Travel Grants to Media Arts Professionals
Deadline
Anytime
There are no deadlines for these grants, but requests have to be received before the departure date. Applicants who wish to have the results before their departure should apply at least 10 weeks in advance.
Program Description
The Canada Council’s Media Arts Section provides a range of grants in recognition and support of the independent creative work of professional Canadian artists of all cultures and defines the media arts as works in film, video, audio and new media.
This program has two components: Travel Grants to Media Artists and Travel Grants to Independent Media Arts Critics and Curators. Specific information is required for each of the components.
Component 1: Travel Grants to Media Artists
Travel grants assist Canadian professional independent media artists to travel outside their home region for events or activities important to the development of their artistic practice or career. This component provides:
- Presentation travel, which allows independent media artists to present their independent work at recognized Canadian or international festivals or exhibition venues
- Professional development travel, which allows independent media artists to attend exhibitions, festivals, workshops, residencies, symposia, conferences, or to participate in mentorship or other professional development opportunities.
Travel related to the research, development or production of an independent media arts project is not supported under this program (unless it is in the context of a workshop or residency). Applicants may incorporate these costs into a request to the Grants to Film and Video Artists or the Grants to New Media and Audio Artists program, administered by the Media Arts Section.
Component 2: Travel Grants to Independent Media Arts Critics and Curators
This component of the program assists Canadian, professional, independent media arts critics and curators to travel outside their home region. It covers the following types of travel:
- Research travel, which allows independent media arts critics and curators to undertake a research program, visit a studio or visit a presentation centre
- Professional development travel, which allows independent media arts critics and curators to participate in workshops, residencies, symposia, conferences or other professional development activities
- Presentation travel, which allows independent media arts curators to attend the presentation of an exhibition or program of independent works by Canadian media arts professionals that they have curated.
Note: Critics, curators and programmers working with organizations (such as festivals or artist-run centres) may apply to the Audience and Market Development Travel Assistance program of the Canada Council for costs related to the presentation of works or new audience development projects.
Eligibility
Applicant Eligibility
All applicants must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Applicants may be living outside Canada when they apply.
Applicants may apply for only one Travel Grant per fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). They may also apply to one Canada Council Grant to Professional Artists program per fiscal year.
To be eligible, applicants must also have submitted all overdue final reports for any previous Canada Council grants. Please note that if the required reports are not submitted or if they are late, your application will not be assessed.
This Canada Council program is accessible to Aboriginal artists and artists of diverse cultural and regional communities of Canada.
Undergraduate students at a school, college or university are not eligible to apply to this program. Graduate students are eligible to apply only if they meet the Canada Council's definition of a professional artist, and the work presented is not related to their program of study. A letter from the applicants program director is required to verify this information, and it must be included with the application.
Note that meeting the eligibility criteria allows you to apply for a Travel Grant under this program, but does not guarantee that you will obtain one..
Component 1: Travel Grants to Media Artists
Applicants must be professional artists working in media arts (new media, audio, film and video) and must also meet the Canada Council’s definition of a professional artist, defined as someone who:
- has basic training in their field (not necessarily in an academic institution)
- is recognized as a professional artist by her or his peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition)
- is committed to devoting more time to their artistic career if financially feasible
- has a history of public presentation of their work.
To be eligible under this component of the program applicants must also:
- have presented at least one independent media arts work in a professional context.
Independent means that the artist initiates and is the driving force behind the proposed project. He or she must maintain complete creative and editorial control over the work. Contracts with other funders must not require the artist to give up such control.
A professional context means venues and organizations (real or virtual) primarily devoted to presentation. These may be artist-run centres, exhibition centres, museums, galleries, film clubs, television, cinematheques, festivals and competitions (other than those reserved for student productions), other recognized presentation venues or organizations where the selection of participants is made by media arts professionals.
In the case of professional film and video artists, only directors may apply; producers are not eligible to this program. Scriptwriters are eligible to apply if they have already worked with established or mid-career film or video artists and at least one of their scripts has been used in an independent production by an established or mid-career film or video artist.
For new media or audio productions, only artists who initiated and maintained complete creative and editorial control over the work are eligible. Programmers, technicians, coordinators, assistants and other resource persons are not eligible.
Component 2: Travel Grants to Independent Media Arts Critics and Curators
Applicants must be established, practising, independent media arts critics or curators.
An established curator is someone who has completed at least three programs of independent Canadian media artwork that have been presented. An established critic is someone who has published a minimum of three articles or papers for an exhibition about independent Canadian media artists and their artworks.
Applicants must also:
- have basic training in their field (not necessarily in an academic institution)
- be recognized by their peers (professionals working in the same artistic tradition) through public presentation of their work in a professional context
- be committed to devoting more time to the artistic activity, if financially possible.
Project Eligibility
Applicants must be travelling outside of their home region.
The following types of projects are not eligible for support and do not count in determining an applicant's eligibility:
- travel to attend an activity of a department of the federal government (including Canadian embassies abroad)
- development of financing for a project
- projects done on contract for, or produced by, a government agency or private company
- prospecting projects
- participation at film markets
- projects linked to market or audience development
- industrial or corporate projects
- instructional or educational projects
- calling card films or videos
- student projects or presentation of projects done during a program of study
- pilots for television or commercial television projects
- music videos
- commercial video games
- personal web sites or other promotional supports
- public service announcements
- conventional forms of film and television entertainment, such as police dramas, movies-of-the-week and news reports
- projects using film, video, new media or audio simply as a tool to record or document existing artworks
- productions involving commercial or journalistic approaches to film, video, new media or audio.
Artists are encouraged to seek payment for the presentation, exhibition and dissemination of their completed works. However, proposals for productions that are made only for profit or financial gain are not supported.
Applicants who have any doubts about their eligibility or the eligibility of their project should contact the Media Arts Section Coordinator (see the first page of this document) well before submitting an application.
Grant recipients who are unable to undertake their proposed travel or whose travel destination changes for any reason must notify the Media Arts Section Coordinator immediately and return, in full, the funds received.
Grant Amount
Travel Grants to Media Artists and Travel Grants to Independent Media Arts Critics and Curators are available in fixed amounts of $500, $750, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000 and $2,500). Note: The fixed amounts of $2,000 and $2,500 are available only to applicants who are travelling to or from northern Canada or to international destinations other than the United States and Europe.
Applicants should apply for the fixed amount that will cover their travel costs, based on excursion rates, and their subsistence. Travel Grants do not support costs related to transportation, installation, promotion, materials, supplies or equipment.
Per diem, accommodation and airplane, train or bus tickets are covered. You can also include taxi or shuttle-bus fares between airports, train stations or bus stations and another point. Travel allowances are based on the most economical means of travel between the applicant’s home and the venue of the proposed activity. More than one destination may be included in the same round trip. Applicants must justify the amount requested.
To be eligible, the travel date must fall after the date the application is received. The Canada Council may fund projects that are also funded by other public or private organizations, but not for the same expenses.
In the case of artists’ residencies, Travel Grants may be used to cover only travel and accommodation between the applicant’s home and the location of the residency. They are not intended to cover the per diem, accommodation and registration costs of the residency.
The Canada Council reserves the right to reduce the amount requested.
Application Form
Or
Further Information
Felipe Diaz, Program Officer
Media Arts 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. 5252
TTY (TDD) machine, for hearing-impaired callers: 613-565-5194
Fax : 613-566-4409
March 2009