Deadline: 02-Oct-2025
The Media Arts: French-Speaking Projects Grant is part of the Francophone Arts Programs suite, which aims to support the vitality of the Francophone arts sector in Ontario.
The program funds independent Francophone media artists and filmmakers in Ontario seeking to develop or produce new works in film, video, audio art, digital media, new media, and video and electronic games. Projects must be in French and aimed at a Francophone audience. Works must be independently produced, and the applicant must be the primary creative artist/director and retain full creative freedom and copyright. This program does not fund works intended for the commercial film, television, and gaming industries.
The program’s priorities are to support projects that demonstrate innovation in content, perspective, form, style, technique, or approach, and that contribute to the candidate’s development as an artist. There are three categories: Development for early, mid-career, and established artists; Production for early career artists; and Production for mid-career and established artists.
The “Development – Early, Mid-Career, and Established Artists” category is intended for the initial phase of a project. It provides funding for expenses related to research, exploration, and experimentation that are necessary to develop a new work. This category is open to artists at all career levels, from those just starting out to those who are well-established.
The “Production – Early Career Artists” category is specifically for artists who are in the early stages of their careers. It helps with the direct costs of creating and finishing a new work, including both production and post-production expenses. This category focuses on bringing a project to fruition.
Finally, the “Production – Mid-Career and Established Artists” category is for artists with more experience. Like the early-career production category, it contributes to the direct costs of production and post-production for a new work, but it is aimed at artists who are considered to be in the middle or late stages of their professional careers.
The grant amounts vary by category, with a maximum of $7,000 for Development, $25,000 for Production by early-career artists, and $40,000 for Production by mid-career and established artists. In the Production categories, the total project budget cannot exceed $125,000 for early-career artists and $300,000 for mid-career and established artists. The program funds a wide range of projects, including animation, sound or video art, documentary, drama or comedy, experimental work, video games, media art installations, and virtual reality projects. It also supports expenses like childcare and accessibility costs for project participants and audiences who are Deaf or have a disability.
This program does not fund projects with only French subtitles, series or groups of works, projects commissioned by a government or private company, promotional or educational projects, student projects, television projects, music videos, or commercial video games. The OAC will also not fund projects for which you have received or requested support from other specified Canadian research councils or for which you plan to claim a tax credit.
Eligible applicants must be Ontario-based and include individual professional artists, ad hoc groups or collectives, and organizations. Individuals must be 18 years of age or older, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and have been a resident of Ontario for at least 12 consecutive months. Ad hoc groups and collectives must have at least two members who meet the individual eligibility requirements, with at least 50% of members residing in Ontario. The application process is managed through Nova, the OAC’s online grant application system, and requires applicants to provide project information, a budget, artistic examples, and supporting documents.
You can only submit one grant application per deadline and cannot receive more than one OAC project grant for the same activity. Individuals and organizations that do not receive OAC operating funding may receive up to three project grants within the same calendar year for different activities.
For more information, visit Ontario Arts Council.
