Capacity Building Development Grants for Culturally Diverse Artists and Arts Organizations
Deadlines
15 September 2007 for Capacity Building Grants and Creative Capacity Grants
Anytime for Travel Grants to Stand Firm Participants (Cultural Diverse Arts Organizations) and Professional Development Travel Grants for Culturally Diverse Artists (Pilot)
Context for the Program
The Equity Office exists to support the Canada Council for the Arts’ strategic focus of equality of opportunity for culturally diverse artists, practices and organizations. Culturally diverse refers to artists, arts practices and organizations of African, Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern and mixed heritage.
Program Description
This program includes four components described below.
Component I - Capacity Building Grants for Culturally Diverse Arts Organizations
The Capacity Building Grants for Culturally Diverse Arts Organizations provide annual support to arts organizations that dedicate the majority (80 percent) of their financial and human resources to culturally diverse art practices and/or whose artistic content and leadership is primarily culturally diverse.
The objective of this component is to strengthen these organizations so that they can better support and sustain their artistic activity. Eligible activities supported by this program component advance effective management, financial capacity, leadership, marketing, governance, audience development, human resource management and related areas that lead to building capacity.
Organizations must have a commitment to building a permanent infrastructure or already have one in place. By permanent infrastructure, we mean the existence of financial, human, physical, technical and other resources that enable an organization to achieve long-term stability and sustainability.
Component II – Creative Capacity Grants for Culturally Diverse Arts Organizations (one time only)
The Creative Capacity Grants for Culturally Diverse Arts Organizations provide focused project support to arts organizations that currently receive grants from the Capacity Building Grants for Culturally Diverse Arts Organizations component and dedicate the majority (80 percent) of their financial and human resources to culturally diverse art practices and/or whose artistic content and leadership is primarily culturally diverse.
The objective of this component is to contribute funds to extraordinary projects and initiatives that build creative capacity of organizations by elevating the organization’s profile, increasing potential for partnerships and supporting bold artistic visions. Projects must encourage the dialogue and exploration between cultures and must demonstrate a clear impact on identified beneficiaries (e.g., organizations or communities beyond the applicants). Projects can include but are not limited to productions, exhibitions, conferences and presentations. Eligible activities supported by this program advance the organization’s potential to expand efforts in creation, production and dissemination.
Organizations must have a track record of continuous high assessment in other Council programs including operating and project programs.
Applicants who seek support from the Creative Capacity component may apply for other Canada Council programs but cannot duplicate funding by applying for the same project through other programs in the same fiscal year (1 April to 31 March).
Component III - Travel Grants to Stand Firm Participants (Culturally Diverse Arts Organizations)
The Travel Grants to Stand Firm Participants component assists with travel costs for professional staff of arts organizations receiving Capacity Building Grants for Culturally Diverse Arts Organizations and participating in the Stand Firm Initiative delivered by the Equity Office at Canada Council for the Arts. It assists arts professionals or board members of these organizations to travel in order to attend and participate in Stand Firm workshops and activities outside their city and/or province for the following purposes:
- peer to peer learning, networking and sharing within Stand Firm context
- attending a Stand Firm workshop led by a consultant or professional on a topic that advances capacity building skills (such as marketing and audience development, new technology, board governance, etc.), and
- participating as a workshop leader or guest speaker at a Stand Firm workshop and/or event.
Component IV - Professional Development Travel Grants for Culturally Diverse Artists (Pilot)
The Professional Development Travel Grants for Culturally Diverse Artists component assists with travel costs for arts professionals who identify as visible minorities (origins from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America or mixed racial heritage). It assists them to travel in order to attend and/or participate in conferences, workshops or activities that advance the applicant’s understanding of cultural diversity, equity and art. The objective of attending such events include the following:
- increased exposure to ideas, discourse, and debates focusing on cultural diversity, equity and art
- networking with other arts and diversity professionals to build contacts for possible partnerships in creation, production and/or dissemination, and
- obtaining knowledge, skills and or contacts which can be shared with home-based artistic and cultural communities.
Specific Guidelines for
Component I - Capacity Building Grants for Culturally Diverse Arts Organizations
This component offers two types of support:
- Project grant: Grants awarded up to a maximum of $30,000 per year
or
- Consolidation grant: Grants to a maximum of $30,000 awarded to organizations who are currently receiving annual or multi-year operating support through a disciplinary section of the Canada Council (Dance, Inter Arts, Media Arts, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, or Writing and Publishing). The Capacity Building Grant is consolidated or added onto the operating grant if your organization is:
- currently receiving an operating grant
- highly assessed from a Canada Council disciplinary art section operating grant, and
- highly assessed for organizational strength in the Capacity Building Program.
The next application date for Consolidation is 2008.
Applicants who seek support from the Capacity Building Program may apply for other Canada Council programs including the Flying Squad program in the same fiscal year (1 April to 31 March).
Eligible Applicants
Organizations must:
- dedicate the majority (80 percent) of their financial and human resources to culturally diverse practices and/or have artistic content and leadership that is primarily culturally diverse
- have received and reported on at least one grant from a creation, production or dissemination program of the Canada Council for the Arts since 2001, and
- have a plan projecting at least three years of infrastructure development including governance, management practices, financial self-sufficiency, market and audience development. This plan may be developed through the Canada Council’s Flying Squad program; or an equivalent program (such as the Canadian Arts and Heritage Sustainability Program through the Department of Canadian Heritage) or developed by the organization itself.
Eligible Activities
Proposed activities must advance or develop organizational strength beyond your current operational activities. You may use the funds for capacity building in the following areas:
- general management and administration
- human resource management
- governance and board development
- financial management
- revenue diversification and development, and
- marketing and audience development.
Examples of eligible activities include, but are not limited to the following:
- implementing bookkeeping and financial management systems
- hiring basic or additional staff
- acquiring or upgrading office equipment
- expanding administrative needs to exploit high demand for a company’s work, etc.
- implementing a communication and outreach strategy, and
- hiring extra personnel during a period of organizational change or growth that has been endorsed by the organization’s trustees (e.g., hiring an assistant general manager).
Grant Amount
Grants are available to a maximum of $30,000 annually.
Specific Guidelines for
Component II – Creative Capacity Grants for Culturally Diverse Arts Organizations (one time only)
Eligible Applicants
Organizations must:
- dedicate the majority (80 percent) of their financial and human resources to culturally diverse practices and/or have artistic content and leadership that is primarily culturally diverse
- have received and reported on at least one grant from a creation, production or dissemination program of the Canada Council for the Arts since 2001, and
- have received an Annual or Consolidation grant from the Capacity Building Program through the Equity Office.
Eligible Activities
Proposed activities must advance or develop creative capacity beyond your current operational activities. Some examples of eligible activities include the following:
- inviting artists of other culturally diverse traditions to work together for a particular production, exhibition or artistic event
- exploring new activities that will connect or provide greater access to the arts for different cultural communities
- organizing a conference that will benefit cross-cultural exchange
- developing initiatives with Aboriginal or culturally diverse arts organizations, and
- exploring new technologies for art making.
Grant Amount
Grants are available to a maximum of $50,000 for a one-year period. Only four grants will be awarded at the maximum amount.
Specific Guidelines for
Component III - Travel Grants to Stand Firm Participants (Culturally Diverse Arts Organizations)
Eligible Applicants
Applicants must be professional staff of arts organizations receiving Capacity Building Grants for Arts Organizations and/or currently participating in the Stand Firm Initiative, both delivered by the Equity Office at Canada Council for the Arts.
Organizations outside Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver may apply as needed. All other participants may apply once per fiscal year. (between 1 April and 31 March)
Eligible Activities
The Equity Office has established the following eligible activities.
- Travel by applicant outside of major urban centre to attend Stand Firm activities.
- Travel by applicant to lead a workshop in another region (a letter of invitation by Stand Firm facilitator and a description of the workshop must be included).
- Travel by organization from one major urban centre to another to attend a specialized workshop (the organization must provide a rationale as to why this particular workshop is important to the organization’s capacity building objectives and explain how the resource is not available in its region).
Grant Amount
Eligible costs include transportation, accommodation and per diem. Please enclose transportation and accommodation quotes for a maximum of two days, with your application. Any applications received without quotes will be deemed ineligible. Applicants must justify the amount requested by including a budget and itinerary.
Retroactive funding is not available.
Specific Guidelines for
Component IV - Professional Development Travel Grants for Culturally Diverse Artists (Pilot)
Eligible Applicants
Applicants must be professional artists or arts professionals. They must also be Canadian citizens or have permanent resident status, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The Canada Council for the Arts defines “professional” according to the following criteria:
- specialized training in the field (not necessarily in academic institutions)
- recognition by one’s peers (artists who work in the same artistic tradition)
- a commitment to devote more time to one’s artistic activity, if financially feasible, and
- a history of public presentation.
Candidates may receive only one Travel Grant each fiscal year (1 April to 31 March).
Eligible Activities
Travel in order to attend and/or participate in conferences or workshops that advance the applicants’ understanding of cultural diversity, equity and art.
The Equity Office has established the following eligible activities:
- conferences or events which are recognized by professional arts milieu and bring together arts professionals from the international arena
- conferences or events that are recognized by professional arts milieu and bring together arts professionals from the national arena, and
- conferences or events that are recognized by broader cultural communities (not exclusive to the professional arts community) and bring together arts professionals and others from the international, national or regional arena.
Grant Amount
Fixed amounts of $500, $750, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000 or $2,500 are available as a contribution toward applicants’ travel costs, based on excursion fares. However, the amounts of $2,000 and $2,500 are available only to applicants who are travelling to or from northern Canada or to international destinations other than the United States and Europe.
Eligible costs include transportation. Please enclose transportation quotes with your application. Any applications received without quotes will be deemed ineligible. Applications may include more than one destination, and applicants must justify the amount requested by attaching a detailed travel budget and itinerary.
Retroactive funding is not available.
Application Form
Capacity Building Development Grants for Culturally Diverse Artists and Arts Organizations (pdf, 187KB)
This form can only be printed and cannot be filled out on-line.
Further Information
Sheila James
Equity Coordinator
Equity Office
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, ext. 5221
TTY (TDD) machine, for hearing-impaired callers: (613) 565-5194
Fax: (613) 566-4406
August 2007