Career Development Program: Project Grants to Artists
Deadline
1 October
Program Description
The Career Development Program assists Canadian professional musicians in the development of their live performance and touring careers.
These grants support activities that enhance public performances by artists in classical and new music, and non-classical music, of all world cultures. The Music Section supports music made for artistic and cultural purposes. It values distinctive artistic voices and supports excellence, innovation, experimentation and creativity in all established and emerging traditions of music. Competitions for funds are national in scope.
The Project Grants to Artists provide the three following categories of grants.
a) Management Grants
To allow professional musicians to obtain the services of a qualified professional manager or booking agent to carry out well-defined projects designed to enhance public performance and touring opportunities, and increase audience access to works of excellence at the national and international levels.
b) Promotional Tool Grants
To allow professional musicians to contract with arts professionals for the development and design of promotional tools such as media kits, photographs, posters, flyers, website, as well as videos for promotional purposes only.
c) Audition Grants
To allow professional classical and new music musicians (singers and instrumentalists) to audition for live performance engagements. The schedule of proposed auditions must be planned by a manager or a booking agent. Eligible expenses include coaching prior to the audition, as well as travel, accommodation and per diem costs.
Audition Grants are intended primarily for emerging artists who demonstrate potential for a professional international career. More established artists may sometimes be considered.
Note: You may apply for more than one category, but Audition Grants are not open to non-classical musicians.
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply to this component (as an individual musician, group or ensemble) you must:
- be Canadian citizens or have permanent resident status, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada; (Canadian citizens need not be residents of Canada when they apply)
- be professional musicians (see definition below)
- have demonstrated the commitment and ability to undertake a live performance career at the national or international level
- be recognized professional practitioners of classical, new or non-classical music, with a history of at least three years of public performance.
In addition, non-classical applicants to this program must have recorded at least one commercially available CD, released under their name or the name of an ensemble that they lead. This requirement does not apply to classical or new music applicants.
The Canada Council for the Arts defines a professional artist as someone who:
- has specialized training in the field
(This training will be consistent with the standards of their practice. Training may include post-secondary academic study, mentorship, private instruction, workshops, periods of self-directed study, community-acquired knowledge, or any combination of the above.)
- is recognized as a professional artist by his or her peers
(Other music artists working in the same tradition identify the applicant as an artist of superior achievement and (or) potential. Peer acknowledgement may include a history of support or recognition at a local, regional or provincial/
territorial level.)
- is committed to devoting more time to artistic activity, if this is possible financially
(The applicant pursues his or her own artistic vision, retains creative control and is committed to the creation and (or) promotion of original work. The applicant exhibits high professional standards and is dedicated to the ongoing development of his or her artistic practice.)
- has a history of public presentation
(The applicant receives compensation for the public presentation of his or her work, and actively seeks to maximize the audience for the work, regardless of market appeal.)
Orchestras, Choirs, and Opera/Music Theatre Companies
To apply to this program, you must represent an orchestra, choir, or opera/ music theatre company that a peer assessment committee of the Canada Council for the Arts’ Professional Orchestra Program, Professional Choir Program or Professional Opera/Music Theatre Program (known as the “core operating programs”) has already assessed. For more details about the core operating programs, contact the appropriate Music Section Officers, as follows:
Orchestras and Opera/Music Theatre Companies
Daniel Swift, ext. 5248
Email: daniel.swift@canadacouncil.ca
Choirs
André Jutras, ext. 5071
Email: andre.jutras@canadacouoncil.ca
Important
- If you are already on the roster of managers or agents currently receiving multi-year or annual support from the Canada Council for the Arts, you cannot apply to the Management Grants category. However, you are eligible to apply to the Promotional Tool Grants and Audition Grants categories.
- If you are requesting funds to develop or promote your career on the international scene, you must demonstrate that you have had an active performance career in Canada, and that you have the ability to undertake an international performing career.
- If you receive a Promotional Tool Grant, you must wait three years before applying for this category of grant again.
- You may not use these funds to pay yourself to complete the project (in other words, self-management and design of your own promotional tools are not eligible activities).
- If you are a professional musician applying to the Audition Grants category, you cannot apply to the Grants to Individual Musicians program for the same project.
This Canada Council for the Arts program is accessible to Aboriginal artists and artists of diverse cultural and regional communities of Canada.
Grant Amount
You may apply for a grant of up to $5,000 for each eligible category within a single request. Therefore, the maximum grant available is $15,000 for classical and new music applicants, and $10,000 for non-classical music applicants.
Eligible costs include the salary or fees of the manager, booking agent or arts professional you hire to undertake the project; related administrative costs; and the costs of producing promotional tools. For the Promotional Tool Grants component, design costs will be given priority over printing or photocopying costs. For the Audition Grants component, the costs of coaching prior to the audition are eligible, as well as travel, accommodation and per diem costs, and accompanist fees for auditions.
Capital purchases of instruments, sound equipment or computers, or the costs of operating a website, are not eligible.
You may not receive the full amount requested. Retroactive funding is not available. In other words, you cannot use grant funds for expenses that have occurred before the competition deadline.
Application Form
Career Development Program: Project Grants to Artists (pdf, 432 KB)
This form can only be printed and cannot be filled out on-line.
Part D - Financial Information: Budget (Excel format)
Further Information
Pierre-Louis Pinel
Program Officer for Non-Classical Music and Classical and New Music
Music Section
Canada Council for the Arts
P.O. Box 1047, 350 Albert Street
Ottawa ON K1P 5V8
Telephone: 1-800-263-5588 (toll-free) or 613-566-4414, ext. 4294
TTY : 1-866-585-5559
Fax: 613-566-4409
July 2009