Accelerate Program (BC Arts Council)

Categories:Funding & Grants

“New arts funding will increase access and remove barriers to funding for equity-deserving arts and cultural organizations to benefit more people in B.C.’s arts sector.

On Sept. 21, 2022, the BC Arts Council (BCAC) will launch its Accelerate Program, a two-year pilot initiative offering multi-year, flexible funding up to $30,000 over two years to eligible equity-deserving arts and cultural organizations and collectives. It will cover costs associated with artistic growth, development, production or exhibition, and organizational capacity-building, expansion and operations.

“The Accelerate Program is responding to a call to action to set a new direction that will open doors for artists and cultural organizations from all walks of life and all parts of our province,” said Melanie Mark, Hli Haykwhl Ẃii Xsgaak, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. “It’s a provincial priority to expand funding opportunities for organizations and collectives that have faced systemic barriers to accessing BC Arts Council funds in the past. This is part of the essential work we are doing to strengthen our commitment to reconciliation and equity for public arts funding in British Columbia.”

As part of BCAC’s work to build a more diverse and equitable funding structure to support the arts community, priority is given to artists and organizations from Indigenous communities, people of colour, deaf and disability arts groups, and communities outside of the capital region and Greater Vancouver.

“The introduction of the Accelerate Program responds directly to the feedback from the sector that emphasized more needed to be done to support Calls to Action for Reconciliation and to enhance equity, diversity and inclusion within B.C.’s art community,” said Bob D’Eith, Parliamentary Secretary for Arts and Film. “This program is one of many actions the BC Arts Council will be taking in partnership with our government to ensure B.C.’s arts and culture sectors have the funding they need to grow and develop.”

In summer 2021, D’Eith held 22 meetings with representatives from more than 200 organizations. This informed the development of BCAC’s Extending Foundations: Action Plan 2022-2024, which extends its current strategic plan and also establishes the Accelerate Program.

“The new Accelerate Program is a crucial step in the council’s strategic vision and its efforts to forge a more equitable and socially just role for public arts funding in the province,” said Sae-Hoon Stan Chung, chair, BCAC. “I am proud of this accomplishment that fulfils the commitment in our action plan to create a multi-year capacity-building program for underserved and equity-deserving organizations.”

The application intake for the Accelerate Program’s first year will open Sept. 21, 2022, with submissions due no later than Nov. 15, 2022.”

For more information, please visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022TACS0042-001265

-from BC Arts Council

Indigenous Arts Grants (First Peoples’ Cultural Council)

Categories:Funding & Grants

“At the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, we support Indigenous artists working in both traditional and contemporary arts by delivering grants, workshops and programs. 

Indigenous arts in B.C. have a long and nuanced history, stretching back to a time well before colonization. Music, dance, carving, weaving, regalia, body art – these are just some of the artistic expressions that reflect our cultures and identities. Our art is a conduit for physical, mental, socio-cultural and economic well-being. 

We use art to record history and mark events, map the land, pass on values and identify political and family structures that shape our communities. Art is at the centre of our ceremonies and cultural practices. Art is an educational tool, a public record, a political document and a spiritual resource – and it is a critical component of our cultural systems. 

Choosing your Grant
The Indigenous Arts Program is organized into three funding Baskets to streamline grant selection for individuals, organizations and music industry professionals. Please see each Basket to find which grant fits best with your project.

• Individual Artists
• Indigenous Arts Scholarship and Mentorships
• Organization and Collectives
• Community Art Spaces
• Sharing Traditional Arts Across Generations
• Arts Administrator Internships & Mentorships
• Indigenous Music Grant
• Music Industry Professionals“

For more information, please visit: https://fpcc.ca/programs/about-our-arts-program/

-from First Peoples’ Cultural Council

Vancouver Queer Film Festival (August 11-21)

Categories:Events

The Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF) released its complete lineup for the 11-day online and in-person film festival taking place August 11–21, which includes the best in queer film from local and international artists. 97 films from 20 countries are featured at this 34th Festival presented by RBC, along with in-person celebrations featuring local performing artists, post-screening Q&As with filmmakers, and industry and community workshops. Purchase all-access Festival Passes, online-only Digital Passes, or individual tickets at queerfilmfestival.ca. Browse the full programme online or in the PDF of the print Festival guide. 

“In the early days of Out On Screen, the act of 2SLGBTQIA+ people unapologetically taking up physical space and putting our films on the big screen was revolutionary. This year’s theme “Make It Yours” is not just an echo of the DIY spirit this Festival was founded upon, but also a roar for our collective future. Our shared experiences and collective dreams are returning to our screens—big and small—again in this year’s wonderful program. I hope you find something you need in these beautiful films.” – Executive Director, Brandon Yan.

The Festival’s Opening Gala screening is the local premiere of Dave Rodden-Shortt’s feature documentary The Empress of Vancouver, an ode to local drag icon Oliv Howe, crowned the 10th Empress of the Vancouver Dogwood Monarchist Society in 1981. In the 80s, Oliv’s punk rock energy, gender-bending performances and DIY glam aesthetic spoke to a political and artistic shift in Vancouver’s drag community. This proudly local documentary brings to light queer artistic legacies and histories that have previously been unseen. This film will be available exclusively in person on opening night, with a fabulous queer royalty-themed Opening Night Party to follow the screening.

Our local shorts program The Coast Is Queer returns for its 25th anniversary year, available in person and online. Also returning are shorts programs: Obidian: Black Queer Cinema, subtitled AS I AM, and Two Spirit and Indigiqueer Cinema, which has been expanded into two shorts programs this year, A Brave and Tender Lineage and Sovereign Bodies.

For more information and tickets, please visit www.queerfilmfestival.ca.”

-from VQFF

Call for Applications: Individual Micro Grants (Cinevolution, BC)

Categories:Funding & Grants

“Are you an emerging BIPOC artist or arts worker? Do you have lived experience of disability, or are you Deaf or Hard of Hearing, neurodivergent, and/or Mad? Are you interested in media art or exploring the use of digital media in your work?

Cinevolution is giving out five $1,000 grants to individual artists and arts workers who have limited access to traditional funding. The goal of this program is to provide financial assistance to artists and arts workers for self-directed learning, research, and creative experimentation. You do not need formal arts training to apply. You do not need to produce a complete work by the end of the project.

APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY

This grant is for you if you are an emerging artist and/or arts worker who:

• Identifies as Black, Indigenous, and/or a Person of Colour;
• Has lived experience of disability, or is Deaf or Hard of Hearing, neurodivergent, and/or Mad;
• Is over the age of 18; and
• Lives in BC

For this grant, we define an emerging artist as someone who is developing an artistic practice or exploring art as a means of communicating ideas and stories.

Formal training and previous exhibition experience are not required. You can be any age, but priority will be given to youth (18-24 years) and individuals who have not previously received arts funding.”

For more information, please visit: https://cinevolutionmedia.com/cinevolution-micro-grant/

-from Cinevolution

Isle of the Arts Festival (Gabriola Arts Council, online)

Categories:Events

“The Gabriola Arts Council offers 23 interactive workshops: felted slippers, petroglyph land walk with Snuneymuxw Knowledge Keeper Dave Bodaly, mending, vocal expression, professional development for artists, and more.

Instructors have worked diligently to ensure your experience is fruitful and engaging, as we deliver these workshops via Zoom.  We offer technical assistance to those unfamiliar with Zoom and during each workshop there will be a moderator available to navigate any technical issues.

We are continuing with Reading and Reconciliation: One Book, One Community with Bob Joseph and Shelagh Rogers and it promises to be a lively and educational discussion.

Poetry Gabriola presents award winning authors Arleen Paré and Kate Braid on April 3 and the Gabriola Microsynth Orchestra and interpretive dance mixed with poetry on April 10th.

Sarah Osbourne will delight audiences with her amazing smoky vocals at our closing Arty Party pn April 11th where we announce this year’s Arty Award winner.

There is a little something for everyone this year and maybe some surprise offerings. Whatever you choose you can enjoy the workshops and events from the comfort of your home.”

For more information, please visit: https://artsfest.artsgabriola.ca/

-from Gabriola Arts Council

First Peoples’ Cultural Council Funding Opportunities

Categories:Funding & Grants

“FPCC Grant funding supports our communities to revitalize their Indigenous languages, arts and cultural heritage in B.C. Current funding opportunities are available here: https://fpcc.ca/grants/“

“The Community Arts Infrastructure program supports Indigenous arts organizations and unincorporated arts collectives to develop Indigenous workspaces and workshops in order to share artistic skills and knowledge.” For more information: https://fpcc.ca/program/community-arts-infrastructure/

“The Organizations and Collectives grant helps to build administrative capacity and sustainability for the organization or helps to advance the work of Indigenous artists.” For more information: https://fpcc.ca/program/organizations-collectives/

“The Indigenous Art Scholarship supports the development of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists and arts practitioners residing in B.C. with funding for education or mentorship. ” For more information: https://fpcc.ca/program/indigenous-arts-scholarship/

-from First Peoples’ Cultural Council

17th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival (Oct 28 – Nov 8)

Categories:Events

17th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival
Wednesday October 28 to Sunday November 8, 2020

“This year’s Festival will be experienced both live and online, as the Downtown Eastside community shares with each other, and our guests, our stories, history, heritage, culture, concerns, hopes, dreams and visions for the future. This Gives Us Strength is our 2020 Festival theme: those sources that our community draws upon as we, like others across the land, cope with a worldwide pandemic, physical distancing and isolation, ongoing and growing displacement, the tragic realities of the fentanyl crisis, and the legacies of systemic racism.”

For more information, please visit: www.heartofthecityfestival.com

-from Heart of the City Festival

Indigenous Arts Program Grants (First Peoples’ Cultural Council)

Categories:Funding & Grants

“FPCC Arts Program deadlines have been extended to October 6, 2020!

Select grants in the Indigenous Arts Program and the Indigenous Music Initiative are now accepting applications for the Fall 2020 intake from Indigenous residents and organizations in B.C.

The Fall 2020 intake includes the following:

The Indigenous Arts Program (IAP)

• Community Arts Infrastructure – Up to $20,000 to complete renovations for a community arts workspace.
• Individual Artists – Up to $10,000 for individual Indigenous artists.
• Sharing Traditional Arts Across Generations – Up to $12,000 to support Indigenous organizations and individual artists to share traditional arts practices.
• Arts Administrator Internships – Up to $30,000 for internship/mentorship and training opportunities within the arts industry.
• Arts Micro-Grants – $1,000 for unforeseen opportunities. Deadline March 2021

The Indigenous Music Initiative (IMI)

• Expanding Capacity in the Indigenous Music Recording Industry – Up to $10,000 for emerging professional in the music industry.
• Emerging Music Industry Professional – One-time grant up to $30,000 to support emerging music producers/engineers and music studios.”

For more information, please visit: http://www.fpcc.ca/

-from First Peoples’ Cultural Council

Online Dance Workshop with All Bodies Dance Project (Aug 22)

Categories:Events

“In this 1-hour online workshop participants will be dancing, moving, and exploring what each unique dancing body has to say! Learn how to move creatively and connect to your body with All Bodies Dance Project facilitators Carolina Bergonzoni and Harmanie Rose. The workshop is open to participants with and without disabilities. No previous experience required.

All Bodies Dance Project (ABDP) is an inclusive dance company located on unceded Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver, BC). Founded in 2014, ABDP brings together artists with and without disabilities to explore movement as a means of creative expression. The group offers accessible dance classes for adults and youth of all abilities in addition to creating opportunities for diverse artists to practice, research and create innovative, inclusive dance.”

For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/338974674131772/

-from All Bodies Dance Project

Call for Submissions: Mount Pleasant Community Arts Screen (MPCAS, Vancouver)

Categories:Opportunities

“We accept submissions on an ongoing basis.
To be considered for the Fall/ Winter 2020 program, submissions must be received by July 31st, 2020 at 4pm.
Submissions received after this date will be considered at a later time

Background:
The MPCAS is a 7×4 metre outdoor community and media arts LED screen, located on unceded Coast Salish territories at Kingsway and Broadway in Mount Pleasant. Broadcasting from 9am to 10pm most days, it is programmed by grunt gallery, an artist-run centre that has been in the neighbourhood since 1984. For more information please visit mpcas.ca

*please note the screen does not have audio capabilities, therefore all submitted content is currently limited to image and captioning only.

PLACE:
The current programming theme of the MPCAS is PLACE, which looks at a changing Mount Pleasant and Vancouver through works by artists, curators, and residents who live here or are connected to the area, exploring its past, current, and future vitality.

Mount Pleasant was one of Vancouver’s earliest neighborhoods, built along a large salmon and trout creek that ran from the swampy higher grounds down to the ocean — the same path as what is now Main Street. The area became a focus of colonial settlement in the mid-19th century and local Indigenous communities were forced out to make way for businesses that grew into a bustling destination neighbourhood. By 1910, business moved west with Shaughnessy becoming the preferred neighbourhood, and Mount Pleasant fell into economic decline for almost 100 years. With working-class roots, abundant rental housing, and transient tenants, it was the poorest neighbourhood outside of the Downtown Eastside. A community of immigrants, urban poor, and artists created the conditions from which much of Vancouver’s early modern cultural life grew.

Beginning in the 1990s, Mount Pleasant’s gentrification started to take hold, initially through the live/work studio condos that gradually began to appear in the area. In 2010, with the development in the Olympic Village area, aggressive upzoning began, and many residents were evicted from their long-held homes as rents doubled and tripled within a few years. Mount Pleasant’s gritty characteristics suddenly became its new selling points. Developer marketing highlighted its arts community and heritage buildings—although ironically both became early targets in the gentrification process. Mount Pleasant quickly transformed from one of Vancouver’s cheapest neighbourhoods to one of its most expensive, ground zero for the increasing unaffordability of the city.

The MPCAS engages with this complex and, at times, tense history of displacement, creativity, expansion and grit

Participate:
Our vision is to provide an urban screen with content received from and responsive to its viewers, in contrast to the advertising/consumer paradigm that is the rule with most highly visible screens in a public space.  

As we build a program that reflects, engages with and enriches the complex cultural history of Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, our call for submissions welcomes contributions from artists, collectives, curators and other community members, organizations and community festivals. Topics could include (but are not limited to) identity, language, housing, city streets, food, neighbourhoods, landmarks, loss, memories, narratives of the past, and potential futures.

The racialized, immigrant and working class communities that have been the backbone of Mount Pleasant have also been disproportionately impacted by the economic swings and recent gentrification of the area. Without a doubt, the history of this unique neighbourhood is entwined with colonial legacies and systemic inequities, and we invite submissions that explore the idea of place from the angle of disPLACEment, too.

Generally speaking, submitted works should be ten minutes or less in length and could include (but are not limited to) still images, time-based media, animations, performance works, archival video, interactive pieces, GIFs, experimental video, event proposals, and curatorial/screening proposals.”

For more information and submission details, please see grunt gallery’s newsletter.

-from grunt gallery
Read grunt gallery’s profile on ArtBridges’ Community-Engaged Arts Directory and Map