Project Assistance: Professional Performing Arts Organizations (Canada)

Performing Arts includes dance, music, theatre, multidisciplinary, or other performing arts practices such as circus arts and comedy.

The program supports organizations and collectives and has two categories:

• Development and Creation supports the initial stages of the creative process, including research, creation, and project development.
• Production and Realization supports the latter stages of the creative process, including production, presentation, remounts and post-production.

For projects with a full range of activity you may apply for both categories in the same application.

Funding Information

• Maximum request amount is $25,000.
• Applicants may request:
  • a grant amount up to 50% of the total eligible project budget; or
  • a grant amount 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 Activities

• Grants are available in this program to support specific projects in the performing arts with activities that cover phases of development, creation, production, realization, dissemination and/or live performance.
• Examples of eligible activities may include but are not limited to:
  • Artistic research, exploration, and experimentation.
  • Composition of all genres of music, including those expressions primarily using digital technologies.
  • Playwriting projects in workshop, preproduction, or production phases. Playwrights looking for funds to support initial drafts may be eligible through the BC Arts Council’s Individual Arts Grants for Creative Writers program.
  • Various methods of creation, either in-residence or independently.
  • Workshops and other development activities.
  • Public presentations.
  • Commissioning of new work.

Ineligible Activities

• Examples of activities that are NOT eligible for support in this program:
  • Amateur or student productions or projects.
  • Recording projects that are intended for commercial distribution.
  • Ongoing multi-day festivals, projects embedded within ongoing multi-day festivals, and other activities eligible within the Project Assistance: Professional Arts Festivals grant program.
  • Non-audition-based community choirs.
  • General operating activities, ongoing expenses, or annual artistic programming plans.
  • Projects or activities that do not involve or benefit artists or arts and cultural practitioners.
  • Projects that are focused on professional development or arts education.

Who can apply?

• 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 Organizational Profile.
• Professional Performing Arts Organizations Eligibility
  • To be eligible, an organization must be:
    • A professional performing arts 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.
      • 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.
      • 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.
    • 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.
    • An Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) government in B.C. that offers regular arts and culture activities.
    • A professional performing arts 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, or administrative leadership position who is responsible for programming and engagement.
      • Offers ongoing public programming by 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.
    • A professional performing arts 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, or administrative leadership position who is responsible for programming and engagement.
      • Offers ongoing public programming by 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.
  • An eligible organization must also:
    • 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.
    • Provide programs that benefit the community at-large and not solely the interests of its nonprofit society members.
    • Engage skilled artistic, curatorial, and administrative leadership (volunteer or paid) for project or service delivery.
    • 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.
• 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 page.
    • 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.
      • The intention to continue working together as a collective with current members 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 submission deadline 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
  • 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
  • Community choirs that are attached to, or affiliated with, educational, religious, or military institutions
  • 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.
  • Organizations that are eligible through the Project Assistance: Community Arts Organizations program.

For more information, visit British Columbia Arts Council.