise, folk music, and give you a little example.
I was in Newfoundland about seven years ago producing an album for two traditional musicians from Newfoundland. They brought in a 70-year-old accordion player who blew me away. I'm a musician, and I've heard a lot of really good musicians, but this guy was incredible. He had never been recorded in his life, and everybody in St John's knew who he was. Outside of there, nobody knew who he was.
I wrote a letter to the Canada Council to say there's this fabulous musician in St John's, Newfoundland; he's 70 years old and carries a wealth of tradition with him--songs from all around the island. I told them I would like to be given a grant so we could record this guy. It wasn't a lot of money; I think it was $9,000 or something like that. We got the grant, and today, because of his CD, he's able to play at festivals in Winnipeg, the States, Quebec, etc. Before that nobody knew who he was. The man is a pure Canadian cultural treasure.