BCAC: Arts & Cultural Service Organizations (Operating Assistance)

Deadline: October 8, 2026 (11:59 p.m. PT)

Program Summary:

Operating Assistance: Arts & Cultural Service Organizations provides funding to assist the general operations of established professional non-profit arts and cultural organizations that provide quality services to an established membership base and demonstrate ongoing local, regional, provincial or national activity with provincial impact.

This intake of the Operating Assistance program will provide one year of funding, with the possibility of renewal for a second year, pending program and budget review.

Eligible organizations may submit only one application to the Operating Assistance grant program, per intake.

New this year: Operating Assistance recipients are no longer eligible for the Accelerate program. Determination of the grant amount, including any increases, will take into consideration the previous combined total of the Operating Assistance and Accelerate grants. Applicants that are not successful in Operating Assistance and that are eligible for the Accelerate program may be recommended to receive an Accelerate grant based on this application. Do not submit a separate Accelerate application.

Organizations that are placed on Concerned Status under Council’s Fair Notice Policy may be subject to grant reductions of up to 20%.

Grant Amount:

The minimum grant amount is $20,000 for new entrants into the Operating Assistance program. There is no maximum grant amount.

Increases to previous Operating Assistance grant amounts will be based on the outcome of the assessment process. Organizations ranking high may receive small increases while organizations ranking poorly may see decreases.

Eligible Applicants:

Organizations not currently receiving Operating Assistance must talk with a Program Advisor to discuss your eligibility and intention to apply. Applications from organizations that do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be forwarded for assessment.

Important considerations before you apply to Operating Assistance

In addition to the eligibility criteria outlined below, organizations should have stability in current operations, both administratively and financially before they consider applying. Stability would be demonstrated through:

• Having at least one staff person (part-time or full-time) that maintains consistency in operations and programming.
• Ongoing and diverse sources of revenues outside of BC Arts Council funding.
• Ability to plan programming and activities up to two years into the future. For example, in the application, you will be expected to report out on this current fiscal year’s activities as well as your next two projected fiscal years.
  and
• The capacity to compile annual financial information and enter and update this information in the CADAC system as outlined below.

BC Arts Council Operating Assistance recipients are not eligible to apply to any of the discipline-specific Project Assistance grant programs or the Accelerate program.

To be eligible, an Arts & Culture Service Organizations must:

• Have received at least three grants from the BC Arts Council since April 1, 2022, one of which was an Operating Assistance or a discipline specific Project Assistance grant. (Project Assistance: Community Arts Festivals are excluded from the list of grants that meet the three-grant requirement).
• Provide service to the arts and culture sector in B.C. as a primary activity and have done so for a minimum of one year before the application closing date.
• Provide programs that demonstrate ongoing local, regional, provincial or national activity with provincial impact, and benefit or are of interest to the arts and culture sector and not solely the interests of its non-profit society or community service co-op members.
• Engage skilled artistic, curatorial, editorial and administrative leadership for program or service delivery.
• Fairly compensate artists, arts and culture practitioners, technicians, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers. Compensation must align with community contexts or relevant industry standards within the field of practice.
• Follow international intellectual property rights standards and cultural ownership protocols.
• Follow the Criminal Records Review Act which requires that people who work with or may have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults must undergo a criminal record check by the Criminal Records Review Program.
• Not have any overdue final reports on previous BC Arts Council grants.

AND

• Be registered and in good standing as a non-profit society or community service co-op for at least one fiscal year prior to application with:
  • The majority of key staff and board members based in B.C.
  • Creative control and decision making for service and engagement primarily maintained within the organization and by leadership based in B.C.
  • A purpose dedicated to arts and culture programming and activities
    or
  • A purpose to provide services to the arts and culture sector in B.C.
  • Operations and activities that reflect this dedicated purpose or mandate.