Deadline: 01-Dec-2024
The Digital Museums Canada (DMC) investment program is offering grants to build digital capacity in Canadian museums and heritage, cultural and Indigenous organizations, and give people living in Canada unique access to diverse stories and experiences.
DMC is managed by the Canadian Museum of History, with the financial support of the Government of Canada. Funding is provided for Canadian museums, and heritage, cultural or Indigenous organizations who are seeking to develop an accessible online project from the ground up, with the support of a web development agency.
DMC is centered on digital storytelling. Proposed projects should be developed around telling a story to a specific target audience with a tailored user experience. The story should be structured according to key messages, audience take-aways or themes. Content and collections should be selected to reinforce the chosen narrative.
As such, proposed projects cannot simply be a searchable collections database or archive without a curated focus or story to tell. Institutional or corporate websites and digitization projects are not eligible.
Eligible projects must be presented in both English and French but may also incorporate other languages. Projects must meet digital accessibility standards, allowing users to access the content anywhere in the world, at no cost, and without purchased equipment (such as AR headsets).
Funding Information
- Organizations propose a budget requesting a DMC investment of up to $250,000 CAD.
Eligible Projects
- Projects must be accessible through a web browser, at no cost, as a complete online experience that can be viewed in any location without specialized equipment.
- Some examples of eligible projects include online exhibits, virtual tours of heritage sites, immersive experiences, online games, progressive web apps (PWA), educational resources and more.
- While the project can use existing content or research as a starting point, it must be conceived as a brand-new online product, with a distinct user experience, built from the ground up with a web development agency.
Ineligible Projects
- Onsite exhibitions/experiences
- Institutional/corporate websites
- Commercial elements (i.e., e-commerce platforms)
- Online databases/archives or digitization (without a storytelling focus)
- Replicas of existing products (i.e., a tour of an existing onsite exhibition or digitization of a catalogue)
- Native mobile applications (progressive web apps are eligible)
- Projects requiring the user to purchase equipment to experience the content (i.e., AR/VR headsets)
Eligibility Criteria
- To apply for DMC funding, eligible organizations must satisfy Part 1: Primary Purpose & Mandate and Part 2: Legal Status.
- Part 1: Primary Purpose & Mandate
- The organization must be a:
- Museum, heritage, cultural or Indigenous organization that is:
- established and operating in Canada; and
- managing a physical establishment or site open to the public, or providing programming to the public in various locations or via a website.
- The primary purpose of the organization, as articulated in its mandate, must be to engage the public in at least four of the following areas:
- exhibitions
- programming
- research
- collections
- preservation
- documentation
- dissemination
- Organizations will be asked to provide their mandate statement and provide an example for each selection from the last year.
- Museum, heritage, cultural or Indigenous organization that is:
- The organization must be a:
- Part 2: Legal Status
- At the time of submitting a proposal, the applicant organization must have been in existence for at least 1 year, and be one or more of the following:
- A registered charity.
- According to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), a registered charity is a corporate body or trust that is registered under the Income Tax Act and is able to issue tax receipts to donors for income tax purposes.
- A federally or provincially incorporated not-for-profit (NPO).
- According to the CRA, to be considered an NPO, no part of the organization’s income may be payable to, or available for, the personal benefit of any proprietor, member or shareholder of the organization.
- An Indigenous nation, group or organization that operates similarly to a not-for-profit and supports Indigenous heritage and culture.
- A municipal, provincial or band heritage organization, or university-affiliated organization.
- The organization must operate independently, at arms-length, and have a clear mandate, staff and governance structure.
- A registered charity.
- Examples of eligible organizations include: museums, archives, aquariums, art galleries, artist-run centres, botanical gardens, cultural centres, historic sites, historical societies, Indigenous organizations, planetariums, science centres, zoos, etc.
- Ineligible organizations include: museums associations, professional associations, membership organizations, magazines and publishing organizations.
- Should an organization decide to proceed with a proposal prior to an eligibility review by DMC, they agree to acknowledge that the organization may not qualify for DMC funding, and that the proposal may be rejected on the basis of eligibility.
- DMC reserves the right to request proof of eligibility at any time during the proposal-review process, and to make its own determination on eligibility.
- Note: Any organization previously funded by DMC that wishes to submit a proposal in this year’s Call for Proposals must have completed any existing DMC-funded projects prior to the deadline. This means that a new proposal may not be submitted if a previously funded project is still in development.
- Organizations may only submit one proposal per Call, either in the Digital Projects or Community Stories stream.
- At the time of submitting a proposal, the applicant organization must have been in existence for at least 1 year, and be one or more of the following:
- Part 1: Primary Purpose & Mandate
For more information, visit DMC.
