Aboriginal Media Arts Program
Deadline
The application deadline is 1 April. If this date falls on a weekend or statutory holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. (This is the last possible date your application and support material can be postmarked, not the date it needs to arrive at the Canada Council for the Arts.)
The Canada Council will not accept applications postmarked after the deadline, incomplete applications, or those submitted by fax or email.
Program Description
The Aboriginal Media Arts Program offers grants to Aboriginal media artists to help them:
- develop their careers;
- produce independent media artworks.
This program reduces the historical barriers to media arts production by Aboriginal artists and encourages the use of media arts as a tool for artistic expression.
Decisions on which artists receive grants are made by a peer assessment committee of Aboriginal artists.
Aboriginal peoples include Status, Non-Status, Métis and Inuit people of Canada.
Media artworks are works in film, video, audio or new media. Film and video productions in all styles, including documentary, experimental, drama and animation, are accepted.
"Audio" refers to sound recording to create sound-scapes, sound installations and sound sculptures. Audio also refers to documentary, narrative, conceptual and live works for radio. (Please note that audio works do not include music. Artists interested in music projects should contact the Music Section of the Canada Council for the Arts.)
"New media" refers to works that use multimedia, computers, or communications or information technologies for creative expression.
This program supports only independent productions and projects, which are defined as those over which the artists/directors maintain complete creative and editorial control.
You may apply for funding to cover the costs of:
- research, scriptwriting and concept development for an independent film, video, audio or new media artwork;
- experimentation with media arts techniques;
- professional development in the media arts, including training, workshops, residencies, mentorships and internships, etc.
- production and completion of an independent media artwork.
Eligibility
Who May Apply?
- You must be an Aboriginal person of Canada (Status, Non-Status, Métis or Inuit) and be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada. You need not be living in Canada when you apply.
- Individuals or groups of up to three artists working collaboratively on a project may apply.
- If you are a full-time student at a school, college or university, you are not eligible to apply. If you are not a full-time student, you may apply for funding to take training courses in media arts (but not to get a degree).
- You must maintain complete creative and editorial control over the project you are proposing. Other funding sources must not compromise your creative and editorial control.
- You must be the director of the production. Producers may not apply.
Please note: Although the Aboriginal Media Arts Program is open only to Aboriginal peoples of Canada, all Canada Council for the Arts programs are accessible to Aboriginal artists, who may apply to any of the Canada Council media arts programs for which they are eligible.
Eligible Activities
Your project may involve only one activity (such as writing a film script or creating a media artwork) or it may involve a combination of activities (such as writing a film script, plus creating a production, plus taking media arts training).
The Canada Council supports work that is driven by a desire to use media as a means of artistic expression. Priority is given to projects that involve personal, cultural or community expression.
The Canada Council favours projects that are innovative in their use of the media arts. Innovation may be found in the content of the project, in the artist’s point of view, or in experimentation with form, technology or style.
Your work need not deal with Aboriginal themes or topics.
You are encouraged to seek distribution, broadcast and sales of your completed works. However, projects that are pursued only for profit or financial gain are not supported.
Ineligible Activities
The following types of activities are not eligible for support:
- projects done on contract for, or produced by, a government agency or private company;
- commissioned projects (except where the commission gives the artist full creative control, such as festival or curatorial commission);
- industrial projects;
- instructional projects;
- promotional projects;
- student projects;
- projects using film/video, new media or audio simply as a tool to record or document existing artworks;
- projects that transfer a film/video, new media or audio project finished in one format to another, without modification of the original;
- artists’ personal promotional Web pages and CD-ROMs;
- "calling card" films;
- pilots for television;
- commercial television projects;
- music videos;
- public-service announcements;
- development of financing for a project.
If you have any doubts about the eligibility of your project, please contact the Media Arts Section Officer well before the program deadline.
Other Restrictions
Final reports for any previous grants you have received from the Canada Council for the Arts must be submitted and approved before you may apply for a new grant. You may, however, apply for activities not related to production before you have completed a prior production grant.
You may apply to the Canada Council only once for a grant to professional artists each fiscal year (from 1 April to 31 March) and to only one program. The exception to this is Travel Grants, for which you may also apply once each year.
Professional, established artists who work in more than one discipline and meet the eligibility criteria for established artists in both disciplines may apply to two grants to professional artists programs per fiscal year. However, successful applicants must accept or refuse the first grant offered by the Canada Council within two weeks of notification. If they accept this grant, any other application they made during the same fiscal year will be withdrawn.
You are eligible to receive only one grant from the Canada Council for the production component of a project.
You may submit the same project to the Canada Council for the Arts only twice. If your second request for funding is turned down, you must submit a new project the next time you apply.
Grant Amount
Emerging Artists:
To apply as an emerging artist, you must either have completed basic training in media arts production or have an experienced mentor or creative team who has agreed to work with you on your project. Basic training can be formal (university or college studies) or informal (production courses, workshops, hands-on experience in media arts production, etc.).
Grant amounts range from $3,000 to $16,000, in increments of $1,000.
Mid-Career Artists:
To apply as a mid-career artist, you must have been practicing for at least three years and have created and released more than one independent media art work in a professional context.
Professional artists in other disciplines who meet the Canada Council’s eligibility criteria for their discipline are also considered as mid-career artists. To be eligible, you must demonstrate that you have basic training in film/video, new media or audio, or have an experienced mentor who has agreed to work with you on your project.
Film and video directors and other media arts professionals with at least five year’s experience in the industry may apply as mid-career artists.
Grant amounts range from $3,000 to $60,000, in increments of $1,000.
If your application involves only research and/or scriptwriting activities, the maximum grant amount is $20,000.
Established Artists:
To apply as an established artist, you must have been working as an independent media artist for at least seven years and have created and released a body of independent media art work in a professional context.
Grant amounts range from $3,000 to $60,000, in increments of $1,000.
If your application involves only research and/or scriptwriting activities, the maximum grant amount is $20,000.
All Applicants
If you receive a grant for research on a project, you may apply later for the production of the same project.
Grants for production projects are a one-time-only contribution towards the total cost of production and post-production.
Remote Community Allowance
If costs are high because the community where you live is extremely remote (fly-in, "north of 60", etc.), you may apply for up to 15 percent more than the grant amounts listed above.
Eligible Expenses
You may use grant funds for:
- subsistence costs for the time you spend working on your project (up to $2,000 per month per applicant);
- research equipment, space rental, travel/
transportation costs;
- tuition, professional fees and honoraria (for mentors, script editors, consultants, elders, etc.).
If you are applying for production activities:
- pre-production costs (for example, story rights acquisition and location scouting);
- salaries and fees for cast, performers, production crew or post-production personnel;
- rental costs for equipment, studios and other facilities;
- travel and transportation costs;
- payment for technical services, materials and processing;
- contingency funds;
- costs of promoting, launching, reproducing and copying a work, to a maximum of 5 percent of the grant amount.
Productions that you have already begun are eligible for completion funding. However, a grant covers only the costs that you incur after the application deadline.
Ineligible Expenses
You may not use grant funds to:
- buy equipment or pay capital costs;
- develop financing for a project.
How to Apply
Applicants are required to complete an application form, available from the Media Arts Section, and to submit it with the required support material. More details on the support material requirements are provided in the application guidelines. The form and the support material are essential for the assessors, and the Media Arts Section may not accept applications it considers incomplete.
Copies of this document, and all Media Arts Section program guidelines and application forms are available from our website.
The Canada Council does not send or accept applications by fax or email.
Assessment of Applications
Assessment Process
Grants are awarded through a competition of all eligible applicants. Because the amount of funds available for each competition is limited, not all qualified applicants will receive a grant. In recent years, approximately one in six eligible applicants has received a grant (this has varied from competition to competition).
Decisions on who receives grants are made by a peer assessment committee. Committee members are independent Aboriginal media artists or other Aboriginal media arts specialists. They are chosen to fairly represent men and women, both official languages and various communities, regions, and areas of expertise.
The peer assessment committee members select the projects that they feel should be supported. As many of these projects as possible are funded, based on the money available in the program.
Assessment Criteria
Projects are selected based on the following factors:
- the artistic and creative merit of your project;
- the professional development benefits you will receive from your project;
- your technical and production skills;
- the clarity of your project budget and production budget (if applicable), and how reasonable they are.
Peer assessment committee decisions for this program are final recommendations for approval by the Canada Council.
Notification of Results
You will receive written notification of the results of your application no later than 16 weeks after the application deadline.
You will not be given the results over the telephone. However, after you have received your results by mail, you are encouraged to telephone Ian Reid to get feedback on your application.
Other Programs of Support
Media Arts Programs
If you do not wish to apply to the Aboriginal Media Arts Program, you may choose to apply to one of the other media arts programs listed below. To see if you are eligible for these programs, please consult the program information sheets, which are available from the Media Arts Section or on the Council’s website.
Grants to Film and Video Artists
Anglophone established and mid-career artists
Ian Reid, ext.. 5203
Anglophone emerging artists
Joanne Desroches, ext. 5254
Grants to New Media and Audio Artists
Media Arts Officer, ext. 5253
Travel Grants to Media Arts Professionals
Joanne Desroches, ext. 5254
Non-profit arts organizations or collectives may be interested in learning more about this program:
Grants to Media Arts Production Organizations: Development Project Grants
Ian Reid, ext. 5203
The Media Arts Section also administers a variety of other programs serving non-profit media arts organizations and collectives engaged in the creation, production and dissemination of independent media artworks.
Music Programs
The Canada Council for the Arts has several programs of support for musicians and for music recording.
Contact: Gerri Trimble, ext. 4103
Aboriginal Peoples Collaborative Exchange: National and International Travel
This program assists individual artists or artistic groups to travel to other Aboriginal communities to study/work and create with prominent or highly regarded Aboriginal artists and artistic groups.
Contact: Aboriginal Arts Secretariat, ext. 4222
Aboriginal Programs in Other Artistic Disciplines
The Canada Council for the Arts also administers other programs of support for Aboriginal artists and arts organizations.
Contact: Information Officer, ext. 5060
Email: info@canadacouncil.ca
Application Form
Aboriginal Media Arts Program (pdf, 135 KB)
This form can only be printed and cannot be filled out on-line.
Further Information
This information sheet provides a summary of the Aboriginal Media Arts Program. For further details or to obtain an application form, please contact Ian Reid, Media Arts Section Officer.
Telephone: 1-800-263-5588 (toll-free) or (613) 566-4414, ext. 5203
TTY (TDD) machine for hearing-impaired callers: (613) 565-5194
Fax: (613) 566-4409
Media Arts Section
Canada Council for the Arts
350 Albert Street, P.O. Box 1047
Ottawa ON K1P 5V8
February 2006