Project Assistance: Professional Performing Arts Organizations Program – Canada

Deadline: 23-May-23

The British Columbia Arts Council is seeking applications for its Project Assistance: Professional Performing Arts Organizations Program to support initiatives in the development, creation, production, realization, dissemination or live performance of classical, experimental, original, traditional and contemporary performing art forms from all world cultures.

Performing Arts includes dance, music, theatre, multidisciplinary, or other performing arts practices such as circus arts and comedy.

Priorities

The BC Arts Council's designated priority groups include applicants and arts and cultural practitioners who are:

• Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, or Inuit) Peoples;
• Deaf or experience disability;
• Black or people of colour; or
• Located in areas outside greater Vancouver or the capital region.

Categories

• The program supports organizations and collectives and has two categories:
  • Development and Creation supports the initial stages of the creative process including research, creation and project development.
  • Production and Realization supports latter stages of project development, production, remounts, post-production and presentation and those projects intended for presentation.
• For projects with a full range of activity you may apply for both categories in the same application.

Funding Information

• There is no maximum request amount, but project assistance grants typically range from $5,000 to $30,000.

What Types of Projects are Eligible?

• Examples may include (but are not limited to):
  • Artistic research, exploration, and experimentation;
  • Composition of all genres of music, including those expressions primarily using digital technologies;
  • Playwriting projects in workshop, preproduction or production phases. Playwrights looking for funds to support initial drafts may be eligible through the Individual Arts Grants for Creative Writers;
  • Various methods of creation, either in-residence or independently;
  • Workshops and other development activities;
  • Public presentations; or
  • Commissioning of new work.
• Examples of activities that are not eligible for support in this program:
  • Amateur, pre-professional or student productions or projects;
  • Recording projects that are intended for commercial distribution;
  • Non-audition-based community choirs;
  • General operating expenses and activities, ongoing expenses, or annual suites of programming;
  • Projects or activities that do not involve or benefit artists or arts and culture practitioners and professionals;
  • Projects or activities that do not have a clearly defined arts and culture focus; or
  • Projects that are focused on professional development or arts education.

Eligibility Criteria

• Professional Performing Arts Organization Applicants
  • To be eligible, organizations must:
    • Be a professional performing arts 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. with creative control and decision making for programming and engagement primarily maintained within the organization and by leadership based in B.C.; and
      • A purpose/mandate primarily dedicated to arts and culture programming and activities; or
      • A purpose/mandate to provide services to the arts and culture sector in B.C.
      • Be an Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) community organization or Indigenous government in B.C. that offers dedicated arts and culture activities.
    • Be a professional performing arts organization operated by a local government in B.C. for at least one fiscal year prior to application, that:
      • Maintains an ongoing arm’s length, community-based board of management or advisory structure that sets policy for the organization’s programs and services;
      • Holds a dedicated programming space and has at least one dedicated staff person in an artistic, curatorial, or administrative leadership position who is responsible for programming and engagement;
      • Offers ongoing public programming by professional arts and cultural practitioners
    • Organizations must also:
      • Provide public arts and cultural programming or service to the arts and culture sector in B.C., as a primary activity, and have done so for a minimum of one year prior to the application deadline;
      • Provide programs that benefit the community and not solely its members’ interests;
      • Engage skilled artistic, curatorial, and administrative leadership (volunteer or paid) for project or service delivery;
      • Fairly compensate artists, arts and cultural practitioners, technicians, Elders, and/or 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;
      • Have completed and submitted any overdue final reports on previous BC Arts Council grants by the submission deadline for this program.
• Arts or Curatorial Collective Applicants
  • Be established and readily identified as a collective of independent B.C. artists, curators, or arts and cultural practitioners, consisting of three or more individuals who are professionally active in their field of practice, each of whom must:
    • Have a minimum of two years of professional practice in their field, within roles that hold creative control of projects, following basic training.
    • Have a demonstrated body of previous work as an individual practitioner, including at least one instance of public presentation of a work for which an artist fee, or equivalent, was received.
  • Be a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident.
  • Have a demonstrated history of creating or presenting work as a collective and have a clear commitment to a current practice. At a minimum, the collective must have:
    • A demonstrated body of previous work by current members of the collective;
    • At least one instance of public presentation of a work by the current collective, for which artist fees, or equivalent, were received; and
    • Intention to continue working together as a collective with current members on future projects.

Ineligible

Grants are not available to support:

• Operating expenses.
• Project phases or activities that have begun prior to the application submission deadline.
• Project or budget deficits or contingency funds.
• Capital expenses (construction, renovation, or purchase of property or equipment).
• Feasibility studies, start-up costs, or seed money.
• Projects or activities that are not based upon artistic or curatorial decision making, or where arts and culture is not the primary focus, including: pay-to-play activities; fundraising activities; competitions; conferences and conventions; family, religious, or community celebrations; or anniversaries.
• Podcasts and radio programming that are not embedded within established artistic practice or specifically dedicated to the dissemination of artistic works (activities based within journalism, broadcasting, creative industry, or for general interest or commercial purposes are not eligible for support).
• Subsistence to artists or arts and cultural practitioners.
• Costs of producing commercial recordings or demo reels.
• Private or for-profit entities (except in the case of for-profit book publishing companies).
• Member-funded societies.
• Industrial/archaeological/heritage sites or historic places or organizations dedicated to archives.
• Curriculum-based activities or projects related to continuing education or post-secondary programs.
• Projects that are primarily in support of or focused within creative industries or commercial sectors.

For more information, visit British Columbia Arts Council.