Canadian Heritage: Creative Export Canada – Export Development Stream

Deadline: July 8, 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.

The Export Development Stream (EDS) of the Creative Export Canada (CEC) program offers funding in the form of grants and contributions for:

• new and early-stage exporters to build capacity and expand into international markets
• seasoned exporters to expand into new international markets and build business networks

Eligible projects:

To be eligible for funding, your project must:

• have creative content developed and ready for sales at the project start date:
  • the applicant must hold the intellectual property rights for the 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 event 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.
• allow creative industries to expand their sales into international markets and/or develop international business networks and partnerships;
• expect to generate export revenues or lead to generating export revenues for the recipient or project participants/third-parties;
• have content to export from one or more of the following creative industries:
  • artistic craft;
  • audiovisual;
  • design (limited to exhibit design, fashion design, artistic product design, public art design, urban design);
  • music;
  • performing arts;
  • publishing (books and periodicals);
  • visual art;
  • interactive digital media (in combination with at least one of the industries listed above).
• focus on a specific target export market(s) (the targeted markets can be new or existing);
• have a minimum total cost of $15,000.

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:

Up to $90,000

Eligible Applicants:

We are responsible for determining the eligibility of each applicant, its project and project-related expenses. If you are in doubt about the eligibility of your company/organization or project, please contact the program for clarification.

The Export Development Stream is highly competitive. Requests for funding typically exceed our available resources. Therefore, submitting an eligible application does not guarantee funding.

Who can apply:

To be eligible for funding, your 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 a not-for-profit organization;
• be Canadian-owned and controlled;
• have a maximum of $10 million in annual revenues in the current or previous fiscal year, which includes the revenues of entities or subsidiaries of a parent company; and
• 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.

Reserved Funding:

A percentage of Creative Export Canada – Export Development Stream funding will be reserved for companies/organizations whereby at least 50% of the owners and/or board members self-identify as Indigenous peoples and/or members of equity-deserving communities. As such, the program encourages applicants from these communities to have owners and/or board members self-identify through the voluntary self-identification questionnaire to be eligible for this reserved funding. Only those applicants who submit completed voluntary self-identification questionnaires and meet the 50% threshold will be considered for this reserved funding.