Request for Proposals: Arts Impact Grant Program (Canada)

Deadline: 9 April 2025

The British Columbia Arts Council is now accepting applications for its Arts Impact Grant Program to prioritize a specific project or group of related activities that will provide the most meaningful impact to their organization, artistic practice, or to their community.

Categories

Applications will be assessed in one of the following three categories:
- Foundational Impact – Capacity Building, Sustainability, and Transformation: Supports activities leading to organizational strength and stability. Examples may include but are not limited to:
  - Creating or expanding leadership, and staff positions
  - Board or staff training and development
  - Strategic planning and policy development
  - Emergency preparedness initiatives
  - Sustainability practices or environmental initiatives
  - Activities that may positively transform an organization’s operations
- Community and Sector Impact – Connecting and Engaging: Supports connection with community. Examples may include but are not limited to:
  - Audience and outreach including marketing initiatives and website development
  - Youth engagement initiatives
  - Inter-community networking and engagement
  - Presentation, or exhibition of work in the applicant’s own community or in communities less than 80 km from the applicant’s home base
  - Sector development or shared-service projects delivered by coalitions or arts service organizations
Artistic and Cultural Impact – Creating and Producing: Supports the development, creation, or production of work or exhibitions that will make an impact on the organization, artistic practice, or community. Examples may include but are not limited to:
- Development, creation, or revision of work through:
  - Research and development
  - Commissions or residencies
  - Workshopping or creative collaboration
- Creation of digital programming and/or the digitization of artistic and cultural works for the purposes of dissemination and greater access.
- Translation of literary, dramatic, other written artistic works, critical arts writing, or public programming materials originally created by B.C. artists, arts practitioners, and arts and culture organizations, for the purposes of publication, presentation, or greater access.
- Integration of environmentally sustainable materials, methods, or practices.

Funding Information

Maximum funding amount is $30,000. The request may be up to 100% of the total budget.
The purchase of directly related equipment up to $2,500 is allowed.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for the Arts Impact Grant, organizations must be:
- An arts and culture 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.
- 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, 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.
- 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, 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
- A book publisher or literary periodical publisher that meets the eligibility requirements for BC Arts Council’s Project Assistance: Literary Arts, Operating Assistance: Literary Arts, or Operating Assistance: Book Publishers program.