Black Arts Projects in Canada

Deadline: 2-Oct-23

The Toronto Arts Council has announced its Black Arts Projects Program to support arts projects by Black artists, Black artist collectives, and Black-led, Black-focused and Black-serving organizations.

For the purpose of this program, “Black” refers to African descendant people across the diaspora including but not limited to African Canadian, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latinx, East African, West African, Southern and Central African, Afro-Arab, AfroIndigenous, etc. This funding program is intended to support the development, continuation, and flourishing of Black arts communities.

What does this program support?

The Black Arts Projects Program provides support to individual artists, artist collectives of 2 or more Black artists working on a non-profit basis and incorporated non-profit Toronto Black arts organizations. The City of Toronto supports this program through a funding allocation approved annually by Toronto City Council.

TAC recognizes the need to respond to barriers that Black arts communities face due to anti-Black racism. The program seeks to address these barriers by providing pathways to sustainable support to Toronto’s Black-led arts organizations serving Black artists. The program is designed to increase access to, awareness of, and participation in Toronto Arts Council funding by Black artists, while amplifying the work of Black artists in the city and creating avenues for sustainable art practice.

This program is multidisciplinary and recognizes a diversity of art practice, including new and emerging art forms, culturally relevant art practices, and multi/ interdisciplinary arts projects. Applicants can apply for projects that engage one or multiple arts disciplines. Applicants may apply in one of two categories described below:

Creation & Development: Supports full creation, partial creation, or completion of work-in progress of an arts-based project at any stage and in any arts discipline. Project activities may include artistic creation in one or more stages of a project, including an arts education project (i.e., workshop(s)). This may also include OR solely focus on the beginning stage of research and development. The research and development stage may include testing an idea, developing processes, building scope, building collaborative relationships, gathering and organizing information, accessing, archiving or documenting knowledge. Applicants must clearly state what stage their project is in and what part(s) of the project they are seeking funding for.
- Open to individual artists and artist collectives
- Maximum grant in this category is $10,000
- Maximum grant in this category including a mentorship component is $15,000
- Expenses can include:
  - Artistic, production and administrative fees and costs, including venue, publicity, marketing and outreach.
  - Fees paid to collaborators, mentors and creative resources; o Studio costs, materials and production elements that are essential to creation.
  - Rental of space or software to conduct research interviews; accessing support materials, i.e., archives.
  - Visiting sites of significance.
Presentation: supports projects that primarily focus on presentation, including exhibition, presentation, and dissemination of work by Black artists in any arts discipline
- Open to individual artists, artist collectives and arts organizations
- Activities may include a series or one-off exhibition, festival, or presentation in one or more arts disciplines and/ dissemination of existing work
- This component does not fund workshops and conferences
- Maximum grant in this category is $15,000
- Maximum grant in this category including a mentorship component is $20,000
- Expenses can include:
  - Artistic, presentation, exhibition and administrative fees and costs, including installation, rehearsal, venue, and production.
  - Dissemination costs including publicity, marketing and outreach.
  - Fees paid to collaborators, mentor.

TAC Accessibility grant

Projects involving Deaf artists and artists with disabilities may apply for an additional TAC grant by completing the Accessibility Expenses section of the application and including the requisite information in their budget. A TAC Accessibility grant will provide up to a maximum of $5,000 towards accessibility costs for artists incurred during the project. Accessibility costs include but are not limited to: ASL interpretation, audio description, closed captioning, communications assistants, attendant care (including helpers for Elders), support workers and equipment rentals or other supports required to meet artists’ accessibility needs).

Eligibility Criteria

If you have any questions about your eligibility or the eligibility of your project, please contact the Program Manager.
- To apply to the Black Arts Projects Program, applicants must identify as a Black professional artist or artist collective, or be an incorporated not-for-profit arts organization. The payment of artists’ fees is a requirement of all categories in this program.
- TAC recognizes that due to systemic barriers within the broader arts community (e.g. limited mainstream presentation opportunities for artists from equity-seeking communities) that some flexibility may be required in interpreting eligibility criteria to take into account equivalent professional experience and contexts. Potential applicants from equity-seeking communities are encouraged to discuss their eligibility with the Program Manager in advance of applying.
- A professional artist is someone who has developed their skills through training and/or practice; is recognized as such by artists working in the same artistic tradition; actively practices her/his/their art; seeks payment for her/his/their work; and has a history of public presentation.
- You may not apply as an individual and an organization or collective for the same project at the same time. If you are one of the members of an applicant collective, you may also apply as an individual for an unrelated project in the same competition year.
- The project for which the funding is requested must take place in the City of Toronto.
- Applicants may receive only one grant per calendar year through the Black Arts Project program, and may not also have a pending application to the Black Arts Operating program. However, applicants may still apply for different projects to arts discipline programs as well as other strategic initiatives programs that TAC offers. In this case, the applicant may receive up to one project grant in each funding stream and three project grants [3] total per calendar year. Please note: if you apply for a Black Arts project grant you cannot also apply to another TAC program for the same project.
For Individuals:
- Individuals must be Canadian Citizens or Permanent Residents or have an application pending for Permanent Resident status or be a Protected Person (approved refugee claimant) and, if requested, be able to provide documentation to verify this.
- Individuals must have been a resident of the City of Toronto for at least one year prior to the deadline, and live and work in Toronto for at least 8 months a year. A Post Office Box address cannot be used to meet the residency requirement. Note: Temporary absences of up to one year may be considered, subject to written explanation and special permission. Please contact the Program Manager.
- Professional artists who are pursuing a graduate degree may not apply for work related to their thesis. Note: A letter from the graduate program director confirming that the project is not related to the graduate student’s thesis may be required. Please contact the Program Manager.
For Organizations and Collectives:
- Organizations and collectives must be incorporated non-profit organizations or unincorporated collectives which operate on a non-profit basis2. A collective is defined as two or more artists working together under a group name, either on a single project (ad hoc) or on an ongoing basis. For collectives of two artists, both must be City of Toronto residents and Black. For collectives of more than two artists, the majority of members must be City of Toronto residents and Black.
- Organizations must be Black-led, Black-focused, and Black-serving, including a majority of Black members on its leadership team, including Board of Directors, Board Executive, and management.
- Organizations and collectives must be located in the City of Toronto. A Post Office Box address cannot be used to meet this requirement.