Department of Tourism and Culture

Advanced Artist Award

The Advanced Artist Award assists advanced Yukon visual, literary and performing artists practising at a senior level with innovative projects, travel or educational pursuits that contribute to their personal artistic development and to their community.

The Art of applying for an Advanced Artist Award...

Read the guidelines of the granting program to determine your eligibility.

Ensure that both you and your project are eligible.

Speak directly to the arts consultant regarding your project and artistic background.

The application consists of three parts: the Résumé or CV, the portfolio and the project description with budget. All items hold equal importance, so take care in assembling them.

Your resume should be clear, concise and include only arts-related references (e.g. do not submit irrelevant employment experience). List education, artistic exposure and successes.

Letters of support may be included and should originate from relevant sources.

Ensure a neat and clearly labeled portfolio that is easy to view and provides the most positive snapshot of your work.

For visual artists, photos or slides of your work must be free of other subject matter and have appropriate lighting and colour quality.

For sound recording artists, ensure a high-quality demo CD or cued cassette of the submitted songs. Note that not all CDs work in all machines, especially if they are home burned.

The kitchen sink approach is not the best method of exhibiting your work to the jury. Decide upon the best way to illustrate your talents and choose a minimal number of styles, media or subject matter.

For visual art, writing or music, include samples of your best work and that which relates directly to your project proposal.

Your project description should be clearly and succinctly stated in a few paragraphs. Begin with a one-sentence summary and explain clearly to the jury how the project aligns with your artistic goals.

Include a realistic budget, clearly listing all revenue and expenses.

If your project includes other artists, ensure their résumés or CVs are included.

Observe the application deadline. It is not advisable to submit letters of rejection as support letters (occasionally, a "no thank you" letter contains a compliment which may be tempting to illuminate to a jury, but it rarely serves any positive purpose).

In the event that your application is rejected, please do not be discouraged. Often, there are more eligible applications than funds to allocate. Please feel free to call the grants officer to discuss your application. There are several reasons that an application may be turned down. Learning how your application fared may be a useful process.