I think there's the fact of the four artists whose names have been put on the table here today and who were part of the hearings. I read the transcripts and thought, “Boy, is there ever some confusion around where the money's coming from”. For example, Zubot and Dawson, we were there for them. We funded their record, Tractor Parts, the record they claimed launched them. We funded them with a record that happened before that.
And there's Andrea Menard, the Métis singer from Saskatchewan, who is claiming that The Velvet Devil is what launched her career. We were there supporting it. We've continued to support her.
And there's Alex Cuba, and Tanya Tagaq, the Inuit throat singer.
I really believe that the 600 people we have each and every year listening to these artists and deciding who's going to get funding may in some cases be the same ones as the council.
We're supporting artists from all genres. We're not focused on the money being repaid. Sometimes you'll have a success story that leads everyone to get excited that there's a good return on investment, but we're supporting more artists who are not succeeding, because we're there in the beginning and helping them at that stage where....
You should look at our annual report, and I'd invite all of you to take a look at it. You are going see names in our most recent one that you are not going to know, but in three to five years those are the names you will be recognizing, because it takes that long for their careers to get developed, and we're there helping them every step of the way.