Community Arts Organizations Operating Grant Standing Committee
A standing committee comprises a group of volunteers who assess organizations applying to the Operating Grant program. The purpose of this document is to outline the roles and responsibilities of the volunteer assessment committee for the Community Arts Organizations Operating Grant Program. Committee members must review, understand and adhere to these terms, the program guidelines and Calgary Arts Development’s Group Agreements.
Calgary Arts Development (CADA) reserves the right to adjust assessment processes and the program timeline due to application volume. Applicants and assessors will be notified if significant changes occur.
Standing committees are responsible for reviewing applications and making funding recommendations to Calgary Arts Development staff and deepening their knowledge and awareness of the organizations they are assessing by attending public events and reviewing reports. The purpose of the standing committee is to ensure that funding commitments made on a multi-year basis are informed and monitored through recommendations from community members with familiarity with the organizations outside of what is written in applications, and who will have the benefit of seeing how their work shifts over time.
Standing committee members will be confirmed on overlapping terms of up to three years to ensure continuity of knowledge and assessment history between incoming and outgoing members.
We will work one-on-one with assessors who experience barriers to access to develop accommodations that suit their unique abilities and situations. Some examples of accommodation are:
- Language interpretation during meetings.
- Translation of written materials.
- Transcription of verbal meetings or audio and video recordings into a written document.
- Access to a loaner laptop from Calgary Arts Development.
- Support for other expenses that are necessary to attend any required meetings (like childcare coverage, or parking costs for any in-person meetings, if applicable).
Our team is available to answer questions and offer support during the assessment process. Please contact the program specialist as early as you can to ensure they can provide the best support possible.
The primary contacts for this program are Community Investment Program Specialists:
Perpetual Atife perpetual.atife@calgaryartsdevelopment.com 403.264.5330 ext. 229
Areum Kim areum.kim@calgaryartsdevelopment.com 403.264.5330 ext. 122
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, race, ethnicity, physical and neurological identities and more.
Committee Size: Standing committees of at least four people will be appointed for each sub-stream of the Community Arts Organizations Operating Grant.
Committee Membership: Individuals with experience working in non-profit arts organizations as staff, board or artistic leadership. Individuals with knowledge from a variety of artistic disciplines and practices, who actively participate in, experience and advocate for the work of the arts community.
Qualifications
- Relevant skills, experience and knowledge that will accommodate the range of applicants to be juried.
- Experience in non-profit governance, finance and strategic planning is a priority for this program
- A generous spirit, strong listening skills and a willingness and ability to embrace change, complexity and different viewpoints.
- An openness to productively and respectfully check in with bias.
- An understanding and awareness of Calgary and region, and an insight into our social and cultural climate.
- Respect of peers in the community.
- The ability to function well within a committee structure.
Assessors are responsible for participating in training sessions, the full application review process and any scheduled assessment meetings with the rest of their committee members.
Participation in each part of the assessment process is mandatory to ensure all perspectives are present throughout the process and applied fairly to each application assigned.
Assessors are also expected to experience the work of the organizations in their program stream throughout the term of their membership and will be asked to participate in report review and fair notice policy flag processes if necessary.
Term Schedule
Committee members will be confirmed for terms of either:
- September 2025 – March 2027
- September 2025 – March 2028
- The next incoming committee members will begin in March 2027
Time Commitment
September 29 – October 10, 2025: Attend assessor training.
- Participate in one (1) training and orientation session (2-3 hours), hosted by Calgary Arts Development, in preparation for the review process. This will be hosted online or hybrid (i.e. with an option to attend online or in-person at the Calgary Arts Development office).
October – November 2025: Review, meet and discuss applications.
- Individually review the contents of each application assigned online.
- Submit initial scores in the online grant platform, according to the program considerations outlined in the program guidelines.
- Attend up to three (3) assessment meetings to discuss applications as a committee.
- Meeting schedule TBD based on assessor availability and application volume. Meetings will not exceed six (6) hours, including regularly scheduled breaks. Assessment meetings will either take place exclusively online using an online meeting platform, or there may be hybrid options (i.e. either online or in-person at the Calgary Arts Development office).
- Throughout the meetings assessors may update their initial scores.
Schedule for subsequent years of the term will be determined by program staff closer to the date.
Finalizing Scores & Decisions
Assessors will confirm their final scores, resulting in a list of applications recommended for funding, sorted by total average score.
Calgary Arts Development staff will review the final list and confirm grant amounts. Partial funding may be allocated.
Building Knowledge of the Sector
Committee members will be expected to build their awareness and knowledge of the organizations they assess throughout the length of their term. Tickets will be provided for assessors to ensure that members can experience organizations’ work throughout the year. Attendance at events will be split across committee members as negotiated with program staff.
Members may also be asked to participate in interim report and fair notice flag review processes to ensure that program staff are informed by community members throughout the term of grant agreements.
Calgary Arts Development will provide an honorarium to assessors as a gift to recognize their time. Since gifts and honoraria are considered taxable under Canada Revenue Agency guidelines, Calgary Arts Development will be required to issue a T4A tax form to assessors for the full amount of their honorarium for the year in which the payment was received (for any honorarium amount over $500).
Honorarium rates for this program are as follows:
- Training and Orientation session (2 – 3 hours): $376 (based on CARFAC flat rate per half day, under 4 hours)
- Assessment Meetings (4 – 6 hours): $664 per meeting (based on CARFAC flat rate per day over 4 hours)
- Note: this fee is inclusive of reading and prep time for up to 40 applications total.
Additional meetings may be called throughout the term as required and will be compensated according to the relevant fee schedule.
Attendance at organizations’ arts events will not be compensated beyond the provision of tickets.
Confidentiality
All deliberations of the assessment committee and all records, material, and information obtained by a member and not generally available to the public shall be considered confidential.
Adhering to the Confidentiality Policy, assessors shall maintain the confidentiality of their deliberations and shall safeguard such records and information from improper access.
Conflicts of Interest
Assessors are required to declare conflicts of interest according to the Conflict of Interest Policy. Calgary Arts Development thinks of conflicts of interest as close family members, people who are involved in the activity being applied for or where there is a real or perceived financial benefit. If in doubt, assessors are encouraged to talk with Calgary Arts Development staff. If a committee member has applied to the program or declared a conflict of interest, they will not assess those specific applications or be present for any discussions of those applications.
Lines of Accountability
Assessors will report to Calgary Arts Development program staff.
Calgary Arts Development reserves the right to remove individuals from the process or assessment committee if they do not adhere to the terms of reference, program guidelines, group agreements, conflict of interest policy, or confidentiality policy, or if their conduct is otherwise counter to the stated values and expectations of this program.
Contact Information
If you have questions about this program or assessment process, please contact Community Investment program specialists:
Perpetual Atife perpetual.atife@calgaryartsdevelopment.com 403.264.5330 ext. 229
Areum Kim areum.kim@calgaryartsdevelopment.com 403.264.5330 ext. 122
