Guidelines: Operating Grant Program 2016
Application Deadline: February 22, 2016 at 4:30pm MST
Contents
- Program Goal
- Program Description
- Changes to the Operating Grant Program in 2016
- Eligibility
- 2016 Operating Grant Streams
- How to Apply
- Assessment Process
- Application Checklist
- Fair Notice Policy
- Notification of Results
- Criteria Guide
- Contact Information
Program Goal
The goal of the Operating Grant Program is to ensure that Calgary arts organizations have the opportunity to excel and strategically achieve their mandates with a stable base of resources.
Program Description
The Operating Grant Program invests annually in non-profit organizations with year-round, arts-driven operations, prioritizing organizations that demonstrate high artistic impact, public impact and organizational resiliency. Organizations may allocate these funds to any areas of their overall budgets.
Changes to the Operating Grant Program in 2016
The competitive process simulated through the 2015 Operating Grant Program will become active this year:
- Organizations that received funding last year will receive at least 95% of their 2015 grant. Organizations may compete for more funding from the remaining 5%, as well as any additional funds available.
- Successful applicants will receive their grant on a two-year cycle up to 2018, with interim reporting due in 2017.
The following new changes will also be in place for 2016:
- Information used for reporting will be broken out of the regular application in order to ease workloads for both applicants and program assessors. Applicants will have the opportunity to submit certain pieces of information (such as a full programming form and statistical form) at Monday, April 11 at 4:30pm.
- Organizations applying to the Professional Presenting, Professional Performing All and Professional Performing Theatre streams may submit CADAC forms in lieu of standard Calgary Arts Development Statistical or Financial forms. These forms may be submitted on February 22 or the final deadline of Monday, April 11 at 4:30pm.
- Organizations that received a 2015 Operating Grant of $3,000 or less are eligible to transfer that amount to a two-year grant through a new project-based program for organizations. They will receive the same amount of funding as in 2015 and will also be eligible to compete for increases over and above this. While the application will focus on a particular project or set of programming, funding through this program can still be applied to any part of an organization’s overall budget.
- Organizations eligible for this transfer will be contacted by Community Investment staff and must indicate their intention to apply to either the new project-based program for organizations or the Operating Grant Program by Friday, January 29, 2016. If no preference is indicated it will be assumed that the organization is applying to the Operating Grant. No organization may receive funding through both programs.
- Organizations who transfer to the new project-based program for organizations will receive their 2016 funding through a new granting pool. An equivalent amount of funding previously allocated to those organizations will remain in the Operating Grant pool for competition.
Applicants not funded through the Operating Grant in 2015 will not be eligible to apply in 2016. However, these organizations may apply for two-year funding through a new program for organizations—Organization Opportunity Grant Program.
Eligibility
To be eligible for all Operating Grant streams, an organization must:
- Operate under an arts mandate.
- Be registered as a non-profit organization, corporation or society in the Province of Alberta.
- Have been in operation for one full year.
- Maintain operations throughout the whole or majority of the year.
- Maintain a significant amount of activities that support Calgary artists or are accessible to Calgary citizens.
Calgary Arts Development staff review all applications for eligibility. For organizations that also have non-arts-related programming or operate in areas outside of Calgary, Calgary Arts Development will determine eligibility through the organization’s commitment to the arts and the scope of its activities within Calgary’s arts community.
The following groups are ineligible for funding through the Operating Grant Program:
- Political, trade union or fraternal lodge organizations.
- Degree- and diploma-granting educational institutes such as colleges and universities.
- Organizations that receive operational funding directly from The City of Calgary.
2016 Operating Grant Streams
Applicants are encouraged to select the stream that best fits their organization’s mandate, regardless of precedent or current placement. Calgary Arts Development staff will review all applications for eligibility in their selected streams.
Community (All, Music)
Arts organizations that primarily support, present or produce the work of non-professional artists or volunteer professional artists. Organizations that do not intend to provide standard professional artist fees should apply to this stream.
Professional (Presenting, Performing All, Performing Theatre)
Arts organizations that present or produce the work of professional artists (1) (whether emerging or established), and either provide or intend to provide standard professional artist fees. Organizations that run festivals in addition to their core programming should apply to this stream.
Organizations applying to this stream that are not currently able to offer standard professional artist fees will have to present a clear plan to do so, as well as demonstrate a level of professionalism in organizational and artistic practices appropriate to their discipline.
1) “A professional artist has specialized training in his or her artistic field (not necessarily obtained in an academic institution); is recognized as such by his or her peers (artists working in the same artistic tradition); is committed to devoting more time to artistic activity if this becomes financially feasible; and has a history of public presentation.” (Canada Council for the Arts)
Arts Service Organizations
Organizations primarily focused on the support of artists, arts organizations or artistic practice (seperate from the creation of work).
Festivals
Arts organizations primarily focused on presenting a standalone arts festival. This program defines “festivals” as a special event that occurs within a limited period of time that presents a multi-faceted, broad-based, celebratory experience with activities that are inclusive and accessible.
Note that due to lack of applicants, the Educational Organization stream will not be offered in 2016.
Please contact Community Investment staff for guidance on the appropriate stream.
How to Apply
Organizations that received a 2015 Operating Grant must applying using their online granting interface account at calgaryartsdevelopment.com/operatinggrant. If you have any questions about how to access your organization’s account, please contact us at grants@calgaryartsdevelopment.com or 403.476.2031.
The application process will be available January 8, 2016 through our online grant interface. All applications must be submitted through the online granting interface by February 22, 2016 at 4:30pm MST. If a deadline extension is required, Calgary Arts Development must receive a written request before this deadline. Please see the Deadline Extension Policy.
Assessment Process
Applicants will be assessed within the context of each organization’s arts mandate. An independent, arm’s-length assessment committee made up of artistic peers (2) and community members (3) will consider the applicant’s plans for the year in which they are applying, and their achievements in the previous year.
Assessment criteria for the 2016 Operating Grant are Artistic Impact (4), Public Impact (5) and
Organizational Resiliency (6). While all three criteria are important for all granting streams, note that:
- For the Professional and Arts Service Organization streams, Artistic Impact is weighed more heavily than Public Impact.
- For the Community and Festival streams, Public Impact is weighted more heavily than Artistic Impact.
2) Artists and arts professionals who possess professional experience and knowledge directly relevant to the arts sector.
3) Calgarians with an appreciation for the arts (any discipline) that actively take part in arts activities.
4) The quality of an organization’s artistic programming and artistic operations.
5) The quality of an organization’s public engagement and participation. “Public” is defined as a community impacted by the organization, including audience, artists, arts professionals and volunteers.
6) The ability of an organization to deliver on its mandate as indicated by the organization’s practices in governance, financial management, planning and marketing.
Application
New for 2016, information submitted through the Operating Grant that is considered reporting for 2015 will be due at a later deadline. The intention for this change is to ease workloads for both applicants and assessors. This change applies to the standard Calgary Arts Development Statistical Form and Programming List:
- Applicants have the option of submitting the Statistical Report – Full or the new, simplified Statistical Report – Short by the February 22 deadline. Those choosing the latter must then submit the full Statistical Form by April 11, 2016 at 4:30pm MST. Though some degree of variance is acceptable, the information in both forms should align.
- Organizations applying to the Professional Presenting, Professional Performing All and
Professional Performing Theatre streams may submit CADAC forms in lieu of standard
Calgary Arts Development Statistical or Financial forms. These forms may be submitted on February 22 or the final deadline of April 11, 2016 at 4:30pm MST. - Applicants have the option of submitting the full Programming List introduced in 2015, or a document of their choice that best describes their past and planned activities by the February 22 deadline. Those choosing the latter must then submit the full standard Programming List by April 11, 2016 at 4:30pm MST. Though some degree of variance is acceptable, the information in both forms should align.
Application Checklist (due February 22, 2016):
- Organization information (applicant contact information, organization mandate).
- Programming information describing 2015, 2016 and planned 2017 activities (uploaded in PDF, DOCX or DOC formats only) OR the standard 2015 Programming List.
- 2016 Statistical Report – Short OR the Statistical Report – Full. Applicants to Arts Services, Professional Presenting, Professional Performing All and Professional Performing Theatre may submit
CADAC statistical forms. - Artistic Impact (typed directly into the application form). Demonstrate a critical self-awareness and show what you have learned through both success and failure:
- Describe the value of the artistic experiences you provide.How do your artistic activities contribute to your artistic discipline as a whole? What role does your organization play in the local, regional and national arts communities to which it belongs?
- What are your organization’s short- and long-term artistic aspirations?
- Public Impact (typed directly into the application form). Demonstrate a critical self-awareness and show what you have learned through both success and failure:
- How does your organization interact with the public?
- What role do you see your organization playing in fostering creativity in Calgary’s communities? Consider the specific communities you work in and Calgary as a whole.
- What are your organization’s short- and long-term artistic aspirations?
- Organizational Resiliency (typed directly into the application form). Demonstrate a critical selfawareness and show what you have learned through both success and failure:
- What current conditions, either internal or external to your organization, allow you to achieve and sustain your mandate? What have you done to help create those conditions
- What constraints are there, if any, to achieving and sustaining your mandate? How is your organization addressing those constraints? (Keep in mind that this question is meant to
show your awareness of challenges, not punish you for having them). - What are the conditions necessary to achieve your artistic and public impact aspirations (as you’ve described above)? What is your organization’s plan to help ensure that these
conditions exist?
- Statement of Resiliency (only applicable to organizations flagged for resiliency in 2015, see the Fair Notice Policy section below).
- 2016 Operating Grant Financial Form. Applicants to Arts Services, Professional Presenting, Professional Performing All and Professional Performing Theatre may submit CADAC financial forms.
- Most recent financial statements: Applicants must include a Statement of Operations, Balance Sheet, and two years of comparisons. If audited financial statements are unavailable, applicants must include the signatures of two board members not involved in creating the statements (PDF files only).
- *NEW* your organization’s latest strategic plan (optional, DOC, DOCX, or PDF only).
- Organizational structure (uploaded in DOC, DOCX, or PDF formats only).
- List of board members (can be uploaded in DOC, DOCX or PDF format, or through the standard form).
- Support materials: Provide materials that relate to your application such as text, digital images, audio or video. Limit your support material to a maximum review time of 10 minutes, or 10 pages of text. You may include up to four attachments with a maximum size of 1MB each. Please provide short descriptions of each attachment in the fields provided. Acceptable file formats are PDF, JPG, DOC, DOCX, XLS, and XLSX. For audio and video materials, please enter a YouTube or Vimeo link with specific instructions on which sections to view.
- Certificate of Accuracy.
Reporting Checklist (due April 11, 2016 4:30pm):
- Completed standard 2016 Statistical Form, unless submitted previously (upload mandatory form).
- Completed standard 2016 Programming List, unless submitted previously (upload mandatory form).
- Most recent proof of filing from Alberta Registries (PDF format only).
Reports will be attached to your 2015 Operating Grant application through the granting
interface and accessible after the February 22 deadline. Please prepare these documents well in advance so you can simply upload them and submit by April 11, 2016 at 4:30pm MST.
Fair Notice Policy
This policy ensures that organizations that receive annual funding from Calgary Arts Development do not see major fluctuations in their grants in any single assessment year. This policy also limits an assessment panel’s ability to remove an organization from the program or significantly decrease an organization’s Operating Grant without notice. It also creates a platform to measure and record risks within the Operating Grant Program’s portfolio of investments and encourages grant recipients to work with Calgary Arts Development to create strategies and remedy high-risk conditions.
In addition to the assessment process described above, Calgary Arts Development staff and assessors will review applications to ensure that there are no significant risks to an organization’s resiliency. Identified risks may result in a resiliency flag and open the organization to reductions to grant amounts as outlined in the Fair Notice Policy.
Organizations Flagged in 2015
All organizations flagged in 2015 met with Calgary Arts Development staff and received notes outlining resiliency concerns (contact Calgary Arts Development staff if your organization requires a copy of these notes). Flagged organizations must provide an update on these resiliency concerns as part of their 2016 application in the Statement of Resiliency section. The Fair Notice Policy addresses ongoing resiliency concerns.
Notification of Results
Applicants will be notified of the results of their applications in writing in June 2016.
Criteria Guide
Download the full Criteria Guide here.
This document is meant only as a guide and applicants are not required to meet all the measurements outlined within. There may also be other measurements not listed that demonstrate applicants’ ability to meet the three main criteria of the Operating Grant Program.
Contact Information
Contact the Community Investment Team at grants@calgaryartsdevelopment.com or 403.476.2031 if you have any questions about the program.
- Emiko Muraki, Director, Community Investment & Impact
- Jordan Baylon, Community Investment Manager
- Melissa Tuplin, Community Investment Officer
