Deadline: 25-Jun-25
The BC Arts Council has launched the Early Career Development Grant Program.
Early Career Development supports immersive and highly impactful opportunities, with measurable learning outcomes, for Emerging and Early Arts Practitioners (EAP) to:
- Develop their artistic or administrative practice.
- Participate in knowledge transfer, skill sharing, and reciprocal learning in the sector.
- Expand their career experience, professional networks, and exposure. This program does not support the creation or development of new artistic projects.
Components
- Arts and Culture Organizations can apply to these two components:
- Internship supports arts and culture organizations to host a paid, learning-focussed internship for an Early Arts Practitioner who is transitioning into professional practice.
- Cohort supports arts and culture organizations to host paid, learning-focussed positions for a group or cohort of Early Arts Practitioners who are transitioning into professional practice.
- Arts and Culture Organizations in Regional Communities can apply to these two components:
- Basic Training – Internship supports arts and culture organizations in regional communities to provide paid, on-the-job training and experiential learning for new and emerging arts practitioners who want to work in their home communities.
- Basic Training – Cohort supports arts and culture organizations in regional communities to provide paid, on-the-job training and experiential learning for a group of two or more new and emerging arts practitioners who want to work in their home communities.
- For Individual Early Arts Practitioners
- Residency component supports Early Arts Practitioners who have completed their basic training and are transitioning into professional practice to complete a learning-focussed residency with an arts and culture organization.
- Mentorship component supports Early Arts Practitioners who have completed their basic training and are transitioning into professional practice to engage in one-on-one learning and knowledge transfer with an established practitioner in their art form or field of practice.
Funding Information
- Maximum request amount is $30,000. You may request up to 100% of the total budget.
Eligible Activities
- General eligibility considerations for an internship or Cohort:
- Activities must prioritize learning, knowledge transfer, and skill development, and include specific learning objectives with tangible outcomes for the Early Arts Practitioner.
- Activities may include a combination of learning and creation. However, creation, development, and revision of new work cannot be the sole or primary objective.
- Interdisciplinary knowledge transfer is eligible, but this program is not intended to support a career change or provide basic training for an Early Arts Practitioner pivoting to a new field of practice. The focus of the application must align with the EAP’s basic training.
- Organizations must designate a qualified mentor within the organization. You can have more than one mentor or identify a main mentor within the organization and other sources of expertise from outside the organization.
- An eligible Internship project must also:
- Identify an eligible Early Arts Practitioner who will be engaged as a paid employee in an immersive and structured experience. Part- and full-time internships are eligible.
- An eligible Cohort project must also:
- Engage all cohort members for the full duration of the project.
- Provide paid, learning-focussed opportunities to a group of at least two eligible Early Arts Practitioners who must be identified in the application, and who will work together in an immersive, cohesive, and structured experience. While they must be engaged in the same project, activities for individual participants may vary to allow for skill-building or knowledge transfer opportunities aligned with the learning goals and career objectives of each participant.
Eligibility Criteria
- To be eligible, an organization must be:
- Registered and in good standing as a non-profit society or community service co-op in B.C. for at least one fiscal year prior to application with:
- The majority of key staff and board members based in B.C.
- Creative control and decision making for programming and engagement primarily maintained within the organization and by leadership based in B.C.
- A purpose or mandate primarily dedicated to arts and culture programming and activities.
- or A purpose or mandate to provide services to the arts and culture sector in B.C. Operations and activities that reflect this dedicated purpose or mandate. or
- An Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) community organization registered and in good standing as a non-profit society or community service co-op in B.C. for at least one fiscal year prior to application with:
- The majority of key staff (paid or volunteer) and board members based in B.C.
- A commitment to offering regular arts and culture activities.
- or
- An Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) government in B.C. that offers regular arts and culture activities.
Ineligibility Criteria
- The following types of organizations are not eligible to apply for this grant:
- Private or for-profit entities (except in the case of for-profit book publishing companies)
- Member-funded societies
- Social service organizations
- Industrial sites, archaeological sites, heritage sites, or historic places
- Organizations dedicated to archives
For more information, visit BC Arts Council.