Role

The Canada Council for the Arts is a national arm's-length agency created by an Act of Parliament in 1957. According to the Canada Council Act the role of the Council is "to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts." To fulfill this mandate, the Council offers a broad range of grants and services to professional Canadian artists and arts organizations in dance, interdisciplinary and performance art, media arts, music, theatre, visual arts, and writing and publishing. It also promotes public awareness of the arts through its communications, research and arts promotion activities. The Council administers the Killam Program of scholarly awards, the Governor General's Literary Awards and the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. The Canadian Commission for UNESCO and the Public Lending Right Commission operate under its aegis. The Canada Council Art Bank, which has the largest collection of contemporary Canadian art in the world, includes some 18,000 artworks, 6,400 of which are currently rented to more than 200 government and corporate clients.

Funding

The Canada Council for the Arts reports to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Its annual appropriation from Parliament is supplemented by endowment income, donations and bequests. The Canada Council is called from time to time to appear before parliamentary committees, particularly the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. Its accounts are audited by the Auditor General of Canada and included in an Annual Report to Parliament.

In 2004-05, the Council awarded some 6,100 grants to artists and arts organizations and made payments to 14,441 authors through the Public Lending Right Commission. Grants, payments and awards totalled $132.3 million.

The Canada Council for the Arts
350 Albert Street, P.O. Box 1047
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5V8
1-800 263-5588 or (613) 566-4414