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Grants to Dance Professionals

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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.

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Deadline

1 February - Notification of results from this competition are available in mid-May.

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.

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Program Description

This program provides support and assistance to an individual Canadian dance professional to pursue projects involving professional development, research, and apprenticeship or mentorship. Applicants must identify themselves as belonging in one of the following categories:

  • emerging
  • mid-career
  • established.

Professionals working in all dance forms, genres and specializations are eligible to apply. This program supports practitioners of both contemporary and traditional dance forms rooted in many cultures.

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Applicant Eligibility

General eligibility

You are eligible to apply to this program if you are an individual Canadian dance professional. For the purposes of this program, dance professionals include dancers, choreographers, dance teachers, artistic directors, designers and technicians, as well as professionals contributing to dance in a non-artistic capacity such as managers, producers, agents, writers and archivists.

If you are a dance professional working with a dance company or organization, you may only apply to this program for support of a project that is not included in the ongoing activities of the company or organization.

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 such by her or his peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition)
  • is committed to devoting more time to the artistic activity, if financially feasible
  • has a history of public presentation.
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Project Eligibility

The Canada Council recognizes that the dance profession incorporates many facets of activity that enhance the dance milieu. Research, career, and professional development activities are eligible for support through this program.

Professional development

Examples of professional development projects that are eligible for support include:

  • periods of professional development or study within self-directed or established programs
  • participation at national or international dance festivals, conferences and events
  • attendance at workshops or training courses that are above the level of basic training
  • sabbatical periods for established and mid-career artists: for this program, a sabbatical is defined as a period of leave taken by a dance professional to carry out projects not otherwise associated with their regular duties within an organization or a company; this leave of absence can be used for reflection, study or travel. Note that funding for sabbaticals is highly competitive and an average of one grant per year is awarded.

Sabbatical periods for artistic directors of companies receiving support through the Creation/Production in Dance program are not eligible.

Research projects 

Examples of research projects that are eligible for support include:

  • self directed research that is not related to a specific production
  •  investigation of technologies for dance, which may involve research to work with video, film or other media
  • individual research for writing projects.
Apprenticeship or mentorship projects

Examples of apprenticeship or mentorship arrangements that are eligible for support include:

  • a senior artist or elder wishes to mentor a dancer to provide specific knowledge and/or training
  • a lighting designer wishes to apprentice with a senior lighting designer to further develop his or her skills
  • an emerging dancer wishes to apprentice with a specific dance company and/or an established dance professional.
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Grant Amount

Professional development and research projects

The maximum available for these activities is $20,000.

Apprenticeship or mentorship projects

The maximum available for these activities is $10,000.

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Further Information

Dance 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, extension indicated below.

Anglophone dance professionals may contact:
Karen Tisch, ext. 5027     karen.tisch@canadacouncil.ca

Francophone dance professionals may contact:
Rochelle Hum, ext. 4501    rochelle.hum@canadacouncil.ca

TTY: 1-866-585-5559

December 2012