Important Information: Professional Arts Festivals 2010-2011
Targeted investment
In the federal budget of March 2007, the Government of Canada announced a new investment of $30 million per year in support of "local arts and heritage festivals that engage Canadians in their communities through the expression, celebration and preservation of local culture."
The $30 million in new resources will be ongoing and includes up to $7 million annually for the Canada Arts Presentation Fund (CAPF) program. With this targeted investment to its existing grants and contribution budget, the CAPF program will direct additional funds to professional arts festivals that make a significant and demonstrable commitment to community engagement activities.
Community engagement
Community engagement is a concept already well entrenched in the objectives, current guidelines and assessment criteria of the CAPF program. Therefore, no changes to the eligibility or assessment criteria for CAPF will be made in order to deliver these funds. For the purposes of the CAPF program, community engagement activities include but are not limited to:
- Programming that combines and complements paid admission events with free or low-cost events
- Programming that engages local professional artists
- Extending programming outreach to other communities
- Initiatives that reach out to specific segments of the population (i.e. youth, disabled, seniors, or under-served populations)
- Active outreach to schools, community centres or other venues where professional artists engage with the community
- Partnerships with other community-based organizations
Assessment
Only organizations presenting a professional arts festival are eligible for funds from this additional investment in CAPF. Eligible CAPF festival applicants should refer to the current program guidelines and complete the application form in which they apply for their regular programming.
Relevant information on projected community engagement activities must be provided under Section B of the application form. Please note that while all the answers to the questions in Section B will be used to assess the level of community engagement of professional arts festival applicants, particular emphasis will be placed on the responses to questions B3 and B6.
Outreach activities that are directly linked to festival programming and that occur outside the festival dates will be considered in the assessment of community engagement.
If you require further information, please contact your regional Department of Canadian Heritage office.
If your organization presents a local arts or heritage festival that does not qualify for support under the CAPF program, please check the guidelines of the Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program.