Dance Presentation Program: Support to Festivals
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.
Deadlines
1 May and 1 October
If either of these dates 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 Dance Presentation Program: Support to Festivals program offers financial assistance to annual or biennial festivals that celebrate and showcase professional dance in a concentrated period of time.
Grants are intended to:
- foster creative risk and diversity in dance programming at Canadian festivals
- increase creation, performance and visibility opportunities for professional dance artists and companies
- extend, deepen and enrich existing relationships and cultivate new partnerships among local, national and international dance artists and presenters
- provide enhanced creative and professional development opportunities for Canadian dancers, choreographers and other dance practitioners
- increase the quality of dance presentation in Canada and working conditions for artists
- provide Canadian audiences with enhanced opportunities to view a diversity of dance forms and increase audience appreciation for the art of dance, and
- strengthen and deepen the relationships between Canadian dance festivals and the audiences and dance communities they serve.
The program gives priority to festivals that have a strong artistic vision and clear programming direction, provide career and professional development opportunities for programmed dance artists, and cultivate their dance milieu and audiences.
Support to Festivals is structured as an annual programming grant. Successful applicants will receive a financial contribution to their annual or biennial artistic programming.
Eligibility of Applicant
Festivals may apply once per calendar year (1 January to 31 December).
To be eligible, your dance festival must:
- be a non-profit organization and be incorporated in Canada
- program dance as a dominant artistic activity of the festival
- have already produced at least one professional dance festival before this application deadline
- have as its mission the presentation of works by professional artists
- produce an annual or biennial festival that:
- is a minimum of four consecutive days and a maximum of three consecutive weeks
- includes at least four live performances of 45 minutes or more
- presents a minimum of two distinct programs of artists, and
- engages six or more professional dance artists or companies, some of which are from outside the festival’s home province or territory
- provide the venue, plus technical and promotional support for festival presentations
- pay guaranteed fees to professional artists for festival performances
- charge an admission fee to the public for some or all festival performances
- be directed by dance professionals and (or) community leaders
- have an appropriate administrative infrastructure to support the festival
- receive support from sources other than the Canada Council, such as other levels of government and (or) private sources, and
- maintain separate, clear and exact financial accounts for the festival’s activities.
Grant Amount
There are no minimum or maximum amounts that may be requested or received through this program. Funding is dependent on the volume and nature of the requests and the availability of funds. However, grants generally range from $5,000 to $40,000.
Further Information
Rochelle Hum
Program Officer
Dance Section
Canada Council for the Arts
350 Albert Street, P.O. Box 1047
Ottawa ON K1P 5V8
Telephone: 1-800-263-5588 (toll-free) or 613-566-4414, ext. 4501
TTY: 1-866-585-5559
Fax: 613-566-4409
July 2011