Jean A. Chalmers Fund for the Crafts
Deadline
1 March
If this date falls on a weekend or statutory holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. Your completed application and all required support material must be postmarked on or before the deadline date.
The Canada Council will not accept applications postmarked after the deadline date, incomplete applications, or those submitted by fax or email.
Program Description
Each year, an amount of up to $50,000 is available to the Canada Council for the Arts to support special initiatives in the Canadian crafts community. Awarded through the Jean A. Chalmers Fund for the Crafts, this sum represents the income from an endowment of $500,000 made to the Canada Council by the late Mrs. Chalmers in 1985.
The Chalmers Fund enables the Visual Arts Section to assist non-profit, Canadian visual arts organizations to undertake projects that contribute to the advancement and understanding of the fine crafts in Canada. Individual fine crafts professionals are also eligible to apply, but only to the Research and Policy Development Assistance component of the program.
The Chalmers Fund provides partial funding for one-time projects through three program components: Research and Policy Development Assistance, Special Project Assistance and Pre-publication Assistance. Priority consideration will be given to projects designed to foster a climate of analysis, evaluation and dialogue.
Research and Policy Development Assistance
Grants from this component contribute to the direct costs of investigating or documenting historical or contemporary developments in the fine crafts, as well as issues that arise from the practice of the art form. Institutions may also apply for funds to engage the services of short-term development consultant curators, to develop acquisitions policies and exhibition programs for contemporary fine crafts.
Special Project Assistance
Special Project Assistance grants contribute to the direct costs of conferences, seminars, symposiums, lecture series and artists’ workshops designed to advance knowledge about and understanding of crafts in Canada. Short-term residencies by senior practitioners and the exchange of professionals between craft organizations are also eligible for consideration.
Pre-publication Assistance
These grants contribute to the pre-printing costs of publications on the fine crafts. Project examples include anthologies, monographs or the results of research, which should be intended for national or international distribution. Assistance is also available for special issues of Canadian craft periodicals. Organizations may apply for support in collaboration with a publisher or independently. Proposals for the use of film, videos, audio, CD-ROMs or the Internet to address contemporary issues in the fine crafts may also be submitted.
Publishers who are participating in the Canada Council’s Book Publishing Support program may have access to funding for the publication of these materials. For more information, contact Catherine Montgomery, Writing and Publishing Section Officer, at extension 5574 (use the telephone numbers listed on the cover page of these guidelines).
Eligibility
Non-profit, Canadian visual arts organizations with a commitment to the professional fine crafts communities in Canada may apply for assistance to any of the three components listed above, but only one component in each competition.
Individual fine crafts professionals (for example, artists, curators, critics and writers) may apply to the Research and Policy Development Assistance component only. They must be professional artists or arts professionals, and Canadian citizens or permanent residents, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
All Canada Council for the Arts programs are accessible to Aboriginal artists or arts organizations and artists or arts organizations of diverse cultural and regional communities of Canada.
Projects related to the presentation and documentation of an exhibition are not eligible for support from this program. They should be submitted instead to the Visual Arts Section’s Project Assistance to Visual Arts and Fine Craft Organizations program.
Restrictions
All applications must indicate the payment of fees to professionals contributing to the project. These fees must be accounted for in the final report and financial accounting, which all successful applicants are required to submit.
Applicants that have not submitted their final report and financial accounting for any previous grant Canada Council grant are not eligible to apply.
Grant Amount
There are no minimum or maximum amounts that may be requested or received through this program. Generally, grants will vary between $5,000 and $7,000, according to the requests received and the peer assessment committee’s evaluations. Applicants may not be awarded the full amount requested.
Retroactive funding is not available, and projects scheduled for the three-month period following the competition deadline are not accepted.
Application Form
Jean. A. Chalmers Fund for the Crafts (pdf, 172 KB)
This form can only be printed and cannot be filled out on-line.
Further Information
José Niaison
Visual Arts 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, ext. 5269
TTY (TDD) machine, for hearing-impaired callers: 613-565-5194
January 2007