Deadline: 20-Mar-23
The Toronto Arts Council (TAC) is inviting applications for TAC-CS Digital Solutions Incubator Program which provides funding to arts organizations and collectives to address organizational challenges using digital technology.
This program was created through a partnership between TAC and The Creative School (CS) at Toronto Metropolitan University to encourage arts organizations to consider the creative possibilities unlocked using technology and design thinking.
The partnership provides arts organizations with access to student expertise, to explore solutions to the challenges they face; the students receive practical, hands-on projects as part of the Creative School’s Design Solutions Super Course. The Super Course is an educational experience that challenges students from different programs to work with external partners to conceive and develop solutions using a design thinking process.
Emphasis is placed on projects that:
- Address organizational challenges within the arts sector using digital-enabled approaches.
- Facilitate collaborative and unexpected solutions with the potential to benefit the arts sector.
- Provide arts organizations and artist collectives access to design and technological expertise.
- Enhance organizational capacity in the arts sector around digital technology
- For the purposes of this grant, “digital” refers to any user-centered design process involving significant use of mobile, web, augmented/virtual reality, or computer-based technology.
Funding Information
- The grant amount is $15,000. As a guideline, please plan for approximately $10,000 in fees for the project leads and $5,000 for any materials and expenses related directly to the project. This grant is not intended to fund office computers, production equipment or any general operating expenses.
When can the project happen?
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The TAC-CS DSI funds an 8-month experience between September and April. The program is divided into two stages, corresponding with academic semesters.
- First Stage: From September to December, successful applicant organizations will work 10-15 hours a month, meeting regularly with a team of Design Solutions Super Course 1 students to address their identified problem, with the aim of creating a prototype of the proposed solution. The prototype will be shared with the wider community during a “demo day” at CS which the whole team will attend.
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Second Stage: From January to April, successful applicant organizations will continue in one of two ways:
- Design Solutions Super Course 2: Teams selected to continue with Super Course 2 will have a chance to further develop their prototype with CS students.
- Self-directed: Teams may be asked to continue development of their prototype with a partner of their choosing or on their own, independent of Toronto Metropolitan University CS.
- Successful applicants are required to sign an agreement with CS before beginning the project and attend a program evaluation meeting to be scheduled in 2023. Please see Appendix A for a description of the Design Solutions Super Course, past projects, and terms of intellectual property
Eligibility Criteria
- All applicants are encouraged to contact Interim Strategic Programs Manager, Kadija de Paula, before applying.
- To apply to this program, applicants must be either an incorporated non-profit arts organization or an unincorporated artist collective operating on a not-for-profit basis.
- A collective is defined as two or more artists working together under a group name, either on a single project or on an ongoing basis.
- Organizations and collectives must be located in the City of Toronto. A Post Office Box address cannot be used to meet this requirement. Organizations with a regional Toronto office must have operated in the City of Toronto for at least one year prior to the deadline.
- For collectives of two artists, both must be City of Toronto residents. For collectives of more than two artists, the majority of members must be City of Toronto residents.
- Artists must be professional. 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 their art; seeks payment for their work; and has a history of public presentation.
- 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 submitting an application.
- Applicants may receive a grant through the TAC-CS DSI only once every two years.
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TAC has two distinct funding envelopes:
- Arts Discipline funding (e.g. discipline-specific project grants and operating grants) and
- Strategic funding (e.g. Animating Historic Sites, Animating Toronto Parks, Artists in the Library, etc.). Eligibility exception: you are able to receive a grant from this program in addition to one other grant from the Arts Discipline envelope and one other grant from the Strategic funding envelope per calendar year.
- Applicants are not eligible if they have an outstanding Final report in any other program within the Strategic funding envelope (e.g. Animating Historic Sites, Animating Toronto Parks, Artists in the Library, etc.)
- If Toronto Metropolitan faculty or staff (full or part-time) are employed by/members of your organization or collective, you are not eligible to apply.
Ineligible
- Activities included in TAC operating grants
- Activities included in other TAC project grants
- Capital projects or expenses
- Renovations or repairs
- Research or feasibility studies
- Projects previous funded through another TAC grant
- How do I apply?
For more information, visit TAC-CS.