So you want to be in TV? Here's how

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Starting nest year, the future for aspiring, young Native broadcasters is going to get a lot brighter.

Last month, the Cancom satellite communications company announced a new internship program for young Natives from the North who show promise in the broadcasting and telecommunications fields.

"We have to create the future. It's not going to happen unless we make it happen," said John Kim Bell, a well-known Aboriginal orchestra conductor who introduced the program at the National Arts centre in Ottawa Dec. 14.

The Ross Charles Award was originally created by Cancom in 1987 to honor the achievements of an Aboriginal person in the communications industry each year.

After consultation with various Aboriginal groups, the award was revamped recently as an internship program to encourage and train talented Native youth for a future in broadcasting.

Cancom will administer the award with the Canadian Native Arts Foundation (CNAF) and Television Northern Canada (TVNC), the world's first Native satellite TV network.

Each year, three award recipients will spend 12 weeks as interns at Cancom facilities in Ottawa and Toronto, learning the ropes of planning, marketing, technology, public relations, fundraising and other aspects of broadcasting management production.

Bell, founder and president of the CNAF, knows a lot about learning the ropes in the arts industry. Just before going up to the podium to announce the award, he couldn't help but reminisce about his days as a young musician.

"When I was 18 years old, I went to New York City and ended up conducting a lot of Broadway musicals like On Your Toes and Cats, he recalled.

"That experience for me was quite invaluable; learning about financing, how to design sets, dealing with unions and that sort of stuff. Later when I decided to start staging my own productions for $1 million each, I actually had the hands-on experience of knowing how to do it. So training and education are everything. That's what we're trying to provide with this award."

Bell said that some kind of practical training is the key to creating a strong Native broadcasting industry in Canada.

"If we're looking to have a national or international Aboriginal (TV) channel or network, it'll never happen unless we have the infrastructure.

Unless we have the producers, the editors, the directors, the crew peopleunless we train them ourselves, we won't have it. So this is a step towards planning for the future."

To be eligible for the award, applicants must be First Nations, Inuit or Metis descent, live in the North (as defined by the Native Broadcast Access Program) and work in broadcasting, cable TV, telecommunications or affiliated fields. No exact age requirement is mentioned on the application form.

The program is also open to Aboriginal college or university graduates who live in the North and want to pursue a career in broadcasting or telecommunications.

The award was created in memory of Ross Charles, a Cancom vice president who was Ojibway. He died in 1987.

Deadline for application is Feb. 29, 1996. Call 1-905-272-6605 for application forms and information.