Arts Circulation and Touring Information Video
Hello and welcome to this information video. My name is Nadine Carew and I am a Program Advisor with the BC Arts Council. We at the BC Arts Council carry out our work on the land of Indigenous Nations throughout what is colonially known as British Columbia and we are grateful for the continuing relationships with Indigenous peoples in BCS that develop through our work together. We offer gratitude to the lək̓ʷəŋən people known today as the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations on whose ancestral land we operate our main offices and where I am joining from today. We also want to acknowledge and thank the First Peoples' Cultural Council who we have partnered with for many years to deliver the Indigenous Arts programs. This information video is about the Arts Circulation and Touring program.
In this video, I will go over all the ins and outs of the Art Circulation and Touring program, including a review of eligibility requirements and the application process, as well as some general tips for grant writing. If you have any questions after reading the program guidelines and reviewing this video, please reach out to any of the Program Advisors listed on the program page of our website and we will be happy to provide further information or guidance. This video contains a lot of detailed information and I appreciate this may seem overwhelming. Please know that all the information related to the Art Circulation and Touring program is available in the program guidelines which can be found on the program page of our website at bcartscouncil.ca.
The Art Circulation and Touring program supports eligible arts and culture organizations, collectives, and individuals with circulation and touring activities both within British Columbia and outside of the province. Grants received in this program are intended to encourage the dissemination of artistic works through enhanced professional and artistic opportunities and exposure of B.C. artists, collectives, and arts organizations regionally, nationally, and internationally. The program supports these objectives by offering three categories for
applicants to choose from that best align with the activity they are undertaking. Broadly these activities are outbound activity, including the circulation or touring of works; inbound activity, including hosting or presenting work; and the digitization or translation of our artistic works. Please note the program does not support projects that are solely or primarily focused on the creation or development of new works or programming.
I will now go over each of the program categories in turn. Category A supports outbound touring or circulation of work. Applicants applying to this category should be the B.C. based creator or owner of the work or someone engaged by the applicant to apply on their behalf. Examples of the types of projects that might be funded through category A include: a Vancouver Theater Company touring a production up north. Eligible expenses would be things like artists and stage management fees while on tour, transportation costs, per diems and accommodation.
A visual artist in Nelson has been invited to attend the opening of their Exhibition at a gallery in Spain. The gallery will pay them a small fee to give an artist talk at the opening. Eligible expenses would include the artist's travel costs, as well as per diem and accommodation expenses. A dance collective has interest from a presenter in the U.S and they want to do some research and outreach to see if they can secure more bookings to create a tour.
Eligible expenses would include fees paid to the collective members for time spent doing research and related outreach costs. A musical ensemble has been selected for a showcase at an annual showcase and networking event. Eligible costs would include artist fees, transportation, registration fees, and per diem and accommodation. In all of these examples the applicant should demonstrate why
and how the activity will enhance professional and artistic opportunities and be of benefit to B.C. artists. Category B supports inbound touring or circulation of work. Applicants applying to this category should be hosting or presenting artistic work coming from elsewhere. Examples of the types of projects that might be funded through Category B include a museum in Smithers is hosting a touring exhibition that originated on Vancouver Island and is touring to museums throughout the province. Eligible expenses would include shipping, crating, insurance,
installation costs, as well as marketing and outreach costs associated with a specific exhibition. An arts organization in Vancouver wants to present a dance company from Africa that they know is on tour in the U.S. and has some dates available so could come up to Vancouver for a select performance. Eligible costs would include guarantees paid to the touring company, travel, per diem and accommodation, venue rental and tech costs.
A literary organization in Prince George is doing a speaker series over the winter and will be bringing in writers from all over. Eligible costs would include speaking fees for the writers, venue rental, travel, accommodation and per diems, and associated marketing costs. Or a curator from Penticton traveling to Vancouver to see an exhibition and discuss the possibility of hosting the exhibition at their Gallery. Eligible costs would include travel, per diem, and accommodation. Category C is running as a pilot this year and supports the digitization of artistic and cultural works for the purposes of dissemination to and accessed by the identified communities the applicant serves, or the translation of literary dramatic or other written artistic works, critical writings, or public programming materials originally created by B.C. artists, arts practitioners and arts and culture organizations, for the purposes of publication presentation or greater access by the identified communities. Applicants applying to this category should be the B.C.-based creator or owner of the work.
Examples of the type of projects that might be funded through Category C include: a gallery or museum translating exhibition related texts from English into the languages of the local diasporas in order to increase community engagement; a dance company digitizing analog archival material in order to preserve knowledge for future study by artists and cultural workers; a B.C.-based author translating a work written in their primary language to English; a theater company translating a play from English to another language for an international production of the work. Requested funds in this category must be for the direct costs of engaging a qualified person to do the work of digitization or translating and related editing. Capital assets, technology,
publication expenses, and other production related costs are not eligible for funding. Written confirmation from the individuals engaged for the digitization or translation must list the time frame, scope of work, and compensation. For the Arts Circulation and Touring program applications can come from eligible individuals, arts or curatorial collectives, and organizations. We will review basic eligibility requirements of each of these applicant types. Detailed
eligibility requirements are listed in the program guidelines. For this program there is one set of guidelines specifically for individuals and another for organizations and collectives, so make sure you are reviewing the correct guidelines for your applicant type. In order to apply as an individual an applicant must be a professional independent artist and have worked in their discipline as a professional practitioner for at least two years following completion of basic studies and have a demonstrated body of previous work. They must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and have been a resident of B.C. for at least 12 months immediately prior to the application deadline and ordinarily reside in B.C. For more information please review our determining B.C. residency page. And
finally an individual applicant must have completed and submitted any overdue final reports on previous BC Arts Council grants by the submission deadline for this program. For our curatorial collectives applicants need to be established and readily identified as a collective of independent B.C. artists, curators, museum or cultural practitioners, consisting of three or more individuals who are professionally active in their fields of practice and each of whom meet the criteria just outlined for individuals. As well, the collective has to have a demonstrated history of creating or presenting work as a collective and have a clear commitment to a current practice. Collectives must apply under the name of an individual member of the collective who acts as the key contact person and will be listed as the submitting representative within the online Grant system. If the application is successful this person receives payment of the award on
behalf of the group. They will be issued a T4A and will be responsible for submitting the final report to the BC Arts Council. Collectives are strongly encouraged to confirm eligibility with program staff prior to submitting an application. For applicants that work as a creative duo or in instances of collectives where the primary person stays the same but members change, we we encourage you to apply as an individual on behalf of the group instead of as a collective. There's a lot of information about what makes an organization eligible to apply to this program. These are just some key considerations and highlights,
so please review the guidelines for the full scope of eligibility requirements for organizations. So here's just a few of them. In order to be eligible an organization must provide public arts and cultural programming or service to the arts and culture sector in B.C. as a primary activity and have done so for a minimum of one year prior to the application deadline. Engage
skilled artistic, curatorial, and administrative leadership that can be either volunteered or paid for the project or service delivery. And fairly compensate artists, arts and cultural practitioners, technicians, Elders, and/or Knowledge Keepers and compensation must align with project and community contacts and industry standards within the field of practice including adhering to international intellectual property rights standards and cultural ownership protocols. The types of organizations eligible for this program include those listed on this slide. So those are registered non-profit arts and culture societies or community service co-ops that are in good standing and have operated for at least one full year prior to applying to the program and that have a purpose and mandate primarily dedicated to arts and culture programming, activities, or service to the arts and culture sector in B.C. Indigenous community organizations or Indigenous governments in B.C. offering arts and culture activities. Arts and culture organizations operated by a local government or public post-secondary institution and for-profit book publishers that meet the eligibility criteria for the publishing support programs.
There is more detailed information for all of these organization types and the guidelines, so please review to ensure your organization meets all of the eligibility criteria. If you are not sure whether your organization meets the eligibility requirements--call us! We are more than happy to discuss your eligibility with you before you apply. I've talked about what types of activity and applicants are eligible to apply to this program, so now we'll talk about what is required for the application itself. Once you have selected the
category you are applying for, you will need to provide the following information as outlined in the application form. A summary of the applicant's history and the creation, development, production, and/or dissemination of their field of practice in B.C. A summary of the proposed project including rationale, objectives, and intended outcomes. A project timeline and/or work plan. The project
team which should include anyone involved in the project and a short biography for each member. A balanced project budget entered into the budget form provided in the application. And then specific support material as needed, which can include letters from partners or collaborators involved in the project. Please do not submit general letters of support. If applicable, an itinerary of touring or circulation activities, written confirmation from hosting organizations including fees or guarantees, dates and other information about venues if applicable. Written confirmation from the individuals engaged for the digitization or translation of work including the time frame, scope of work, and compensation. And any audio visual or written samples as outlined in the guidelines. Please note, excess support material
including multiple links to materials within a single uploaded document will not be reviewed. I've gone over applicant and activity eligibility and what is required for the application itself, but after you determine your eligibility the most important words to read and absorb from the program guidelines are the assessment criteria. This is the lens through which the assessors are reading your applications and making their scoring decisions on your project. You want to make sure that with every question you are answering in the application you are thinking about the assessment criteria. Pay attention to each aspect of the assessment criteria including the weighted score. This indicates the relative value and importance of each criteria. The questions are organized into sections according to the assessment criteria. Each
criterion can be considered in several ways and these are outlined in detail in the guidelines. For individuals the assessment criteria are artistic and cultural contribution and engagement, impact on the applicant and community, and feasibility. For organizations and collectives the assessment criteria are artistic and cultural contribution and engagement, impact on the community and the art sector, and feasibility. Once you are ready to begin here are some tips to get you going. If you are not already registered in our online system, do this right away. Read and follow the guidelines. Keep assessment criteria in
mind as you go. Draft the application early. Put it aside come back to edit it with fresh eyes. Make sure you are answering the questions being asked in the application. Surprising how often folks lose sight of this as they make their way through the application. Remember that for this program not every assessor will know who you are or what you do, so keep that audience in mind as you answer the application questions and choose your language accordingly.
Also remember that program advisors are not assessors, we don't assess your application. So while you may have explained something to us in an email or over the phone, the assessors rely only on your application. You should articulate your rationale and reasoning clearly in your application regardless if you have discussed it with us or not. Have someone who doesn't know anything about your project read through your application. Do they understand what you are doing and why you are doing it? Can they explain the project back to you? Answering questions in point form or short paragraphs is fine and it is not necessary to write to the word count. Clarity is more important than fancy language.
Only include support material that is requested or relevant and call with any questions. The more clear and concise you can be in your application the easier it is for assessors to understand what it is you are seeking funding for. Here is one way to help you think about your project and how you explain it in the application.
What is the project you are seeking funding for? How will you make it happen? What is the plan? Who is involved? Make sure to list everyone involved in the project team table. Also consider who will be impacted by this project. Where will the project happen? Are you taking your work away from where you are based or are you hosting the work? When is it happening? Be realistic in presenting the project timeline. Don't just list the first and last performance dates. For instance, when will your pre-work start and how long will it take you to wrap up the project at the end? And most important, why. Why this project? Why you or your company? Why now? Here are a few other important things to note about the program and the application process. Eligible activity must take place anytime after you have submitted the grant. We will
not fund activity that has already happened. The maximum award amount in this program is $25,000, meaning you cannot request more than that in your application. For individuals this can be up to 100% of their project budget. For collectives and organizations this can be either up to 50% of the project budget or 65% if the applicant is from a designated priority group. For more information about the BC Arts Council's designated priority groups, please visit our website.
And all of our grants typically have a 16 week or four month turnaround time for notifications. This means it can take up to 16 weeks from the closing deadline of a program to when you will be notified with the results of the grant. This program will have three intakes per government fiscal year which runs April through March. In order to be responsive to the needs of applicants, the program opens approximately one week following the closing date of the previous intake. Eligible activity must take place after the submission date of the grant, not the intake closing date. While you may apply to multiple intakes in a year, you can only receive one grant per fiscal year. The intake and closing dates for
this year are stated in the guidelines so you can check there to see current dates. So what happens after you hit submit? The BC Arts Council receives online applications and staff review each one for eligibility. Eligible applications are reviewed by an assessment panel made up of individuals from different fields of practice with broad professional knowledge, experience, geographic representation, diverse cultural perspectives, including Indigenous viewpoints. The assessors meet together to discuss each application. They rank them based on merit
and against the assessment criteria. They determine which applications will be funded. The BC Arts Council then informs each applicant of the assessment panel's decision in writing. Assessment panels change from intake to intake, so if you have applied before it's very likely a different group will be assessing your application the next time you apply. The BC Arts Council informs each applicant of the results of their application no later than 16 weeks after the closing deadline. Notification is sent to the email address registered in
your profile. Individual results will not be provided before all applicants are notified. Contact your program advisor for feedback on the assessment of your application after notifications have been released. If you have any questions at all, please reach out - we are here to help. This program has several Program Advisors who are available to assist you. Please see the program page which is shown there on the slide to see which Program Advisor would be the best one for you to contact. You can also call or email the BC Arts Council general information and
your inquiry will be directed to the appropriate Program Advisor. If you do have any questions, call early. The closer to the deadline we get, the busier we are and not always able to respond in a timely manner. Thank you and I hope you found this information video useful.
2023-10-01 13:45
