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Music Festival Programming Project Grants

Deadlines

  • 15 February, for festivals taking place between 1 June and 30 November
  • 15 September, for festivals taking place between 1 December and 31 May
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Program Description

Music Festivals Programming Project Grants assist Canadian non-profit music festivals to produce specific projects within their overall festival programming. The Canada Council for the Arts’ assistance is intended to support original and interpretive programming involving Canadian artists that includes elements of artistic risk and vision, and that challenges audiences.

Assistance is designed to encourage music festivals to develop new programming initiatives, enhance existing programs, and introduce Canadian artists from diverse regions and cultural backgrounds to new audiences.

Priority will be given to projects featuring Aboriginal music, music of diverse cultures and by culturally diverse artists, and music for young audiences that expands their artistic horizons. The presentation of Canadian works is also a priority of this program. Projects involving forms of music such as baroque and early music, where few Canadian works exist, must feature Canadian soloists and/or conductors.

These are a few examples of eligible projects:

  • a special concert or series of concerts resulting from a collaborative artist residency
  • the premiering of a large-scale Canadian work commissioned by or for the festival
  • innovative thematic programming as part of a single or multi-venue festival, and
  • the programming of artists performing styles of music that are new to the festival and that enhance its general programming.

The overall music festival is not the project. These project grants are intended to fund specific components of festival programming. Applicants must clearly define their project, as in the examples above. Applicants submitting their entire program for funding will be considered ineligible.

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Eligibility

Music festivals eligible for support under this program:

  • present the music festival as the applicant’s core activity
  • feature a number of artists and  last more than one day, but take place within a concentrated time period and typically utilize more than one performance venue
  • have as their purpose the dissemination of music and feature music as their sole or primary artistic discipline
  • are curated events displaying a distinct artistic vision
  • are national in the scope of their programming and must have representation from three provinces or territories in addition to their own
    (Note: The purpose of the program is not primarily to bring out-of-province artists to the festival; representation from a variety of provinces and territories is understood to be a core part of an eligible festival’s regular activity
  • have presented at least two full editions by the date of application and be produced by a Canadian non-profit organization
  • demonstrate community support through earned revenues (usually in the form of ticket sales), funds raised, gifts- and/or services-in-kind, and volunteer support
  • pay professional artists’ fees, and
  • present one or more of these forms of music: classical, electro-acoustic, Aboriginal, folk, jazz, musique actuelle, contemporary and new, world and other non-commercial forms of popular music.

Music festivals may submit only one request to this program per fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Organizations currently receiving operating funds from the Canada Council for the Arts are not eligible to apply.

Multidisciplinary festivals that include music programming may apply to the Multidisciplinary Festivals Project Grants program of the Canada Council’s Inter-Arts Office.

All Canada Council programs are accessible to Aboriginal artists or arts organizations and artists or arts organizations from diverse cultural and regional communities of Canada.

First-time applicants must contact the appropriate Music Section Officer to clarify the eligibility of their project prior to applying.

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Grant Amount

Applicants may request contributions towards:

  • artistic costs (artists’ performance fees, travel expenses, accommodation and per diem expenses, etc.)
  • production costs (sound equipment, crew, staging, lighting, venue rental), and
  • promotional and publicity costs, including programs.

Only costs directly related to the proposed project may be included.

Applicants must not claim expenses already funded through other granting programs such as the Canada Council for the Arts’ Music Touring Grant Program and the Department of Canadian Heritage Arts Presentation Canada Program. Operating costs, administrative salaries and other costs not directly related to programming are also not eligible for support.

Contributions are available to a maximum of $20,000 per festival. Given the limited funds available for this program, applicants may not always be awarded the full amount they requested.

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Application Form

Music Festival Travel Grants (pdf, 172 KB)
This form can only be printed and cannot be filled out on-line.

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Further Information

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

Telephone: 1-800-263-5588 (toll-free) or (613) 566-4414 and contact one of the following Music Officers:

  • Richard Davis, Non-Classical Music, ext. 4294
  • Karen Barber-Ing, Classical and New Music, ext. 4243

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

September 2005