Atlantic artists may have to rely more on locals crowds in years to come. (CBC)

Some of Atlantic Canada's top musical acts may be spending less time on the road next year following cuts to federal programs that helped them reach international markets.

The federal government has said it will cut seven arts programs worth about $20 million a year, effective March 31, 2009. Those programs fund business development, administrative support and research for arts organizations across Canada.

Two of those programs, PromArt and Trade Routes, helped bring international delegates to the East Coast Music Awards.

"To be honest with you, it's very difficult to figure out what's going on," Darrin White, executive director of the P.E.I. Council of the Arts told CBC News Thursday.

"Some of the decisions I just can't quite make sense of, but I am worried about what direction this is taking us."

The East Coast Music Awards are well-known as a cultural showcase, but they are also an international trade show. Part of their purpose is to sell and export Canadian music overseas.

ECMA officials say the programs were a good investment. In the two-year period following the ECMAs in Charlottetown, musicians signed overseas contracts worth $1.1 million. P.E.I. musicians who toured outside Canada as a result included Vishten, Barachois, Paper Lions, Les Girls and Richard Wood.

The Conservative government now appears to be phasing out some of the funding programs that help put the ECMAs together. The trend has artists in other disciplines worried. Bryce Elsley, the student artist in residence at the Arts Guild for August, fears more cuts may be coming.

"Local art plus international art is quite important, and promoting it is the most positive thing you can do," said Elsley.

ECMA organizers are meeting in Corner Brook, N.L., this weekend, planning a united front to argue the business merits of arts funding. The cuts won't affect the ECMAs slated for Corner Brook next February, but after that those federal funding programs will be gone.