Project Grant Program – Individuals and Collectives │Calgary Arts Development

This program is open to Calgary-based (1) individual artists, (2) artist collectives, (3) cultural workers, and (4) collaborations with artists (i.e. individuals working in the arts and culture sector who are not artists themselves but are undertaking a project that primarily involves and supports artists).

Please review the definitions below for each category before applying:

• Individual Artists:
  • We consider an individual artist to be an artist who is actively pursuing a professional career in the arts, and who has invested in the development of their artistic skills, voice and goals.
  • Artists may have formal or informal, community-based training. We value all ways of knowing, learning and developing an artistic practice.
  • Artists have shared, or are actively striving to share, their work publicly and be compensated for their work.
  • Artists have a relationship with their artistic communities and peers.
  • Artists do not need to be working professionally in the arts full time.
• Artist Collectives:
  • We consider an artist collective to be two or more individual artists who have a shared artistic practice that is distinct from their own individual artistic practices (for example, a band, a visual art duo, a theatre collective, co-writers, etc.). Artist collectives may work together on an ongoing basis or partner together on a temporary basis for a particular project or goal.
  • Collectives need to define their collective practice, vision, goals and process to demonstrate that all collective members have equal and shared ownership and accountability for the success and completion of the proposed project.
  • A majority of collective members must be Calgary-based artists (i.e. 50 per cent or more).
• Cultural Workers:
  • For the purposes of our programs, ‘cultural workers’ refers to individuals who make their living in the arts and culture sector and contribute to the success of an artist or organization’s artistic work in a creative or technical capacity, but who are not necessarily leading the artistic vision of the work being created. This might include production team members such as a costume designer or cutter, sound designer/operator, set designer, lighting designer/operator, etc.
  • In this program, we will consider applications from cultural workers for their own professional development and learning, or for independent projects where they are the lead artist for the creative process. The project should be focused on their own artistic practice, vision and goals.
• Collaborations with Artists:
  • We will consider applications from individuals working in the arts and culture sector who do not meet the definition of an individual artist or artist collective if they can demonstrate the below, and at the discretion of Calgary Arts Development staff:
    • Artists are core collaborators or participants in the planning, development and implementation of the project.
    • The project and budget provide financial and non-financial support to artists.
    • The applicant has demonstrated history of working with artists and the arts sector.

NOTE: This program cannot accept applications from arts administrators, agents or managers, production companies, registered for-profit corporations or businesses, or registered not-for-profit organizations.