Project Grants to Visual Artists
The Canada Council for the Arts is committed to equity and inclusion, and welcomes applications from diverse Aboriginal, cultural and regional communities, including people with disabilities.
Deadline
1 December
If this date falls on a weekend or statutory holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.
Please refer to the Program Guidelines for detailed information.
Program Description
The Project Grants to Visual Artists program supports professional visual artists and collaborations who contribute to contemporary visual arts. Grants cover artists’ subsistence costs as well as the direct expenses for a period of independent research, creation, and/or production of artworks for public exhibitions in Canada and abroad.
Eligible Applicants
To apply to the Canada Council for the Arts, you must be a Canadian citizen or have permanent resident status, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. You do not need to be living in Canada when you apply.
You must also meet the Canada Council’s definition of a professional artist, which is an artist who:
- has specialized training in the field (not necessarily in academic institutions)
- is recognized as a professional by his or her peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition)
- is committed to devoting more time to artistic activity, if possible financially
- has a history of public presentation
To meet the definition of a professional visual artist, you must also have:
- produced an independent body of work
- had at least three public presentations of your work in a professional context over a three-year period
- maintained an independent professional practice for at least three years after specialized training.
The Visual Arts Section recognizes a collaboration as two or three professional visual artists working together on a long-term basis to develop a collaborative artistic practice. To meet the definition of a collaboration:
- each member of the collaboration must meet the definition of a professional visual artist
- it must have had at least three public presentations of its collaborative work in a professional context over a three year-period.
A collaboration may submit one application where one member is the lead applicant and the other member(s) are the co-applicant(s) OR each member of the collaboration may submit an application and all of the applications are assessed together.
Grant Amount
The maximum grant amount that you can receive from this program is $20,000.
Further Information
Michel Gaboury or Pao Quang Yeh
Program Officers
Visual Arts Section
Canada Council for the Arts
350, Albert Street, P.O. Box 1047
Ottawa ON K1P 5V8
1-800-263-5588 (toll-free) or 613-566-4414, ext. 5265 or 5094
TTY: 1-866-585-5559
August 2012