B.C. Arts Council Literary Arts Program (Canada)

BC Arts Council Project Assistance grant programs provide one-time grants for specific projects, components, or programming initiatives within an existing program that contribute to the development, enrichment, and creation of new or unique publications and public programming.

Funding Information

• Maximum request amount is $25,000.
• Applicants may request:
  • a grant up to 50% of the total eligible project budget; or
  • a grant up to 65% of the total eligible project budget from applicants that are considered part of the BC Arts Council’s designated priority groups.

Eligible Projects

• Literary Organizations
  • Eligible literary organizations or collectives may apply for either:
    • 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.
    • A specific programming expense or component. Some examples are fees for artists, costs to ensure that programming is accessible, or venue costs.
• Arts Periodicals
  • Eligible publishers of 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 B.C. 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.
  • 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.
    • Have scheduled email delivery of content, maintaining a minimum average of 300 registered email recipients over a period of 6 months.
    • Arts periodicals published in any written language or combination of written languages are eligible for assistance if all other eligibility criteria are met.
• Book Publishers
  • Book publishers may apply for up to three eligible books to be published in one year.
  • An eligible book must:
    • Be an original work and/or first edition (no reprints) in cloth, paper, or digital format.
    • Be a work of literary, artistic, or cultural importance in the genres of fiction; poetry; drama; literary and arts criticism; autobiography, biography, memoir, and essays;  comics and graphic novels; works for children and young adults; and creative and literary works of history, politics, social issues, science, travel.
    • Be written and/or illustrated by Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada.
    • Contain at least 50% Canadian-authored or -illustrated content.
    • Be published for a trade market readership and be accessible to a general reading audience and not exclusively intended for a specialized audience, including academic or professional.
    • Have a contract with the author and/or illustrator for an industry-standard royalty agreement or fee in lieu of royalties.
    • Include primarily original material or make a significant contribution to arts and culture with previously sourced material.
    • Have content that is entirely within the publisher’s editorial control and not under the control of another financial stakeholder.
    • Be a minimum of 48 printed pages, or in the case of illustrated children’s books, 24 pages.
    • Be free of advertising other than for the publisher’s or author’s own material.
    • Have a print run of more than 350 copies.
    • For Canadian-authored works translated into English, French, or Indigenous languages, in addition to the criteria above, the translator must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.

Who can apply?

• Designated Priority Groups
  • The BC Arts Council has committed to targeted investment in underserved and equitydeserving organizations and the development of equity support initiatives, including a policy to support designated priority groups. These identified groups will be the focus of BC Arts Council strategic measures, through dedicated programs, funding prioritization processes, partnerships, and outreach. 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
    • Located in areas outside greater Vancouver or the capital region
  • Identifying as a designated priority group means the majority of your activities, programming, and financial and human resources are dedicated to one of the groups listed above. This may be demonstrated in one or more of the following areas: purpose statement, practices, practitioners, staffing, leadership, and engagement.
• Organization Eligibility
  • To be eligible, an organization must be:
    • A professional literary organization, book publisher, or arts periodical publisher registered and in good standing as a non-profit society or community service co-op in B.C. for at least one year prior to application with:
      • The majority of key staff (paid or volunteer) and board members based in B.C.
      • Creative control and decision making for programming and engagement primarily maintained within the organization and by leadership based in B.C.
      • A purpose or mandate dedicated to arts and culture programming and activities. or
      • A purpose or mandate to provide services to the arts and culture sector in B.C.
      • Operations and activities that reflect this dedicated purpose or mandate. OR
    • A B.C.-based, Canadian-owned book publisher that has been a legally registered company in B.C. for at least one year. OR
    • A book publisher or arts periodical publisher or literary organization led by an Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) community 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 that set editorial policies based in B.C.
    • A commitment to offering regular arts and culture activities. OR
    • A book publisher or arts periodical publisher or literary organization led by an Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) government in B.C. OR
    • A book publisher or arts periodical publisher or literary organization operated by a public post-secondary institution in B.C. for at least one fiscal year prior to application, with:
    • An independent advisory board that sets editorial and other policies for programs and services undertaken.
    • Primarily operates with autonomy, outside of curriculum, holding creative control and decision making for programming and engagement within the organization, with separate financial records for operations.
  • An eligible organization must:
    • Not currently receive Operating Assistance from the BC Arts Council.
    • 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 closing date.
    • Engage skilled artistic, curatorial, editorial and/or administrative leadership (volunteer or paid) for project or service delivery.
    • Offer programs or publications that benefit or are of interest to the community atlarge and not solely the interests of its nonprofit society members.
    • 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.
    • Follow international intellectual property rights standards and cultural ownership protocols.
    • Follow 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.
    • Have completed and submitted any overdue final reports on previous BC Arts Council grants by the intake closing date for this grant program.
  • An eligible arts periodical publisher must also:
    • Have operated and engaged in publishing activity for a minimum of one year with a commitment to continued operations.
    • Publish an arts periodical—either print or electronic—in B.C. and have published at least two issues in the year preceding the application deadline (print periodicals) or have maintained a publishing program and had two issues available for at least 12 months before the application deadline (electronic periodicals). Arts periodicals that meet the eligibility for both print and electronic components must choose one of the two formats when applying.
    • Operate year-round and publish on a regular, clearly communicated schedule, and publish at least two editions or issues per calendar year.
    • Publish original works of artistic expression and social, cultural, or intellectual commentary or inquiry.
    • Publish primarily the work of B.C. and/or Canadian artists.
  • An eligible book publisher must also:
    • Have its head office, editorial office, general operations, and management based in B.C. for at least one fiscal year prior to application.
    • In the case of legally registered companies, be managed and financially controlled by B.C. residents who own at least 75% of the company.
    • Have operated in B.C. for a minimum of one year with book publishing as the primary (and not peripheral or occasional) business, with the publication of original titles as the focus.
    • Maintain full control of the editorial process and have editorial independence from any other company. Where affiliations exist, publishers must be able to demonstrate separate editorial departments, budgets, and financial statements for each book publishing operation.
    • Have at least four eligible titles in print, have published at least two eligible titles in the previous year, and be committed to an ongoing program of publishing eligible titles.
    • Issue royalty statements on a regular basis and fulfill all contractual obligations to writers, illustrators, translators, and other copyright licensors. Publishers owing payments as of the submission deadline may not be eligible for funding.
• Arts or Curatorial Collective Eligibility
  • To be eligible, an Arts or Curatorial Collective must:
    • Be established and readily identified as a collective of a minimum of 3 independent artists, curators, or arts and cultural practitioners who are active in their field of practice and who meet the criteria below. NOTE: The collective may include additional members who do not meet the criteria below as long as at least 3 eligible core members have been identified and meet the following:
      • Have a minimum of two years of practice in their field following basic training, with roles that hold creative control of projects.
      • Have a demonstrated body of previous work as an individual practitioner, including at least one public presentation of work for which an artist fee or equivalent was received.
      • Be a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident. Have been a resident of B.C. for at least 12 months immediately prior to the application deadline, and ordinarily reside in B.C. See Determining B.C. Residency.
    • 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 public presentation of work by the current collective, for which artist fees or equivalent were received.
      • Intention to continue working together with current members as a collective on future projects.
    • Apply under the name of an individual member of the collective who acts as the key contact person and is listed as the submitting representative or “Primary Contact” within the online grant system. If the application is successful, this person will:
      • Be responsible for submitting the final report.
      • Designate a member of the collective as Payee who is registered with an Individual Practitioner account. Their name and email address (that is associated with their system account) must be listed in the application. If the application is successful, this person will:
        • Receive payment of the grant on behalf of the collective.
        • Be issued a T4A for the full grant amount.
  • An eligible Arts or Curatorial Collective must also:
    • Engage skilled artistic, curatorial, and administrative leadership for project or service delivery.
    • Not be applying on behalf of the activities of a for-profit business.
    • 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.
    • Follow 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.
    • Have completed and submitted any overdue final reports on previous BC Arts Council grants by the application closing date for this program.
    • Provide programs that benefit the community at-large and not solely the interests of the collective’s members.

Ineligibility Criteria

• The following organizations are not eligible to apply for this grant:
  • Organizations currently receiving BC Arts Council Operating Assistance grants
  • Book or periodical publishers that do not pay contributor fees or royalties
  • Private or for-profit entities (except in the case of for-profit book publishing companies)
  • Member-funded societies
  • Social service organizations
  • Industrial sites, archaeological sites, heritage sites, or historic places
  • Organizations dedicated to archives
  • Collectives with less than 3 members or ad hoc collectives. These types of collectives may be eligible to apply to Individual Arts Grant programs for a collaborative project.

For more information, visit Brititsh Columbia Arts Council.