Early Career Development Grants (Canada)

Assistance through this program is available to both arts and culture organizations and to individual art practitioners through six components.

For Organizations:

• Internship supports arts and culture organizations to host an Early Career Practitioner in a paid internship.
• Cohort supports arts and culture organizations to host a group or cohort of Early Career Practitioners in paid professional development positions.

For Organizations in Regional Communities – Basic Training Pilot Project:

• Basic Training is a new component in the Early Career Development program intended to support emerging and early career arts and arts practitioners (Arts Trainees) who may not have access to training opportunities (for example, post-secondary studies) because of where they are located. They developed this component in response to needs identified through sector-wide consultations, in conversations with artists and arts organizations in regional areas, and through a review of results from recent program intakes.
• Basic Training – Internship supports arts and culture organizations in regional communities to provide paid on-the-job training and experiential learning opportunities for new and emerging artists, arts administrators, and arts and cultural practitioners who want to work in their home communities.
• Basic Training – Cohort supports arts and culture organizations in regional communities to provide paid on-the-job training and experiential learning opportunities for a group of two or more new and emerging artists, arts administrators, and arts and cultural practitioners who want to work in their home communities

For Individuals:

• Residency supports Early Career Practitioners to pursue a learning-focussed residency with an arts and culture organization.
• Mentorship supports Early Career Practitioners to engage in one-on-one learning through a mentorship with an established practitioner working in their field, art form, or field of practice.

Aims

• Develop their artistic or administrative practice.
• Participate in knowledge transfer, skill sharing, and reciprocal learning in the sector.
• Expand their career experience, professional networks, and exposure.
• Build capacity in their identified community(ies) (for example, geographic, cultural, area of practice).

Funding Information

• Maximum request amount is $30,000.
• You may request up to 100% of the total budget.
• They encourage you to submit a realistic budget outlining the funds required to feasibly carry out the learning activities. BC Arts Council intends to support successful applications at 100% of the request. However, in some cases, grants may be awarded for less than requested.
• BC Arts Council grant programs are highly competitive, and they are not able to support all eligible projects. Success rates in BC Arts Council grant programs are generally between 20% to 40%.

Eligibility Criteria

• Designated Priority Groups
  • The BC Arts Council has committed to targeted investment in underserved and equity-deserving 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.
  • If your organization or collective would like to be considered for strategic measures including priority funding under the Designated Priority Groups policy, you must complete the Designated Priority Groups and Equity Data Tool sections in your online Organization Profile.
• Eligible Organizations
  • To be eligible, an organization must be:
    • 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 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 primarily 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
    • 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 based in B.C.
      • A commitment to offering regular arts and culture activities.
  • OR
    • An Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) government in B.C. that offers regular arts and culture activities.
  • OR
    • An arts and culture 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, editorial, or administrative leadership position who is responsible for programming and engagement.
      • Offers ongoing public programming by experienced arts and cultural practitioners.
      • Primarily operates with autonomy, holding creative control and decision making for programming and engagement within the organization, with separate financial records for operations.
  • OR
    • An arts and culture organization operated by a public post-secondary institution in B.C. for at least one fiscal year prior to application, that:
      • Holds a dedicated programming space and has at least one dedicated staff person in an artistic, curatorial, editorial, or administrative leadership position who is responsible for programming and engagement.
      • Offers ongoing public programming by experienced arts and cultural practitioners, the majority of which is not programming of faculty or student works.
      • 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. See Financial Statement section below for more detail.
  • OR
    • An eligible book publisher according to the criteria in the guidelines of the Project Assistance:
    • Literary Arts or Operating Assistance: Book Publishers programs
• Early Career Practitioner Eligibility
  • To be eligible, an Early Career Practitioner must:
    • Be working or practicing in an area funded by the BC Arts Council, including but not only:
      • Arts Administration
      • Community-Based Arts
      • D/deaf, Disability and Mad Arts
      • Literary Arts (creative writing, publishing)
      • Media Arts
      • Multi- and Interdisciplinary Arts
      • Museums or Indigenous Culture Centres
      • Performing Arts (music, theatre, dance, circus arts, comedy, production and/or technical)
      • Visual Arts (critic, curator, artist in contemporary or traditional visual arts and/or craft, including Indigenous Arts)
    • Be a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada who ordinarily resides in B.C. and has lived in the province for at least 12 months immediately prior to the application closing date.
    • Not be enrolled in full-time studies when the Residency or Mentorship is taking place.
    • Not have received two previous Early Career Development grants. An individual may participate in a maximum of two Early Career Development projects in their lifetime.
    • Not be a participant in any other application in this program’s current intake.
    • Have completed and submitted any overdue final reports on previous BC Arts Council grants by the application closing date for this program.
  • AND EITHER
    • Identify with one of the BC Arts Council’s Designated Priority Groups, as described above, and have completed basic training in their field of practice within ten years of the application closing date.
  • OR
    • Have completed basic training in their field of practice within five years of the application closing date.
    • Early Career Practitioners may be eligible if basic training will be complete within six months of the application closing date and before the proposed activity begins if all other criteria above is met.
    • “Basic training” means appropriate and relevant education that has prepared an Early Career Practitioner to work at a professional level. Some examples are:
      • Traditional knowledge transfer from an Elder, Knowledge Keeper, or established cultural practitioner
      • Apprenticeship with a qualified, peer-recognized arts and cultural practitioner
      • Degree, diploma, or certificate from an academic institution
      • Self-directed learning may be eligible. Contact a Program Advisor to discuss. The basic training requirements for Emerging Arts Administrators may be flexible.

Ineligiblilty Criteria

• The following types of organizations are not eligible to apply for this grant:
  • 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
  • Arts or Curatorial Collectives. Collectives hoping to engage an Early Career Practitioner should encourage the individual artist to apply through the Mentorship or Residency component.

For more information, visit BC Arts Council.