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Canada Council announces new funding model for 2017

(photo: Maxime Côté)

Simon Brault (photo: Maxime Côté)

The Canada Council for the Arts today revealed the structure of its new funding model, which director and CEO Simon Brault calls “an important milestone of … renewal” for the organization.

In a video posted to the council’s website, Brault stresses that, while other granting organizations have been forced to restructure “due to budget cuts and other external pressures,” the Canada Council undertook its restructuring “proactively, from a position of strength, on our own terms, to respond to the changing needs of the Canadian arts sector.”

Currently, the Canada Council funds the country’s artists and arts organization via 147 different programs. Under the new model, the number of programs will be reduced to the following six:

  • Explore and Create: to foster innovation and experimentation among artists and collectives
  • Engage and Sustain: aimed at funding organizations that produce programming on an ongoing basis
  • Creating, Knowing, and Sharing Aboriginal Arts: for the support of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit art, guided by Aboriginal artists’ values and administered and assessed by Aboriginal arts professionals
  • Renewing Artistic Practice: a program supporting professional development and the sharing of skills among artists and organizations
  • Arts Across Canada: financial support to assist artist travel and the dissemination of their work across the country
  • Arts Abroad: supporting for the presentation and circulation of Canadian arts in foreign countries

Along with a reduction of the number of programs – which will maintain current overall funding levels – the council will be simplifying its application process, moving to a web-based system in 2016.

Brault says the new model will allow the council to stay “committed to fully delivering on our mandate to promote the creation and the enjoyment of the arts in the 21st century.” Further information on the Canada Council’s new funding model is expected in the fall.