Original Peoples Investment Program

The Original Peoples Investment Program has been, this is the third year that we’re doing the program. So the very first time we did outreach, J.L. was in Calgary and we did a presentation to the Indigenous community here in Calgary. And so we want to continue to do that together to let Indigenous artists here in Calgary, and on the Treaty 7 First Nation reserves—what is available to them here in Calgary, as well as the national funding that is available.

You know it’s really important, Calgary Arts Development, initially their funding was really just for artists living within the city, and maybe some of the bedroom communities around the city, but with the Original Peoples Investment Program, funding opened up to Indigenous artists living on Treaty 7 First Nations, which is really so exciting. We have so many artists who either live on reserve and work in the city or vice versa. I think it’s really important that we include them as well.

The Original Peoples Investment Program started in around 2017-2018 when they brought together, an Indigenous Artists Advisory to help guide them in in putting this program together. I was initially part of that advisory, but I was at the time working for the Calgary Public Library. But we had a group of artists who were helping CADA in putting this program together so from the start, this program was very much Indigenous led in its formation.

Just because we’re gathering here online, I’ll ask that you keep your microphones muted during the presentation.

There’ll be time for questions at the end. And you may keep your cameras off if it’s more comfortable for you to keep your cameras off. And you can post questions in the chat room as well.

So, CADA is Calgary’s designated arts development authority. And our mission is to support and strengthen the arts to benefit all Calgarians. Investment: We invest municipal funding in arts organizations and artists in Calgary. So, all of the money that we get, the funding that we get comes from The City of Calgary.

And the purpose of the Original Peoples Investment Program is the preservation and revitalization of First Nations/Métis/Inuit art, through arts-based projects and activities that are supported and validated by FNMI artists, community, Elders and Knowledge Keepers.

CADA has kind of a small team, but this community investment is just one part of CADA.

And so, within community investment, we have myself, I’m a specialist for Indigenous programs.

Melissa is the community investment and capacity manager.

Our director is Sara Bateman. A specialist that many of you will probably end up speaking to at some point is Taylor Poitras. She’s a specialist with individuals and collective programs, she also runs individual projects grant. Another new grant that started this year was called the microgrants, so Taylor was running that program.

Marta Ligocki, I hope I said that right, is the specialist for arts organizations in the city. And Van Chu is our grants coordinator.

So, when you do call the number here on the screen, community investment, most of the time she will be the first person you’ll talk to. She’s very knowledgeable, very helpful. She will direct you to one of us—Taylor, myself, Marta, and she usually is pretty good at answering everyone’s questions. But talk directly to us if need be.

And so, who we are, we design and administer investment programs, direct you to resources and support, and we help you tell your story. So, by that, what we mean is, when you’re filling out an application for grants—so, the Original Peoples Investment Program for an individual is $15,000.

So, when you’re filling out that that application, you need to look at that application like you’re telling a story, and that story is all about you and the work that you do as an artist, whether it’s beadwork, whether it is, you’re working in film or animation, or you’re a photographer. Whether you draw or paint, when you’re filling out that application, you’re basically telling the assessors—the people who will be making the decisions about who gets a grant—you want them to know who you are and what you do and how you’re connected to your community. And so, it’s really important that you look at it sort of like, telling a story about yourself and what you do.

So the Original Peoples Investment Program grant is an FNMI arts grant. We have a pool of $550,000 this year. Last year it was $400,000 this year it’s $550,000.

Individual artists can apply for up to $15,000 per project. Collectives, so two or more artists coming together on a project can apply for up to $20,000, and any arts organizations can apply for $25,000.

Sorry, am I right about that, Melissa? Is it $25,000 or $24,000? (NOTE: It is $25,000).

Any discipline and any stage of practice. So whichever art form you practice, like I said, whether it’s something traditional, maybe beading, drum making, or if it’s something more contemporary film, photography, things like that, any stage of your practice, you can apply for this grant. Applications open March 15, this year, 2021. The deadline to apply is April 19, by 4:30pm Mountain Standard Time.

Our applications are done online through a grant interface on our website, I’ll show you that further up.

We can do an oral/video application, so we’ve had applicants who will use like their phone to record themselves explaining their project. We give that about 10 minutes, that’s kind of the amount of time we allow for a video application. And then if they upload it to YouTube, and then they can use that YouTube link, and put it into the online application. So usually, this is a lot easier when we could do this in person, but we can still help if someone’s interested in video application, we can still help with helping to, you know, guide that process if someone’s interested in doing that.

You just have to give us a call, send me an email or give me a call and, I can help you with that.

So, what is a project?

A project is, if you’re creating something, if you’re, creating a painting or a short film, that’s a project.

If you’re doing research for a project, you can do that as well, that’s also considered a project. You’re in the development phase, you’re curating, you’re exhibiting and presenting work that has already been done, that is also considered a project. Your project must have a distinct beginning and end date, so we need to know when you think you’ll be done your work, because you do have to report back.

There’s a follow up that’s done, and it’s done online. And it’s pretty simple, it’s not too complicated to do the follow up, and the report. So, we can also help you with that as well.

So, to get to our online grant application interface, you just go to our website, it’s calgaryartsdevelopment.com, and you’ll see up at the top there highlighted, it says grant login. And so, when you tap on there, it’ll take you to—if you already have an application where you’re working on an application you can put in your username, password, and it’ll take you to your profile.

But if you’re starting out, you know, this is the first time you’re logging in, you’ll create a profile and start a new application through there.

So, what can you apply for?

You can apply for expenses related to the development, creation, production, or distribution of artistic work, such as supplies, fees for contractors, venue, or studio rental. Event hospitality, operations, salaries, etc.

Expenses related to professional development such as travel, mentor fees or honorariums, tuition for standalone courses or workshop, or per diems. So, for honorariums we know a lot of Indigenous artists work with Elders and Knowledge Keepers, wo you can put that into your budget.

We really encourage you to make sure that you pay the Knowledge Keepers and Elders appropriately because they are very important resource. And in your application, the assessors really pay attention to those things, to how elders are compensated for their time and their knowledge.

So that’s really important. You can also put into your application an artist fee for yourself to pay yourself for the work that you’re doing.

Subsistence expenses such as food, rent, childcare, transportation, etc. Ineligible expenses would be subsistence like living expenses or lost wages. You can’t use it for tuition for, like, university or a diploma/degree program.

And you can only use up to $1,000 of your funds towards any kind of equipment or capital costs.

So, for example, like a laptop or a computer, or a camera, no more than $1,000 of your budget could go to that expense, as well as equipment that is not directly related to the project that you’re doing, that is an ineligible expense.

So, the criteria. This is very important.

It is scored out of 100. And we are looking at artistic impact, which is scored out of 35 points out of 100, community connection is 35 points. Planning is 30 points.

Criteria Key Words: Understand, know your work, your goals and your community. You want to demonstrate, show the who, what, when, where, why, and how. It goes back to what I was saying before about telling that story and making sure first that you understand what your goal is, and the work that you’re doing.

Make sure that you ask yourself these questions, the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your project. Because these questions will come up when the assessors are reading through applications. They look at these at the applications and they ask these questions, because they need to determine which projects are going to get funding and so they need that clarity, they need to see that you’ve put the work into your project and the research.

So artistic impact. How do you make your work in your artistic communities? Is the project compelling and relevant? Will the project help you reach your goals? So, these are some questions you can ask yourself when it comes to artistic impact.

Community connection. Who is your community? And how will you engage your community with your art? Why is this project important for your community? And for planning, this is the third criteria. Are your goals clear and achievable? And do you know what is required to complete the project? Are the timeline and budget well researched?

So, planning is so important. And to know whether your goals are achievable, sometimes, we see artists who have a really great idea, it’s a really brilliant idea, but they might be in over their heads, you know, in some cases, maybe the project is a bigger project.

And what you can do when it’s a really big project is you can actually break it down into phases.

So, if you need to do research first. And that can be a phase of your project that you can apply for, is the research portion, and then apply again, to other programs such as individual projects. You can apply for the second phase of a project, you know, or next year when we have the next round of OPIP funding you can apply for that next phase.

You can even apply to other programs like the Canada Council for a portion of this project, and then apply to them for another portion of the project. So, you really need to know like what your goals are and what is achievable, and what it will take to complete that project.

The timeline and the budget need to be well researched, because when the assessors are looking at your project, they’re going to look at the timeframe that you have down and determine whether or not this is this is enough time, is this a reasonable amount of time to get this work done? And the budget as well, does this budget work, is it going to work for you, do you maybe need more or, do you need less. So, they look at these things when they’re looking at the applications. Some project planning tips and tricks for budgeting.

Don’t work backwards from your request amount. So even though you can apply for $15,000, don’t immediately just sort of apply for $15,000 and start working backwards so that your project adds up to $15,000. Add up when you actually need to do the work and then go from there.

In the budget template which I’ll show you, use the notes section in that budget template to show calculations and add details. So, I’m going to show you a budget template in just a moment.

For your timeline include all the major tasks, events, touch points, deadlines, and activities. Include dates, locations, who is involved, and a description of items.

Project planning, so let’s see here, for formatting we have a standard budget template which I’m going to show you in just a moment. Make sure that your timeline and your budget are easy to read, that they’re clear. I’ll show you that in a moment.

There’s different ways that you can do that. You can put your timeline into sort of like a calendar to show what is going to be achieved on particular days and dates. We’ve also seen people do their timeline just in point form to show what’s going to happen on what particular dates.

Here is the budget. This is what our budget template looks like. So, you have your expenses here and every expense has a line item and a number. The amount for each line item goes here. And that right here, sort of, tallies everything up for you it just adds it all up, and then the number comes up here, the amount of money that you’re requesting or that you’re applying for. So, let’s just say you’re applying for $15,000 for the Original Peoples Investment Program, that amount goes into line 15, where it says revenues, it goes right here. So, it goes right there. And any other revenues, such as, let’s just say you’re putting some of your own money into this would also go in this revenue section here.

If somebody donated some space to you some, like studio space or something. Whatever the amount is that you would have been charged you can put in here as well.

And so, it will automatically add that for you here. Once it’s all added up your revenues minus your expenses must equal to zero so this number right here must always remain at zero right here. And then here is the note section at the very bottom. I’ll show you an example of how to use the budget and the notes, as we keep going.

For your project proposal, I had mentioned that grant writing is basically storytelling, who, what, when, where, why, and how of your project.

Make sure that you are connecting to those criteria which is artistic impact, community connection, and planning.

Make sure that your project is always connected to your artist statement, so you will be making an artist statement in your application, make sure that your project is very much focused and connected to that artist statement.

You’ll have several sections in your application, spaces where it says support material, where you can insert photographs of your work or you can put in a link to if you have work online that you want to provide a link to.

If you have a video, whether singing or whatever the work that you do, you have a video of it and you want to provide that as a support material you can put that link into your support materials section. It has to be relevant and meaningful to your project. Show quality of your work, show the capacity for work. And you can show the relationships and partnerships that you have.

So, if you are collaborating or working within your community or other artists or Knowledge Keepers, you can get letters of support from them as well and put those in your support material.

The timeline. Make sure your timeline is easy to read. Include major tasks, steps, events, deadlines, and activities, and include dates, locations, and who may need to be involved.

Research is so important. Make sure that you do the research, that you make sure you have those numbers, how much it costs, the cost of everything. That takes time so make sure you do that research.

So, this is just an example of a way to do a timeline.

So, for, Melissa, who is a dancer. It was sort of like in point form, you would say, January 2020, I’m going to call cSPACE to inquire about a theatre rental, that is done.

You’re going to confirm theater rental, which is done.

Hire dancers, that’s done, studio rental for rehearsals is in progress.

So, when you’re doing your timeline, not everything has to be, done or completed. If something is still in progress, if you’re still working on it, you can put that. The assessors like to see where things are at in your, in your timeline so you can do that there. February to March 2020, research and preparation for choreography.

That is upcoming. So, you can add this kind of information and it really helps.

You can also do it like a calendar. So here you have the days of the week for April, and this is how on each day of these three weeks, this is what the schedule is going to look like. For your budget expenses is equal to what you spend, revenues as what you earn, and capital costs are the things like equipment that will last longer than the project.

And the budget should equal to zero.

Your artists fee is the money you pay yourself or others for their artistic work.

And per diems is a set amount of money for each day to spend on daily expenses such as food, transportation.

Subsistence is your rent, transportation, or childcare. Ask for what you meaningfully need to do your work, so it goes back to what I was saying before about don’t work backwards on your budget.

Just start calculating your, what your expenses are going to be. And if that also includes an artist fee for yourself include that as well. But make sure that you ask for what you really need to do your work.

So just start entering expenses and then look at your total. And as I said before, don’t work backwards—that should say $15,000.

So, here’s an example of the budget template.

So, for a dancer, you know they have a choreography fee that they’re going to pay a choreographer.

Dancers, there’s going to be three dancers, and you can see it says, “see notes”, so you go down to the notes, that’s line two. You go to notes.

So, line two, there’s going to be a note there, “Based off of standards, CADA/West standards for professionals.” You’re just adding a bit more information about each line item in that note section because when the assessors are looking at your application. Sometimes there’s items in your expenses that need more explanation.

They might look and say, “Does a studio rental really cost that much?” And if you go down to the notes section, you can see if there a note here that explains why this particular thing costs this much.

So, make use of that notes section, it’s really important. So, you’ll see here all of it adds up. And then you insert your, the amount that you’re requesting right here. So, last year it was up to $10,000 so there’s the $10,000 there.

Box office revenue line 16 box office revenue, well it’s pending. So, even if you have things that are pending you can put them in there.

Let’s just say you apply to Canada Council for the Arts for another $5,000, and it’s pending, you can put that in there. It does look good if you are applying to other programs for support as well. Studio rental is in kind, meaning it was donated, and it’s confirmed. And that was the cost there. Fundraising is pending and that’s the cost there, so it all adds up to here and so then your revenues end up equaling to zero there.

So, here’s the notes section.

Make sure you include the line number, when you’re putting those in because we need to see which expense line it is referring to. And for your budget, use the notes section to add more information, show how you calculated the amount. And if you have other revenues show if they are confirmed or pending.

Be specific—within reason.

Put like things together in categories and use the support materials to give more detail if needed.

So, our assessments. This is competitive.

The first year that we did this program we were able to fund all the projects that came to us but in the second year that we did the OPIP program, our applications doubled from the first year, so, it became very competitive.

And so, we could have quite a few more this year as well so it is a competitive thing to apply for a grant. And so, we have peer assessment committees. And so, the committee is made up of local Indigenous artists. And actually, you can be a peer assessor, you can actually be on the assessment committee if you’re interested. We always need assessors. So, we have two streams that you can apply for.

You can either apply for the New Voices stream of funding and you can apply for up to $15,000 in that stream, but you can also apply—or you can apply—to New Voices and you can apply for up to $15,000 in New Voices. I’m sorry, Next Steps. New Voices and Next Steps. So New Voices is for artists who are sort of just at the beginning of their career as an artist or within their practice.  Maybe they don’t have as much exposure or experience or they still need to get more experience. Maybe they just came out of art school or they’re looking for more mentorship, they would probably apply to New Voices.

And for someone who’s maybe been doing work for quite some time, or has recognition, they would apply to Next Steps. So, if you’re interested in being an assessor, of course you’re not going to be assessing your own application. If you apply to Nest Steps, you would be assessing applications for New Voices. When we start these assessment committees, we go over things like bias and conflicts of interest, so those things do come up and, and we address those as well.

Our assessors are paid to read applications from the artists who are submitting applications. They read the applications, and then when we come together to make the decision about who’s going to get funding, the time that you spend with us which is usually about three full days of assessing you’re paid for that time too. It’s actually a really great experience to do assessing because it can help you understand what people look at, or what people are looking for in a successful application. So, we try to have about seven people per committee.

So, seven people for New Voices and seven people for Next Steps. And we really try to get Indigenous artists from various practices.

We want to have as much diversity as possible. We’re trying to get a really good representation of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit as much as possible. We can’t, you know, fully represent within every committee at CADA, it’s not possible, but we try our best to get as diverse a committee as we can. So, the assessors they read the applications, and they score each application, as I showed you previously every criteria has points, and they score them according to that those points and then it’s added up.

So, it does take some time, especially reading through those applications. And then we meet.

When we meet and come together, we talk about all the applications, every application is looked at, and we go around the table and the assessors discuss each application, and they’re very careful and they want to make sure that every application has a chance. Final decisions are made. And so, when we are looking for assessors.

We’re looking for people that have some experience, have some knowledge. People that have a passion for the arts, Indigenous arts. Curiosity is also a quality we look for. Wanting to know more, wanting to get to know the community and the processes is good. It involves listening because when we get together and talk about applications you have to consider the opinions and other people sitting around the table, and how they feel, and what their thoughts are. So, you have to be very open to learning, and to be respectful and considerate of other people with different perspectives.

So if you’re interested, or you know someone who might be interested, who’s an Indigenous artist, if you’re interested in being an assessor, you go to our website, calgaryartsdevelopment.com and you go to grant investment programs, and then you go all the way over to these purple buttons here and the middle one says assessor nomination form you just click on there and you’ll fill out a form, letting us know that you’re interested in being an assessor this year, or nominate somebody you think would be a great assessor.

So that’s done right there. You can also email me, sable.sweetgrass@calgaryartsdevelopment.com, to let me know that you’re interested in being an assessor.

Grant tips—make sure you use plain language, and don’t make assumptions. You know your project. But you can’t assume that the people that are reading your applications know your project you really got to be clear. And like I said, just make sure that you tell your story clearly, so that they have a good sense of what your project is all about.

Be authentic.

Do your research. It can be good to have somebody who doesn’t exactly know what your practice is to have a look at your application and if they can understand what you’re saying and where you’re going with your application, it’s a good indication that you know your application is clear and make sense.

So, there are taxes involved when you apply for a grant from CADA so there’s a form a T4A form, which is other income. You’re considered a small business, so it says industry code for artists, this is the industry code here 711500. Only the money you personally earned gets taxed so like your artist fee. Keep your receipts and your correspondence, your written contracts and invoices.

Make sure you just keep records of everything that you use your grant for your own personal records. The online application as I mentioned before is on our website and it’s here, it’ll saying grant login and that’s where you tap to start your application. So, we’re here, myself, Van, Taylor, and our team is here to help you with technology if need help with figuring out how to do the application online. We’re here to answer questions, we’re here to give you feedback on your application.

We can do meetings over Zoom, or by phone call. And you can always contact me by email, and if you have any kind of accessibility needs you just contact us, and we can figure that out as well. So, this is me, this is my email address here mailto:sable.sweetgrass@calgaryartsdevelopment.com.

And this is the number at the office but none of us are actually working at the office right now, so the best way to get hold of me is through this email address, and then I can get back to you.