Piloting a new lottery process for the Artist Development Microgrant
This year we are piloting a new lottery process for the Artist Development Microgrant due to the growing number of applications in recent years.
The Artist Development Microgrant provides one-time funding for Calgary and Treaty 7-based artists, artist collectives and cultural workers to support professional and artistic skill development or business and career development. The goal is to help artists gain the skills and knowledge they need to advance their careers and develop their artistic practices in Calgary.
In 2022, we ran four intakes for this program and received 425 applications to a combined ask of $1,801,020. The amount of work required for four intakes in a calendar year was more than our team could reasonably manage given the high volume, in addition to our other busy programs. In 2023, we reduced the number of intakes to two and received 398 applications to a combined ask of $1,638,816.
For 2024, we decided to run one intake of this program because of the time needed to redesign the program and change to a lottery process.
The change follows two years of running the Artist Development Microgrant, and a lot of learning from our team. We noticed that the assessment committees for this program had challenges deciding which applications merited funding in comparison to other applications. For example, for the many artists that asked for funds to build websites to promote their artist practices, assessors and the members of our team who reviewed the applications felt challenged to determine which applications were more deserving of funds than others given the high volume of applications and the similar nature of the proposed activities.
As a team, we were also grappling with the amount of time and effort that artists put into their grant applications including their length and support materials. We took these factors into account when designing the application process for artists this year. We also wanted to acknowledge that, regardless of artistic experience, artistic practice or previous experience receiving grants, all artists had equal opportunity to funding that would help them grow and develop in their careers.
As a result, and after much discussion, our team is piloting a lottery process this year. We noted that other fields in Health Research and other arts and civic recreational programs have used lottery processes and received positive feedback from the communities they support.
Under the new process, all applications will be reviewed to make sure they are eligible for the program, and then they will be entered into a lottery and chosen at random until the amount of funding available for this program ($500,000) is allocated.
You can learn more about the program and how to apply by reading our Program Guidelines. We will also record an information session that will be posted on our website in the coming weeks. Additionally, we will host four online open office Q+A sessions for artists to ask questions on the following dates:
- Wednesday, September 25 from 12 – 1:30pm: Register here.
- Wednesday, October 2 from 5:30 – 7:00pm: Register here.
- Thursday, October 10 from 4 – 5:30pm: Register here.
- Tuesday, October 15 from 10 – 11:30am: Register here.
WHO DECIDES WHICH APPLICATIONS ARE ELIGIBLE?
Applications to the program will be reviewed by an assessment committee made up of artist peers and community members. The membership of the peer assessment committees will be chosen through public nominations and staff expertise. Anyone can ask to participate on a Calgary Arts Development assessment committee by completing the assessor nomination form or by emailing grants@calgaryartsdevelopment.com.
Assessment committees are chosen to represent the broad diversity of Calgary and its artistic communities, including artistic discipline, gender, sexuality, age, religion, beliefs, nation, physical and neurological identities, and more.
WHAT HAPPENS WITH APPLICATIONS THAT AREN’T ELIGIBLE?
Assessors will notify our team if they are unsure if an application is eligible. Potentially ineligible applications will be further reviewed by our team before a final decision is made on a case-by-case basis. Applications determined to be ineligible will not be included in the lottery.
WHAT HAPPENS ONCE AN APPLICATION IS APPROVED TO ENTER THE LOTTERY?
All eligible applications will be entered into the lottery and then they will be randomly selected until the funding is allocated.
HOW WILL YOU ADDRESS EQUITY PRIORITIES THROUGH A LOTTERY PROCESS?
Included in the grant application is a ‘Voluntary Self-Identification Form’ which includes optional questions based on equity priority groups that Calgary Arts Development has identified. These equity priority groups include Indigenous, Black, persons of colour, D/deaf persons, persons with disabilities, persons living with mental illness, and 2SLGBTQIAP+ individuals. For details, please refer to the equity priority group descriptions.
This year, we are still collecting data on Equity Priority Groups through the voluntary survey in the application, but we will not use Equity Priority responses as a tie-breaking measure. However, we will review data on the number of applications received and those funded from Equity Priority Groups to determine if they appear proportional and if any further changes should be made next year.
HOW MANY APPLICATIONS DO YOU THINK WILL BE APPROVED?
Success rates for the Artist Development Microgrant in 2022 and 2023 were 29.4 per cent and 30.9 per cent respectively. We are expecting to have similar success rates this year; however, rates may vary depending on the number of applications received and the total dollar amount requested.
WILL SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS BE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE LOTTERY AGAIN THE FOLLOWING YEAR?
After running the Artist Development Microgrant pilot this year, we will review the program and decide what changes to implement in 2025. We have not decided if artists will be able to receive the microgrant in consecutive years, but that information will become available next year, after the review.
Given the changes we are piloting this year, we are hoping to move back to multiple intakes of this program each year. We are also thinking about adjusting grants amounts and allowing unsuccessful eligible applications to roll into the next intake to make it as easy as possible for artists in future years.
WHAT IF YOU GET MORE APPLICATIONS TO ONE STREAM THAN THE OTHER — WILL FUNDING STILL BE DIVIDED EQUALLY?
The two streams available in this program are:
- Professional and Artistic Skill Development
- Business and Career Development
The $500,000 pool available for this program will be divided between the two program streams based on the number of applicants that apply to each stream, and the dollar amount requested within each stream.
WHEN WILL PEOPLE BE NOTIFIED ABOUT THE RESULTS? IF A SUCCESSFUL APPLICANT DECLINES OR RETURNS FUNDING, WILL ANOTHER APPLICATION BE SELECTED?
Notifications will take place in mid-November 2024. If an applicant is selected through the lottery process and can no longer accept the funding, then funding will go to the next artist in line. Some reasons why an artist may decline or return funding are if they were not accepted into their chosen program, if they received funding elsewhere, or if they are no longer available to complete their project for various reasons.
Please review our Program Guidelines and upcoming Information Session Video for more information or you can sign up to attend one of the Q&A Open Office Sessions to talk directly with the program specialists.
