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Media Arts Dissemination Project Grants

Deadlines

1 May or 1 November

If either of these dates falls on a weekend or statutory holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. Your completed application and all support material must be postmarked on or before the deadline date.

The Canada Council will not accept applications postmarked after the deadline, incomplete applications, or those submitted by fax or email.

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Program Description

This program assists organizations and collectives undertaking innovative, time-limited projects that disseminate Canadian independent media artworks to the public and/or develop critical discourse in the media arts field, with a view to developing knowledgeable and committed audiences and/or expanding Canadian and international markets for this work.

The Canada Council for the Arts defines the media arts as works in film, video, audio and new media. Independent means that the artist maintains complete creative control over their work.

Assistance is available through six program components:

  • Presentation
  • Circulation
  • Audience development
  • Market development and distribution
  • Conferences and symposia, and
  • Publications.

Priorities

Priority is given to the dissemination of artworks that are innovative in their content, their point of view or their approach to form or style. Innovation can also be based on the uniqueness of the subject or community represented.

Special consideration will be given to projects in areas identified as priorities by the Canada Council for the Arts. These priorities are:

  • Aboriginal artists and their works
  • culturally diverse artists and their works
  • artists from various regions and cultural communities
  • diverse audiences, including young audiences, and
  • international profile for Canadian artists and their works.

All Canada Council for the Arts programs are accessible to Aboriginal arts organizations and arts organizations of diverse cultural and regional communities of Canada.

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Eligibility

Applicant Eligibility

In order to apply, applicants must:

  • be incorporated, non-profit Canadian arts organizations, or
  • be collectives with three or more members. All members must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada, and be practising media artists and/or media arts professionals. Collectives do not need to be incorporated or have a permanent site. Note that applications must be submitted in the name of an entity (such as the collective or project) that is able to receive a grant payable to it.
  • pay artists’ and/or distributor rental fees for the Canadian, independent media artworks disseminated, pay writers for published work, and/or pay speaker fees for lectures or for participation in panel discussions. If you receive a grant, the Canada Council reserves the right to ask you for cancelled cheques or other proof of the payment of artists’ and/or distributor rental fees.

All projects supported through the Canada Council’s Media Arts Section must pay appropriate fees to participating artists. Fee schedules for media artworks are recommended by media arts distribution organizations and also by CARFAC. You should consult these sources if you require information about artist fee rates.

Applicants that have a final report and/or financial accounting overdue from a previous media arts project grant are not eligible. Public institutions, such as art museums, public galleries and cinematheques, are also not eligible.

Project Eligibility

Projects must disseminate or highlight a body of Canadian independent media artworks.

Projects focused on a single media artwork are not eligible. (Exception may be made for large-scale media art works. Contact the officer well in advance of the deadline to determine eligibility in these cases.)

Projects that use the web or other electronic media to disseminate works in other disciplines (such as dance, theatre, music, writing or the visual arts) are not eligible.

Production of media artworks and production training, such as technical or hands-on workshops, are not eligible.

Projects that have received funding through the Canada Council’s Media Arts Commissioning Program are not eligible to apply to this program for dissemination activity involving the commissioned artwork unless the proposed activity is clearly different from what was originally funded. The Canada Council must have received and approved the final report for the Commissioning grant before you may apply to this program.

Ongoing operating expenses—including permanent staff salaries, general administration and maintenance costs—are not eligible.

Capital costs and equipment purchases are not eligible.

Costs associated with the creation or commissioning of original media artworks are not eligible. Projects proposing to disseminate media artworks that do not exist at the time of application are also not eligible.

Costs associated with non-Canadian, non-independent or student works are not eligible. Although you are free to present whichever works you choose, these grants contribute only to the presentation of existing independent media artworks by professional Canadian artists.

Research and development expenses are not eligible. In all program components, projects should be well researched and developed at the time of application.

Refer to the application guidelines accompanying the form for the description of each project component for additional eligibility information for that activity.

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Grant Amount

There are no minimum or maximum grants in this program. Average grants in the past have ranged between $10,000 and $20,000. Note that you may receive less than the amount you request.

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Application Form

Dissemination Project Grants (pdf, 100 KB)
This form can only be printed and cannot be filled out on-line.

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Further Information

This program summary provides an overview of the Dissemination Project Grants program. For further details, please contact Kelly Langgard, Media Arts Section Officer.

Telephone: 1-800-263-5588 (toll-free) or (613) 566-4414, ext. 5251

TTY (TDD) machine, for hearing-impaired callers : (613) 565-5194

Fax: (613) 566-4409

Media Arts Section
Canada Council for the Arts
350 Albert Street, P.O. Box 1047
Ottawa ON  K1P 5V8

October 2005