Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange National and International: Travel Grants
Deadlines
There are no deadlines for Travel Grant requests, but you are encouraged to apply a minimum of eight weeks in advance of your departure date.
The Canada Council will not accept incomplete applications or those submitted by fax or email. You will not be contacted if your application is incomplete.
Program Description
The Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange program assists Aboriginal artists (individuals) or artistic groups from Aboriginal communities to travel to other Aboriginal communities to share traditional and/or contemporary knowledge or practices that will contribute to the development of their artistic practice. The program fosters unique artistic relationships and networks through these collaborative exchanges among Aboriginal artists across all disciplines.
This program has two components: National and International Project Grants, and National and International Travel Grants. (There are separate guidelines and forms for the Travel Grants component.)
All Canada Council for the Arts programs are accessible to Aboriginal artists, arts organizations and artists’ collectives.
Eligibility
Canadian individual applicants, groups, collectives and organizations are eligible to apply to this program. Foreign applicants must have a Canadian group, collective or organization apply on their behalf.
Individuals
Individual applicants must be Aboriginal artists. They must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Individual artists must have:
- completed their basic training (not necessarily in a formal educational institution but perhaps through a mentorship process)
- produced an independent body of work
- received the recognition of their peers through the public presentation of their work or have been recommended by an established Aboriginal artist or an Aboriginal arts organization.
Organizations
Groups or collectives must have Aboriginal artists as a majority of their members. Their artistic direction must be provided by Aboriginal artists of Canada. Arts organizations must be owned and operated by Aboriginal people. At least 51 percent of the directors on their board must be Aboriginal people, and one of them must sign the application.
Groups, collectives or organizations must show an ongoing commitment to Aboriginal arts.
In Canada, Aboriginal peoples include Status, Non-Status, Métis and Inuit people. For this program, Aboriginal peoples also include Indigenous and Aboriginal people from outside Canada.
Full-time undergraduate students at a school, college or university are not eligible to apply. Graduate students are eligible only if they meet the Canada Council's definition of a professional artists, and if the project for which they are applying is not related to their program of study. (A letter from the applicants's program director that verifies this information must be included with the application.)
Note that meeting the eligiblity criteria allows you to apply to the program. However, it does not guarantee that you will recieve a grant.
Eligible Activities
The grants may be used for:
National project travel, which allows Aboriginal artists and artistic groups to travel within Canada to collaborate with prominent Aboriginal artists and artistic groups. This category also assists prominent Aboriginal artists or artistic groups to travel to an Aboriginal community in Canada to collaborate with Aboriginal artists and/or arts organizations.
International project travel, which allows Aboriginal artists and artistic groups from Canada to travel to other countries to collaborate with prominent or highly regarded Aboriginal artists and artistic groups, in response to an invitation. This category also supports projects to bring established Aboriginal artists and artistic groups from other countries to Canada, to work with Aboriginal artists and/or arts organizations.
Examples of Successful National Travel Grants
· An emerging artist collaborated with a Cree elder to document the traditional hide tanning process.
· An established artist was invited to lead a birch bark basketry workshop in Inuvik.
Examples of Successful International Travel Grants
· A traditional dancer was invited to participate in an Indigenous Arts Conference in New Zealand.
· An Aboriginal mask maker from the Maritimes was invited to do a two-week mentorship with a Native-American flute–master from Massachusetts.
Grant Amount
Restrictions
Applicants may apply to only one Canada Council travel grant program each fiscal year. (The Canada Council’s fiscal year is 1 April to 31 March.)
Amount Available
A maximum of $2,500 is available to applicants requesting Travel Grants. (An exception is made for applicants traveling to or from northern Canada: they can apply for a maximum of $3,000.)
Eligible Costs
- Travel costs (excursion fares only).
- Accommodation and per diem costs.
- The grants contribute only toward the personal travel, per diem and accommodation costs for the artist, group, collective or organization.
Ineligible Costs
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Publication costs
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Production costs related to music, film, dance, theatre, conferences or concerts or documentary films
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Cost of purchasing electronic equipment or power tools, including cameras
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Costs related to a powwow competition.
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The costs associated with fundraising events, galas and award ceremonies.
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The cost of attending museum exhibition openings and film launches.
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Honoraria for the applicants.
- Fees for guest artists or groups.
Asessment of Applications
Requests for Travel Grants are assessed by the Aboriginal Arts Coordinator and the Aboriginal Arts Program Officers of the Canada Council. An additional officer from a discipline not represented by the current Aboriginal Arts Program Officers is added to the assessment process when necessary.
The assessment committee bases its funding decisions on the availability of funds for this program, the overall artistic merit of each project in comparison with all other eligible applications, and the assessment criteria listed below. The assessment committee’s decisions are final recommendations for approval by the Canada Council Assessment Criteria
Assessment Criteria
- The main assessment criterion is the nature of the collaboration between the traveling artist or artistic group and the home artist or artistic group as well as the compatibility of the work and experience of the two parties. The proposal must describe clearly the planned collaboration between the artists or groups as well as the disciplines and communities involved.
- The proposal must provide a unique opportunity for developing and/or furthering the applicant’s or collaborator’s knowledge of Aboriginal artistic practices (contemporary or traditional).
- The artistic quality of the body of work previously produced by all the collaborating artists will be evaluated.
- Groups, collectives and organizations must show their commitment to the development of Aboriginal arts.
Application Form
Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange National and International: Travel Grants(pdf, 147 KB)
This form can only be printed and cannot be filled out on-line.
Further Information
This program summary provides an overview of the Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange program. For further details or to obtain an application form, contact Louise Profeit-LeBlanc, Aboriginal Arts Coordinator in the Aboriginal Arts Secretariat.
Telephone: 1-800-263-5588 (toll-free) or (613) 566-4414, ext. 4222
TTY (TDD) machine, for hearing-impaired callers: (613) 565-5194
Fax: (613) 566-4406
Aboriginal Arts Secretariat
Canada Council for the Arts
350 Albert Street, P.O. Box 1047
Ottawa ON K1P 5V8
May 2006