The Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada (or the AV Trust). originally the Alliance for the Preservation of Canada's Audio-Visual Heritage, was a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of Canada's audiovisual heritage, and to facilitating access to regional and national collections through partnerships with members of Canada's audiovisual community. In 2008, the Conservative government eliminated CA$300,000 in funding for the Trust, leading to its merger with the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television in 2009–10. History In 1994, a task force for the "Preservation and Enhanced Use of Canada’s Audiovisual Heritage," made up of archival expert across the country—including those from the then-National Archives of Canada—published a report in which they recommended, among other things, the founding of a "Consortium of stakeholders, as a charitable and non-profit corporation, should be established to co-ordinate the implementation of the national strategy, and to undertake projects and programs with respect to the preservation and enhanced use of the audio-visual heritage." Following the report, the Alliance for the Preservation of Canada's Audio-Visual Heritage was created in 1996 to create action plans, advocate, manage projects, administer funding, and develop standards for archivists and audiovisual producers. In 2000, the Alliance, now renamed to the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada, introduced three of its key programs: MasterWorks, the Astral Restoration Program, and the Feature Film Education and Access Program (FFEAP). Two years after the first FFEAP projects were developed, the Trust introduced the Music Memories program through a new Sound Recording Policy initiative of the federal Department of Canadian Heritage. In 2001, Universal Studios Canada and Universal Music Canada made 5-year funding commitments to programs to support heritage feature films and the preservation of heritage sound recordings, including screenings of MasterWorks films and supporting archival institutions in their projects to restore and make available endangered sound recordings. In 2008, Canadian Heritage ceased the AV Trust's two Education and Access Programs, the FFEAP, and Music Memories, removing CA$300,000 in funding for the Trust. In 2009–10, the AV Trust agreed to a merger with the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Programs In the past, the Astral Restoration Program, introduced in 2000, has worked with the Cinémathèque québécoise and the Toronto International Film Festival Group to restore and re-release films. In 2008, the Program announced plans to create High-Definition digital versions of 12 classic films, including MasterWorks honorees Les Bons Débarras (1980) and Thirty Two Short Films