Deadline: 16-Sep-2025
The BC Arts Council is inviting applications for its Project Assistance: Community Arts Organizations program, which provides crucial support to arts groups across British Columbia.
This grant helps strengthen community-driven projects that bring people together through performances, exhibitions, residencies, and creative programs designed to increase public participation in the arts.
Grants typically range from $5,000 to $20,000, with a maximum request of $25,000. The funding is intended to support the creation, expansion, or enhancement of community arts projects that enrich local cultural life. Whether through commissioning new works, presenting exhibitions, or offering inclusive programming, these grants encourage projects that reflect and serve the needs of diverse communities.
To be eligible, applicants must be community arts organizations that are registered and in good standing as non-profit societies or community service co-ops in British Columbia for at least one fiscal year. The majority of staff and board members must be based in BC, and organizations must demonstrate a mandate dedicated to arts and culture programming or services to the arts sector. Eligible groups include community arts councils, volunteer-managed arts and culture organizations, and community-based cultural centres. Indigenous community organizations and Indigenous governments offering regular arts and culture activities are also eligible.
Community-based, user-pay arts groups—such as choirs, bands, or craft clubs—may apply only if their projects involve commissioning new work from professional BC artists or Knowledge Keepers, presenting performances or exhibitions with professional artists, or engaging guest artists or Elders for skill development. Across all projects, applicants must ensure fair compensation for artists, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers, following community or industry standards.
Applicants must also follow cultural ownership protocols and adhere to the Criminal Records Review Act, ensuring proper checks for anyone working with children or vulnerable adults. Organizations currently receiving Operating Assistance grants, or those with overdue reporting on previous BC Arts Council grants, are not eligible to apply.
Several categories of applicants are excluded, including professional arts organizations already funded through other BC Arts Council programs, cultural organizations without an arts mandate, choirs affiliated with religious, military, or educational institutions, private or for-profit entities, member-funded societies, social service organizations, educational institutions, local governments, industrial or heritage sites, and organizations dedicated to archives.
This program offers a vital opportunity for community-based arts organizations to secure resources that enrich cultural life, amplify diverse voices, and expand access to the arts across British Columbia.
For more information, visit British Columbia Arts Council.
