British Columbia Art Council Scholarship Program in Canada

Deadline: 1-May-23

The British Columbia Art Council has launched its Scholarship Program to support education and training of B.C.’s future generation of artists, arts administrators, and artistic and cultural practitioners.

Scholarships of up to $6,000 per year are available to B.C. residents enrolled in full-time post-secondary art programs or high school half-day dance programs.

Priority 

The designated priority groups consist of applicants who are:

• Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit) Peoples;
• Deaf or experience disability;
• Black or people of colour; or
• Based in areas outside greater Vancouver or the capital region.

Fields of Practice

• Community Arts
• Dance
• Deaf,
• Disability and Mad Arts,
• Disability
• Literary
• Media Arts
• Museums
• Music
• Publishing,
• Theatre,
• Visual Arts.

Scholarship Amount

• Scholarship payments of $3,000 are made for each term of full-time study (Summer 2023, Fall 2023 or Winter/Spring 2024), up to a maximum of $6,000.
• You are only allowed to submit one application per year.
• Funding priority may be given to applicants who self-identify as part of a designated priority group.

What Can Be Funded

Accepted fields of practices or programs of study may include, but are not limited to:

• Arts administration and cultural management;
• Community-based arts practice;
• Contemporary and traditional arts (carving, ceramics, furniture, glass, jewellery, beading, metal arts, textiles);
• Deaf, Disability and Mad (DDM) arts;
• Dance (performance, choreography);
• Independent critical and curatorial practice;
• Literary (creative writing: children/youth literature, fiction, graphic novel, nonfiction, poetry, playwriting, publishing);
• Media arts (animation, audio/sound art, film, new media, interactive digital media, video);
• Multi- or interdisciplinary arts practice;
• Museum studies (collections management, conservation, curatorial practices, museum education);
• Music (performance (instruments, voice), composition, conducting, music production);
• Socially-engaged art practice;
• Spoken word and storytelling;
• Theatre (acting, directing, technical, design, devising, musical theatre, applied theatre, circus arts, comedy); or
• Visual arts (animation, drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, installation, sculpture, mixed media, performance art, illustration).

Eligibility Criteria

You are welcome to confirm eligibility with the Program Advisor. Ineligible applications will not be forwarded for assessment. To be eligible, you must:

• Be at least 15 years of age as of December 31, 2023.
• Be a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident who ordinarily resides in B.C. and has lived in the province for at least 12 months immediately prior to the application being submitted.
  • Temporary absences to attend school outside of B.C. are acceptable.
• Be enrolled in either:
  • A diploma, degree or certificate program or professional dance training program at a college, university, institution, or academy, in any country in one of the fields of practices or programs of study; or
  • A pre-professional half-day dance program in combination with high school studies.
  • NOTE: You do not need to know at the time of application if you are accepted into your program. You may update the BCAC program advisor of your acceptance at any time.
• Be enrolled as a full-time student in one or two terms between Summer 2023 and Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment status is determined by your school.
  • A pre-professional half-day dance program in combination with high school studies is considered full-time.
• Have completed and submitted any overdue final reports on previous BC Arts Council grants before the submission deadline for this program.

For more information, visit BC Arts Council.