Project Assistance: Literary Arts Program in Canada

Deadline: 17-Oct-22

The British Columbia Arts Council is seeking applications for its Project Assistance: Literary Arts Programs to support professional literary arts organizations in British Columbia to develop and promote Canadian literature and Canadian writers through publishing, presentation, and dissemination of works of literary, artistic, or cultural importance.

This is achieved through support for:

• A single literary arts activity or event, or the artistic programming activities of a literary arts organization or collective;
• Periodicals that publish and promote artistic expression and/or social, cultural, or intellectual commentary or inquiry; or
• The publication of up to three books by an eligible book publisher.

Priority Groups

• The designated priority groups consist of applicants who are:
  • Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, or Inuit);
  • Deaf or experience disability;
  • Black or people of colour; or
  • Located in regional areas (outside greater Vancouver or the capital region).

Organizations whose statement of purpose includes support for and who are led by arts and cultural practitioners rooted in communities as listed above are considered a designated priority group.

Funding Information

• There is no maximum request amount but grants typically range from $5,000 to $15,000.

Eligible Projects

• Literary Organizations
  • An eligible project from a professional literary organization must be:
    • A single literary arts activity or event, or a single stream of artistic programming. Some examples are a reading series, a writer in residence program, or a writing workshop.
• Arts Periodicals
  • Publishers of arts periodicals may apply for direct costs for up to one year of publishing activity An eligible arts periodical must:
    • Feature the first publication of original content.
    • Prioritize work by writers and artists based in British Columbia or Canada.
    • Include content created by more than one person.
    • Provide clear submission guidelines and editorial selection processes.
    • Have and honour a clear policy on the use of contributors’ work and intellectual property.
    • Clearly identify, on the masthead or equivalent, who is responsible for editorial processes and decisions.
    • Have identified the target audience and developed an appropriate distribution plan.
• Print periodicals must:
  • Be printed on paper.
  • Have a minimum average of 24 pages per issue over a one-year period.
  • Have paid circulation of a minimum of 20% of the copies printed.
• Electronic periodicals must:
  • Have paid subscription access to content, maintaining an average of 100 subscribers over a period of 6 months. OR
  • Have scheduled email delivery of content, maintaining a minimum average of 300 registered email recipients over a period of 6 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible, an applicant must:
  • Provide public arts and culture programming and engagement, or service to the arts and culture sector in B.C., and have done so for a minimum of one year.
  • Engage professionals in artistic, curatorial, administrative or project leadership.
  • Fairly compensate artists, arts and cultural practitioners, technicians, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers. Compensation must align with project and community contexts and industry standards within the field of practice, including adhering to international intellectual property rights standards and cultural ownership protocols.
  • Adhere to the Criminal Records Review Act which requires that people who work with or may have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults must undergo a criminal record check by the Criminal Records Review Program.
  • Not currently receive Operating Assistance from the BC Arts Council.
  • Have completed and submitted any overdue final reports on previous BC Arts Council grants by the submission deadline for this program.

For more information, visit Literary Arts.

For more information, visit https://www.bcartscouncil.ca/program/project-assistance-literary-arts/