Deadline: 16-Feb-23
The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is seeking applications for its program entitled “Dance Organizations: Operating” to support the ongoing operations of not-for-profit, professional dance organizations in Ontario.
Purpose
- The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) operating grant programs support Ontario-based, not-for-profit organizations and for-profit book and magazine publishers.
Funding Information
The type of financial statement they require depends on the amount of your grant, as follows:
- Grants over $50,000: audited financial statements required
- Grants over $25,000: review engagement (or, if available, audited financial statements)
- Grants of $25,000 and under: unaudited financial statements (or, if available, audited financial statements or review engagement)
Eligibility Criteria
- To apply for operating support your organization must:
- be an Ontario not-for-profit corporation or a federal not-for-profit corporation with the head office in Ontario
- be led by professional personnel
- have completed at least two years of sustained, regular, ongoing programming in its community as of the application date. (An organization that does not meet this requirement may instead apply for project funding.)
- have a range of revenue sources such as private and government
- be governed by a board of directors or an advisory body solely responsible for the organization
- have community support and involvement demonstrated through one or more of the following: membership, fundraising and volunteer involvement
- have proof of sound financial management
- be registered through the Canadian Arts Database / Données sur les arts au Canada (CADAC)
- submit verification of financial results of the last completed fiscal year.
- If you do not provide the type of financial statement required, OAC will reduce your grant request or awarded grant amount to an eligible level.
- Eligibility criteria that differ from the above are used for for-profit book and magazine publishers.
- Organizations in any of the following situations will be invited to apply for annual funding:
- they are new applicants
- they have not received OAC operating funding for the past two consecutive years
- they were assessed in group D during their last peer assessment
- they have received serious assessment concerns within the last three years
- Serious concerns are those OAC considers substantial enough to threaten the stability of the organization. They cannot be solely related to pandemic challenges.
- they are in a period of substantial flux
- The OAC considers an organization to be in substantial flux when significant changes or risks in artistic, financial and/or organizational plans threaten the organization’s stability.
- Organizations that do not fall into any of the above situations will be invited to apply for multi-year funding, provided they also:
- have a long-term plan
- have a balanced budget
- Program Transfers
- OAC may decide that an organization should be transferred to a different operating program.
- OAC will consider any developments or changes to an organization’s mandate and programming to determine if a transfer is appropriate.
- Organizations may request a transfer to a different operating program. Such transfer requests should be made more than two months before the deadline of both your current and proposed programs.
- Generally, OAC will transfer an organization to a different program when that program is in year 1 of the funding cycle of the new program.
- Organizations are considered “new applicants” if they are:
- first-time applicants to an OAC operating program
- returning arts organizations that did not receive an operating grant in the previous year
- Normally, new applicants may only apply in the first year of a program’s multi-year cycle. This year is an exception: all operating programs will be open to new applicants in 2022. The next year in which new applicants can apply is also indicated on the program web page. New applicants are eligible to apply for an annual grant only.
- New applicants must:
- have at least $75,000 in total revenues for the last completed year, and in projected revenues for the current and request years
- meet the program-specific criteria outlined on the program web page
- consult with the program officer at least one month before the deadline to be considered for an invitation to the program
- This process will involve one or more discussions between OAC and the potential applicant to determine its eligibility to and fit with the program, what grant amount to request, and other particulars.
- Arts organizations are eligible to receive only one OAC operating grant. An organization cannot apply to another OAC operating grant program unless they have been notified that their application was not successful.
Ineligible
- dance schools funded as a provincial secondary or post-secondary education institution
- non-arts organizations
- arts service organizations
- municipalities, colleges and universities
For more information, visit OAC.






























