Deadline: 16-Oct-2025
The Project Assistance: Museums and Indigenous Cultural Centres Grant Program provides support to eligible museums, Indigenous cultural centres and arts or curatorial collectives with the development and creation of artistic or cultural history programming and community engagement initiatives.
Maximum funding amount is $25,000. Eligible projects include exhibition development, documentation and dissemination projects, artists’ residencies, exploration of new museological and curatorial practices, community engagement projects, public programs, and collections management projects. Required artist compensation within project activities.
Eligible projects must include appropriate payment to the artists, arts and culture practitioners, and other members of the project team engaged in the proposed activities. At a minimum, payments to artists should be at the recommended rates set by the relevant arts service organization, professional association, or established practitioners within the field of practice. Payment structures that are not guaranteed, or that risk low or non-payment to artists do not meet this compensation requirement (for example, honoraria, commission-based sales of artworks, percentage of door sales).
Grants cannot be used for operating expenses, activities starting before the application closing date, project or budget deficits, contingency funds, or capital costs such as construction, renovation, or property purchases. Equipment over $2,500, feasibility studies, start-up costs, and seed money are ineligible. Projects not based on artistic or curatorial decision-making, or where arts and culture is not the primary focus, will not be supported. Activities requiring artists to pay to participate, fundraising events, conferences, conventions, or private family, religious, or community celebrations are excluded. Contests and competitions are ineligible unless integral to the art form, such as hip-hop and street dance, poetry slams, or powwows. Podcasts and radio programs unconnected to artistic practice or dissemination are not eligible. Living costs for artists, commercial recordings, or demo reels will not be funded.
Projects centered on art therapy or therapeutic outcomes, or primarily tied to creative industries like architecture, commercial fashion, film, television, music, culinary arts, gaming, sports, recreation, mass media, journalism, podcasts, or graphic design, are excluded. Activities already funded through other BC Arts Council programs or via third-party delivery partners such as ArtStarts, First Peoples’ Cultural Council, BC Live Performance Network, or Creative BC will not receive funding.
The program is open to museums and Indigenous Cultural Centres in British Columbia that hold permanent collections and have designated exhibition spaces, provided they are registered and in good standing as non-profit societies or community service co-ops. Eligible applicants also include Indigenous community organizations, Indigenous governments offering regular arts and culture activities, as well as museums operated by local governments or public post-secondary institutions, provided they demonstrate autonomy in programming and maintain proper governance and staffing structures. Arts and Curatorial Collectives may also apply if they are composed of at least three independent practitioners with demonstrated practice and history of collaborative work.
Applicants must ensure their projects are led by skilled artistic, curatorial, and administrative leadership, provide fair compensation to artists and cultural practitioners, and demonstrate benefit to the wider community. Financial accountability is required, with signed financial statements for the two most recent fiscal years to be uploaded as part of the application. New applicants must provide reference letters, and all applicants are required to submit project details, balanced budgets, timelines, and relevant support materials such as images, audio, video, or critical writing.
Applications will be assessed through a peer review process, with criteria emphasizing reconciliation, equity, diversity, inclusion, and access, cultural contribution, engagement and impact, as well as feasibility of the proposed project. The Council highlights the importance of advancing opportunities for equity-deserving and under-represented communities, contributing to reconciliation, fostering accessible programming, and ensuring cultural integrity through ethical engagement and protocols.
For more information, visit BC Arts Council.