Individual Arts Grants: Creative Writers (Canada)

Eligible genres include non-fiction, drama, fiction, graphic novels, comic arts, fiction and non-fiction for children, poetry, and spoken word.

Designated Priority Groups

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.

Grant Amounts

• Level 1: Grants up to $7,500
• Level 2: Grants up to $15,000

What Will Not Be Funded?

Grants are not available to support:

• Projects or activities previously funded through this or other BC Arts Council programs.
• Projects or activities funded with BC Arts Council funds received through third-party delivery partners: ArtStarts, First Peoples’ Cultural Council, BC Touring Council, or Creative BC.
• Project phases or activities that began prior to the application submission deadline.
• Works with minimal original, creative, critical, or analytical content such as indices, bibliographies, and instructional or technical books including textbooks, cookbooks, self-help books, and guidebooks.
• Scholarly, educational, or academic works including curriculum-based projects related to education or post-secondary programs.
• Projects related to arts therapy or other health-related or therapeutic work.
• Instructional, sponsored, or commissioned works.
• Works intended for the commercial sector or creative industries (for example, scripts for film, radio, television, interactive digital media, or other commercial media arts).
• Works created primarily for distribution through social media channels or streaming platforms.
• Testimonials, personal growth, or self-help books or manuals, including those of a religious, devotional, or spiritual nature.

Who Can Apply?

• For collaborative applications, each participant in the collaboration must meet the eligibility criteria.
• To be eligible, you must:
  • Be a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident and have been a resident of British Columbia for at least 12 months immediately prior to the application deadline, and ordinarily reside in B.C.
  • Be a professional creative writer as determined by:
    • Having completed appropriate and relevant training in the discipline. Training may include education through post-secondary institutions, traditional knowledge transfer, and/or apprenticeship with a qualified practitioner;
    • Working at a level that is recognized as professional by other practitioners in a similar discipline and/or by organizations in the discipline, including professional book publishers, literary magazines, recognized literary associations, and specialized presenters such as literary festivals and fairs; and
  • Have final creative control over the proposed work;
  • Compensate and acknowledge other artists and professionals fairly in keeping with community contexts and industry standards within the field of practice;
  • Follow 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 grant program; and
  • Be applying for either the first or second time with a project; if you have applied twice unsuccessfully for the same project, the proposal must be substantively changed.
• Level One Eligibility
  • To be eligible for a Level One grant, you must have at least one book (minimum 48 pages) published by a professional literary or trade publisher engaging an editorial selection process, and for which you have a publishing contract and receive royalties, OR an equivalent defined as:
    • Fiction and non-fiction: a minimum of 120 pages (estimated 250 words per page) published in professional print or online literary magazines or periodicals, or anthologies published by recognized professional publishing houses, and for which you have received payment.
    • Poetry: 40 pages of poetry published in professional print or online literary magazines or periodicals, or anthologies published by recognized professional publishing houses, and for which you have received payment.
    • Drama: a minimum of two short works or one full-length work professionally produced, published, or publicly workshopped, and for which you have received payment.
    • Spoken word: professional history of recent public performances in dub, sound, or performance poetry, storytelling, ASL poetry, or other performance literature forms for which you have received payment on at least three separate occasions.
    • Graphic novels and comic arts: a minimum of 120 pages published in professional literary magazines or periodicals, or anthologies published by recognized professional publishing houses, and for which you have received payment.
• Level Two Eligibility
  • To be eligible for a Level Two grant, you must be recognized as a senior artist in your discipline and professional communities, and must have:
    • Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic novel, comic arts: at least three books (minimum 48 pages) published by a professional literary or trade publisher, and for which you have publishing contracts and receive royalties.
    • Drama: a minimum of two full-length works professionally produced or published, and for which you have received payment.
    • Spoken word: a significant body of professionally recognized work in dub, sound, or performance poetry, storytelling, ASL poetry, or other performance-based literary forms for which you have received payment.
• Self-published Authors – Level One
  • To be eligible at Level One, a self-published author must meet all of the criteria as above for a professional creative writer except that your demonstrated body of work must include:
    • Sales of more than 400 copies of a self-published work of prose or a graphic novel, or 200 copies of a self-published work of poetry within 24 months of the application date. BC Arts Council may request official sales records.
    • Voting membership in a recognized professional writers’ association including but not limited to the Canadian Authors’ Association (professional members only), League of Canadian Poets (full members only), and The Writers’ Union of Canada. Full voting membership in other professional writers’ associations may be recognized at the BC Arts Council’s discretion.
• Self-published Authors – Level Two
  • To be eligible at Level Two, a self-published author must meet all of the criteria as above for a professional creative writer except that your demonstrated body of work must include:
    • Sales of more than 400 copies for at least three self-published works of prose or a graphic novel, or 200 copies of a self-published work of poetry, with the most recent work having been published within 24 months of the application date.

For more information, visit British Columbia Arts Council.