Deadline: 17-Sep-2025
The British Columbia Arts Council invites applications for its Professional Development Grants to support eligible artists, cultural practitioners, and arts professionals in British Columbia seeking to advance their knowledge, skills, and professional practice through structured learning activities.
Aims: The programme aims to support course or workshop participation, mentorships, and learning residencies that enhance artistic or curatorial practice, promote skill development, enable knowledge exchange, and contribute to the long-term career growth of participants.
Eligible activities may include a course or workshop following a specified curriculum or including specific skills acquisition or learning outcomes (including masterclasses or private studies with a specific focus), online courses with live instruction and a set schedule, structured mentorships with qualified professionals, and learning-based residencies offering significant opportunities for skill development or knowledge exchange. Activities involving multiple courses, workshops, or mentors must connect to overarching learning goals.
To be eligible, applicants must be Canadian citizens or Permanent Residents of Canada, residents of British Columbia who ordinarily reside in the province, and have lived there for at least 12 continuous months immediately prior to applying. Applicants must be recognised as professionals by peers in their discipline, committed to working full-time at their practice when financially possible, and able to demonstrate their professional status through a CV or resume showing relevant training and at least two years of paid work in their field following basic training. Discipline-specific requirements apply, including documented professional work, exhibitions, publications, or relevant employment depending on the applicant’s field. Indigenous artists must have received at least one grant through the First Peoples’ Cultural Council’s Indigenous Arts Program and submitted any outstanding final reports for that grant.
The programme does not fund project phases or activities starting before application submission, projects focused on artistic creation or production, basic training in unrelated fields, research not connected to learning activities, self-directed studies without an instructor or mentor, promotional material production, capital expenses, non-artistic projects, fundraising, contests and competitions (except where integral to the art form), or unpaid work placements required for accreditation.
Grants are available to support subsistence expenses up to a maximum of $750 per week for full-time activities, intended to cover basic living costs when devoting most of your time to the learning activity. For part-time activities, the weekly subsistence rate is prorated at $25 per hour for under 30 hours per week, and weeks do not need to be consecutive. Eligible costs also include travel, accommodation, and meal per diems (maximum $65 per day) for activities outside your region, consumable supplies and materials directly related to learning, software subscriptions, rental or lease of specialised equipment, accessibility services or equipment for mentors or advisors, fees paid to mentors, instructors, advisors, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers, course or workshop registration fees, childcare costs associated with learning activities, and rental of venues or studios required for the activities. Applicants who identify as D/deaf or having a disability may request additional funding for access support expenses such as ASL interpretation, personal support workers, transcription, or specialised equipment rental. The maximum request amount is $7,500.
Applications are evaluated through a multi-step process. The BC Arts Council first reviews all submissions for eligibility. Eligible applications are then forwarded to independent assessment panels composed of individuals with broad artistic knowledge, professional experience, geographical representation, and diverse aesthetic, institutional, and cultural perspectives, including Indigenous viewpoints. Panels assess applications using the stated criteria, determine the funding level, and may apply prioritisation for applicants from designated priority groups. Applicants are informed of the panel’s decision in writing and can check their application status at any time through the online system. All decisions are final.
Applicants are encouraged to contact a Program Advisor to discuss activity eligibility before applying. The grant prioritises activities where learning is the primary focus, even if creation is included as a secondary component. The deadline for applications is 17 September 2025.
For more information, visit the BC Arts Council.