Atlantic Canada Business Grants

Social inclusion or Business development

Arts Equity Funding Initiative

Amount:

$15,000.00

Type of Program:

Grants

Description:

The Arts Equity Funding Initiative provides funding to emerging and established professional artists from designated communities who have historically faced barriers to accessing funding support. Designed to support artistic growth, development, production and dissemination, the initiative is available to the following designated communities of artists:

Indigenous (Mi’kmaq as well as other First Nations, Metis and Inuit), culturally diverse (African-Nova Scotian and other visible minorities of African, Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern and mixed racial descents) and artists who are deaf, have disabilities or are living with mental illness.

There are three types of grants, depending on the assisted activities:

  1. 1
    Creation Grants assist with projects that involve the creation of new work of art in any form including cross-disciplinary or multi-disciplinary work.
  2. 2
    Presentation Grants assist with projects that involve public presentation of artistic work(s).
  3. 3
    Professional Development Grants assist with projects that involve activities intended to strengthen artistic or administrative capacity through formal study programs, mentorship, workshops, apprenticeship, conference and other professional development activity.

A Special Travel Grant can be awarded in the same 12 month period as a Creation, Presentation or Professional Development grant. 

Comments on Funding:

Funding for Creation Grants is up to $15,000.
Funding for Presentation Grants is up to $12,000.
Funding for Professional Development Grants is up to $12,000.
Funding for Special Travel Grants can be up to $1,000.
Artists can only receive one Arts Equity Funding Initiative in a 12-month period.

When It Ends:

Ongoing

Deadline:

March 15
September 15

Eligibility:

Applicants must:

  • be individual artists,
  • be professional arts organizations,
  • be ad-hoc groups: a group of three or more professional artists (majority living in Nova Scotia) who are creating a new work together,
  • be a not-for-profit organization registered in Nova Scotia employing professional artists for a project.
  • complete a self-identification form to demonstrate eligibility,
  • be professional artists as defined by the Status of the Artist Act (including, but not limited to: having peer recognition, having a history of public presentation, having training appropriate to the artist's chosen discipline (including mentorship and/or apprenticeship training), earning income, fully or in part, from artistic activity, demonstrating serious intent and devotion of energy to practicing art),
  • be Canadian citizens or landed immigrants who have maintained their primary residence in Nova Scotia for at least 12 months prior to the application deadline. Applicants who are out of the province temporarily and will be away for no more than 12 months may apply.

Application Steps:

Applicants must:

1

upload large audio and video files to a streaming service such as YouTube, Vimeo or SoundCloud, 

2

send the application by email to artsnssubmissions@novascotia.ca by 11:59pm the day of the deadline, 

3

contact the program officer, if they are unable to submit by email. 

Documentation Needed: 

Applicants must submit:

  1. 1
    a self-identification form to demonstrate eligibility,
  2. 2
    the signed and completed application form,
  3. 3
    a detailed project description (max. 2 pages),
  4. 4
    a detailed budget,
  5. 5
    a detailed schedule of work,
  6. 6
    a two-page CV of the applicant and all other artists involved, or a description of artistic practice and applicable training,
  1. 7
    support material demonstrating the applicant’s professional practice (Images, video/audio, printed pages),
  2. 8
    group member statements if you are submitting on behalf of a group of artists and not an organization,
  3. 9
    background Information About the Organization (if applicable).

Letters of intent from any person or organization involved in the project, and/or letters of support from professional, practicing artists in the relevant discipline(s) may be necessary to include. Contact the program officer when in doubt about these documents.

Other Things to Note:

The applicant will receive an email notifying him of the results ten to twelve weeks after the deadline regardless of the outcome.

Program Contact:

Arts Equity Funding Initiative