Cultural Operating Funding – Annual Grant Program in Canada

Deadline: 7-Dec-22

The City of Vancouver is seeking applications for its Cultural Operating Funding – Annual (COFA) Grant Program to provide core funding to Vancouver-based, professional non-profit arts, and cultural organizations to develop, create, produce, present, and disseminate artistic work, or provide professional services or space in any artistic discipline (i.e. Indigenous arts and culture, community arts, dance, interdisciplinary, literary, media, multidisciplinary, museums/heritage, music, theatre, visual arts).

Goals

This program aims to leverage the collective community efforts of Vancouver’s arts and culture sector to:
- Provide opportunities where artists and cultural workers have the freedom, agency and space to create and share their stories.
- Ensure meaningful and broad public participation and access to a range of programs and services for the greater understanding of Vancouver’s dynamic cultural landscape.
- Provide consistent support for the impactful delivery of professional programming, space, services and activities that advance creative disciplines and services, and contribute to the visibility of the cultural diversity of Vancouver.
- Support the livelihood of local artists and cultural workers.
- Support healthy leadership practices and ensure leadership pathways in service to the sector.
- Create a more equitable, vibrant, collaborative and sustainable arts and culture sector

Funding Information

Grants will not exceed 50% of an applicant’s current revenues. Grants generally range from $15,000 – $150,000.

Eligibility Criteria

To be considered for this program the organization will:
- Have an existing funding relationship with the City of Vancouver and have participated in a pre-review process to confirm eligibility for this program. All requests will be considered on a case by case basis.
- Be a non-profit society or a community service co-op legally registered and in good standing with BC Registries Services, a First Nations Band Council on whose unceded traditional homelands Vancouver sits, or a registered charity with the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA).
- Be physically located, have an active presence, and deliver programs and services within Vancouver or if led by Musqueam, Squamish or Tsleil-Waututh Nation members, held in their unceded traditional homelands.
- Have a clear mission and history of consistent annual delivery of arts and cultural programs or services in support of the mission for at least three years.
- Contribute to the visibility of the cultural diversity of the city through explicit commitments, practices, programs and people.
- Have paid professional and experienced leadership (either full-time or part-time staff members) in artistic or administrative roles.
- Have adequate, or growing capacity with, administrative systems (communications, financial, HR).
- Have a governance model supportive of the mission with members being representative of the people and communities being served. Members must meet the minimum articles of applicable governing acts (e.g. BC Societies Act).
- Provide a healthy/respectful workplace for staff and volunteers through policies and practices meeting minimum industry standards (e.g. WorkSafe BC, BC Human Rights Code).
- Provide equitable access to a diverse public in practice and policy with accessibility plans in place to ensure physical, cognitive, financial, linguistic, cultural, social, and geographic access to participation for audiences and key contributors.
- Have growing and diverse financial resources and practices: sustained average annual cash budget sufficient to support ongoing programs and services; diversified cash resources (earned, private and public); independently-prepared financial statements (ideally a review engagement).
- Compensate artists and cultural workers at minimum standard industry rates.