Canadian Heritage: Creative Export Canada – Export-Ready Stream

Deadline: June 10, 2026

Program Summary:

Creative Export Canada offers funding for projects that forecast generating export revenues and help Canadian creative industries reach more people around the world.

The ultimate objective of the program is to increase export revenues for Canada’s creative industries.

Eligible projects:

To be eligible for funding, your project must:

• be export-ready at the project start date (content is ready to be marketed, export research/plan is fully developed):
  • the applicant must hold the intellectual property rights for content;
  • if the project involves content with a third party’s intellectual property, the applicant must demonstrate that they have secured the rights of usage for the market(s) targeted by the project;
  • if the project is a collective initiative that will benefit project participants/third parties, such as a collective trade event or a trade mission, the project participants/third parties must hold the intellectual property rights or have secured the rights of usage for the market(s) targeted by the project.
• expect to generate export revenues;
• export content that is from one or more of the following creative industries:
  • artistic craft;
  • audiovisual;
  • design (limited to exhibit, fashion, artistic product, public art, urban);
  • music;
  • performing arts;
  • publishing (books and periodicals);
  • visual art;
  • interactive digital media (in combination with at least one of the industries listed above);
• have a minimum total cost of $150,000.

Projects that, in the opinion of the Department of Canadian Heritage, involve offensive content are not eligible.

A project that only consists of travel to events or business meetings is unlikely to be competitive in this process.

Grant Amount:

The total financial assistance received from the Export-Ready Stream and other levels of government (federal, provincial, territorial and municipal) cannot exceed 75% for the same, eligible project-related costs. The program can fund up to a maximum of $2.5 million per application.

Eligible Applicants:

To be eligible for funding, a company/organization must:

• be incorporated under the laws of Canada, a province or a territory:
  • companies/organizations that are not incorporated because they are registered on First Nations reserve lands may write to the program at creativeexportcanada-exportationcreativecanada@pch.gc.ca to submit proof of their registration.
• be a for-profit company or not-for-profit organization;
• be Canadian-owned and -controlled;
• have a maximum of $500M in annual revenues, including the parent company’s annual revenues;
• have a minimum of one full-time employee (who receives a salary and works a minimum of 30 hours a week) which can include the owner if they receive a salary.