Testimonials

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I’m thrilled to see this resource come to life! MaryAnn’s expertise is invaluable and this platform demonstrates her deep commitment to generously support artists, arts organizations and communities.

Diane Roberts

Director, Dramaturge, Cultural Animator | Arrivals Legacy Project

The grants landscape can be confusing, obtuse, and daunting for even seasoned arts administrators and grant writers – particularly now. Each year, the landscape seems to shift: which funding opportunities support standalone projects? Which ones sustain ongoing operations? When do applications open and close? Who, exactly, can apply – and when, and how? Even before the work of crafting a narrative and building a supporting budget can begin, you need to decide what opportunities are worth your time – and why.

Enter SmartGrant: a welcoming, intuitive, and easy-to-use platform that takes away much of this guesswork, and maximizes the time you can spend on the best-possible matches for your funding needs. The platform can customize searches and results to target specific kinds of funding, right down to artistic discipline, geographic region, eligible applicant, and due date. You can capture and diarize notes for later, and build out your own personalized grant calendar that automatically updates as new information becomes available.

SmartGrant was conceived and designed by someone with deep working knowledge of the Canadian grants landscape and its pain points, and it shows. No one knows the grants landscape like Mary Ann. In my own 15+ years of Canadian professional performing arts grants experience as an applicant, assessor, and program-focused staffer, this platform stands out as truly unique.

Joseph Bardsley

Analyst, Music Program | Creative BC

As a lifelong dance artist and the founding artistic director of a non-profit dance organization, I am always writing grants and I have to keep on top of available funding opportunities. The very first time I logged into SmartGrant and did a search, I found a grant program that I had never come across before, from a funder I am familiar with, and it was exactly targeted to the type of funding I was looking for. What a fantastic discovery! I am sold. I will be making regular use of SmartGrant features from now on. Thank you to Mary Ann and her team for providing such a valuable service and resource to the arts sector.

Julia Taffe

Artistic Director | Aeriosa Dance Society

I’m really impressed with SmartGrant— it’s such an easy-to-use tool that makes grant research feel way less overwhelming. The navigation is super intuitive, and the design is clean and beautiful, which I know will really resonate with folks in the arts & culture world. Honestly, it’s a game-changer for me. It’s going to replace my Asana projects and that clunky “grant status” spreadsheet I’ve been juggling.

The pricing is totally reasonable, and with how much time and effort it’s going to save, it’ll easily pay for itself. I also love that GrantSmart doesn’t shy away from addressing the tough reality of shrinking government funding—it feels like the team really understands the challenges we’re facing in the arts sector right now. Very timely!

Big congrats to MaryAnn and the whole team. This is an incredible tool that’s going to be such a gift for arts organizations and professionals, especially during these tough times.

Lili Vieira De Carvalho

Executive Director | Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre

SmartGrant is a major boon for the arts sector in BC — a thoughtfully crafted, user friendly platform that saves precious time and offers helpful insight for grant planning and management. The database is incredibly thorough and the ability to input and save information specific to my organization and our varied programs will greatly streamline our grant planning processes. Mary Ann Anderson’s extensive experience in arts grant writing is evident in the way SmartGrant has been designed to meet the unique and diverse needs of our industry.