Project Grant Program — Individuals and Collectives 2024

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 contact person for this program is Taylor Poitras, Grant Specialist. They can be reached at  taylor.poitras@calgaryartsdevelopment.com or 403.264.5330 ext. 215.

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.

• Four to Six-Member Committees: The volume of applications received will determine the number and size of committees required to assess the program.
• Committee Membership: Individual artists and arts workers with experience and 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.
• 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.

TIME COMMITMENT:

May 2024: Attend assessor training.

• Participate in up to two (2) training and orientation sessions, hosted by Calgary Arts Development, in preparation for the review process.
  • These will either be hosted online or hybrid (i.e. with an option to attend online or in-person at the Calgary Arts Development office)

Early May – Late August 2024: Review and discuss applications.

Individual Review: 

• 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.

Assessment Meetings:

• Attend up to four (4) assessment meetings to discuss applications as a committee.
  • Meeting schedule TBD based on assessor availability.
  • Assessment meetings will either take place exclusively online using an online meeting platform like Zoom, or there may be hybrid options (i.e. either online or in-person at the Calgary Arts Development office).
  • Meetings will not exceed six (6), including regularly scheduled breaks.
  • Throughout the meetings assessors may update their initial scores.

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.
• In the final 10 per cent of funding, if there are applications that are tied, but insufficient funds in the grant budget to support all tied applications, priority may be given based on the following considerations:
  • Projects from equity priority groups.
  • Projects from artists who have not received a CADA grant before, or within the past two (2) years.

May 2024 – December 2025: Experience Arts Events.

• As part of your participation in the assessment process, Calgary Arts Development will provide up to two tickets anonymously on your behalf to up to three public events or programming that CADA has directly funded. This is to ensure that you’re able to experience the arts within the local community. Beyond participating in the assessment process, we hope that you will advocate for the arts in Calgary and encourage your respective communities to participate in Calgary’s vibrant arts sector.

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, 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: 

• Reading Fee: $10 per application
• Meeting Fees: 
  • Training and Orientation sessions, $100 per training
  • Assessment Meetings, $300 per meeting

The honorarium will be provided to assessors after the reviewing process is completed.

Assessors will report to Calgary Arts Development staff. 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.

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.

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.

Related Documents

Project Grant for Individuals & Collectives Program Guidelines

Group Agreements

Conflict of Interest Policy 

Confidentiality Policy 

Assessor Nomination Form

Equity Priority Group Descriptions