BC Arts Council: Professional Arts Festivals (Project Assistance)

Deadline: November 19, 2026

Program Summary:

Project Assistance: Professional Arts Festivals supports eligible organizations and arts or curatorial collectives in the development, enrichment, presentation, and creation of public programming within an existing, multi-day arts festival. 

An eligible professional arts festival is an event which:

• Has a primary focus on curated arts and culture programming and presentations of artwork to the public (for example, performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings). Festival activities may also include artistic demonstrations, sharing cultural traditions, workshops, and discussion panels in addition to the presentation of artwork to the public.
• Happens over a minimum of two consecutive days and is no longer than 30 consecutive days.
• Is scheduled with a festival-style format (for example, a variety of related arts presentations from multiple artists).
• Has happened in this same format at least once before and is promoted to the public as one cohesive event.

**Grants are not available through this program to support festivals being offered for the first time, or single-day festivals. These activities may be supported through discipline-specific Project Assistance grant programs.**

Grant Amount:

Maximum request amount is $25,000

 Applicants may request:  

• a grant up to 50% of the total eligible project budget; or 
• a grant up to 65% of the total eligible project budget from applicants that are considered part of the BC Arts Council’s designated priority groups.  

Applicant contributions to the project budget can include both cash and in-kind contributions.  

Submit a realistic and balanced budget outlining how much money you will need to complete your project. BC Arts Council intends to support successful applications at 100% of their request. However, in some cases grants may be awarded for less than requested.

BC Arts Council grant programs are competitive. We are not able to support all eligible applications. We generally fund between 20% to 30% of eligible applications in a program intake. To see a list of previous grant recipients and the range of grants awarded, visit the BC Arts Council Grant Recipients webpage.

Eligible Applicants:

Before you begin your application, make sure you are eligible and your festival is eligible. Ineligible applications will not be forwarded for assessment. If you have questions about eligibility, contact the Program Advisor.

Organization Eligibility:

To be eligible, an organization must be: 

• A professional arts and culture organization registered and in good standing as a non-profit society or community service co-op in B.C. 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 programming and engagement primarily maintained within the organization and by leadership based in B.C.  
  • A purpose or mandate dedicated to arts and culture programming and activities. OR
  • A purpose or mandate to provide services to the arts and culture sector in B.C. 
  • Operations and activities that reflect this dedicated purpose or mandate. 

OR 

• An Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) community organization registered and in good standing as a non-profit society or community service co-op in B.C. for at least one fiscal year prior to application with:
  • The majority of key staff and board members based in B.C.  
  • A commitment to offering regular arts and culture activities.

OR 

• An Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) government in B.C. that offers regular arts and culture activities. 

OR 

• A professional arts and culture organization operated by a local government in B.C. for at least one fiscal year prior to application, that:
  • Maintains an ongoing arm’s length, community-based board of management or advisory structure that sets policy for the organization’s programs and services. 
  • Holds a dedicated programming space and has at least one dedicated staff person in an artistic, curatorial, or administrative leadership position who is responsible for programming and engagement. 
  • Offers ongoing public programming by arts and cultural practitioners. 
  • Primarily operates with autonomy, holding creative control and decision making for programming and engagement within the organization, with separate financial records for operations. See Financial Statement Requirements section below for more detail. 

OR 

• A professional arts and culture organization operated by a public post-secondary institution in B.C. for at least one fiscal year prior to application, that:
  • Holds a dedicated programming space and has at least one dedicated staff person in an artistic, curatorial, or administrative leadership position who is responsible for programming and engagement.  
  • Offers ongoing public programming by arts and cultural practitioners, the majority of which is not programming of faculty or student works. 
  • Primarily operates with autonomy, outside of curriculum, holding creative control and decision making for programming and engagement within the organization, with separate financial records for operations. See Financial Statement Requirements section below for more detail. 

OR

• An eligible Indigenous Cultural Centre or museum according to the criteria in the guidelines of the Project Assistance: Museums and Indigenous Cultural Centres or Operating Assistance: Museums and Indigenous Cultural Centres programs.

OR

• A registered Arts Activator Organization. Arts Activators are strongly advised to contact a Program Advisor to confirm the eligibility of their proposed project.

Arts or Curatorial Collective Eligibility: 

To be eligible, an Arts or Curatorial Collective must: 

• Be established and readily identified as a collective of a minimum of 3 independent artists, curators, or arts and cultural practitioners who are active in their field of practice and who meet the criteria below. NOTE: The collective may include additional members who do not meet the criteria below as long as at least 3 eligible core members have been identified and meet the following:
  • Have a minimum of two years of practice in their field following basic training, with roles that hold creative control of projects.  
  • Have a demonstrated body of previous work as an individual practitioner, including at least one public presentation of work for which an artist fee or equivalent was received. 
  • Be a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident. 
  • Have been a resident of B.C. for at least 12 months immediately prior to the application deadline, and ordinarily reside in B.C. See Determining B.C. Residency page. 
• Have a demonstrated history of creating or presenting work as a collective and have a clear commitment to a current practice. At a minimum, the collective must have:
  • A demonstrated body of previous work by current members of the collective. 
  • At least one public presentation of work by the current collective, for which artist fees or equivalent were received. 
  • Intention to continue working together with current members as a collective on future projects. 
• Apply under the name of an individual member of the collective who acts as the key contact person and is listed as the submitting representative or “Primary Contact” within the online grant system. If the application is successful, this person will:
  • Be responsible for submitting the final report. 
• Designate a member of the collective as Payee who is registered with an Individual Practitioner account. Their name and email address (that is associated with their system account) must be listed in the application. If the application is successful, this person will:
  • Receive payment of the grant on behalf of the collective. 
  • Be issued a T4A for the full grant amount.