Project Grant Program – Organizations

Perpetual Atife: Awesome. Does it look like anyone else is joining us? But I want to, once again, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the online information session for the 2025 Project Grant Program for Organizations. This would be our very first live info session since, about three years since I joined CADA in 2022, and the purpose of this live session is really to provide additional, you know, space, to speak to the information which you already have in your guidelines and to offer context about the Project Grant Program for Organizations for the 2025 grant year.

Please note you probably already heard the prompt, we are recording this session, so, and this recording will be shared on our website afterwards. So, if you feel, if you’re not comfortable leaving your camera on, please turn it off. And if you leave it on, please know that your face might be very beautiful on our info session video afterwards, which we appreciate, but whatever works best for you, just note that we’re recording the entire session.

The intention of this info session again is to centre organizations this year, so we will make space for interactions, we will address crucial changes that have taken place with this year’s program around eligibility, timelines, and also share some observations in an effort to bridge the gap between our organizations and assessors, and also to make space for you to present your questions before the end of the presentation.

That said, once again, the most complete and concise information about this program can be found in the program Guidelines which you have on the website. And we can always pop that in the chat before we wrap up. So please refer to the program Guidelines and the Terms of Reference, yes there’s a Terms of Reference. So, whether you’re here live or you’re watching the recording after today, please take your time to read through and review these materials so you have a whole a more wholesome, information without missing any detail.

All righty.

Thank you so much, Areum. For this program, just to share this contact can, we believe, this would be very helpful for you. The primary contact for this program is myself, my name is Perpetual Atife, and that’s my email address and phone number. And then Areum Kim, who’s here with us today, that’s her email address and phone number. And then Van Chu, which is, who is our technical person for anything Smart Simple, our grant portal, if you’re having any challenges with applying or processing or setting up your account, especially for new applicants, new organizations, new non-profit or arts organizations looking to enter into this program, any challenge at all, please email grants@calgaryartsdevelopment.com. That is your quickest way to get at the solution, and they’re always very responsive.

And if you have, yeah, we’ll just note that after this info session, we’re open to respond to your emails, take your phone calls and support you throughout this application process.

Before we move any further. I would like to take this time to acknowledge the land in which we are gathered on today as we host this info session, also, the land on which we, Calgary Arts Development, myself and Areum are gathered, where we also do all the work that we do. We acknowledge that the land we gather on, Mohkinsstsis, is the ancestral territory of the Siksikaitsitapi, the Blackfoot people, comprising the Siksika, the Kainai, the Piikani Nations, as well as Treaty 7 signatories, the Tsuut’ina Nation and the Îyârhe Nakoda Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney First Nations. Today this land is home to the Otipemisiwak Métis Government Districts 5 and 6, as well as many First Nations and Inuit from across Turtle Island.

We acknowledge that there has been art, music, dance, storytelling and ceremony on this land since time immemorial, and it is in that same spirit of this land, that, and its people that we as Calgary Arts Development, we can continue to do our work.

Our CADA office, as well, as the home from which I’m supposed to be joining you, but I’m also on this land, is also being done here in Mohkinsstsis/Calgary. And so, I also want to invite everyone who is here, wherever you may be joining in from, to consider ways in which you can continue to personally steward and acknowledge and preserve art, culture, whatever ways you express your work.

A wise man once said, and I’m quoting this from the Good Book, “Do not destroy or remove ancient landmarks. Preserve them as our fathers have set. It helps to preserve rich heritage and leave an inheritance for the next generation, so that they may always find their way.” And that man is Solomon.

I acknowledge and applaud the incredible work that every key player in the arts ecosystem, especially our arts organization, our nonprofit arts organizations, the work that you have continued to do in order to ensure that the beauty of art, storytelling and creativity, as well as gathering, which is ceremony, is not lost. Especially now considering the state of the economy, funding cuts, uncertainties, it takes more than just the love for the art. It takes devotion to preservation and commitment to the next generation, as well as courage to continue to do this work in preserving our ancient landmarks, especially in an arts ecosystem. So, I commend you, and I thank you for all the work that you do in ensuring that this is preserved and passed on to the next generation.

Yes. Next slide please. I would like to touch on something that’s very, very important to Calgary Arts Development Authority, and this is our Commitment to Equity. As we, as you may already know, and as you engage in your own work in your organization, this is not a one-time effort, and it is not supposed to be. This is an ongoing commitment and a continuous learning journey for us as an organization. As a public funder, we have a responsibility to ensure equitable access to public funding as we envision a city where all artists have the freedom, agency and platform to share and amplify their stories, their art, culture and experiences. A city where Calgarians of all backgrounds can access, create and participate in art as part of their everyday lives.

We are dedicated to addressing and working to eliminate inequality in our programs, policies and practices. My colleagues and I, we are accountable to ensuring that lines of communication are welcoming, they are clear and open, and the application, as well as assessment processes are fair and deeply, deeply considerate. While we have been continuing to expand and improve our processes and policies around equity, accessibility and accommodation, we still have a very long way to go.

We aim to continue building these relationships, nurturing them and learning from our communities, particularly those most directly affected about the specific, with the specific changes that exist in granting and working to create a more equitable system for everyone. I’m going to speak to this accessibility and support within the Project Grant for Organizations, not so many organizations engage this provision, but we want to encourage you, if you have, if you are facing any barriers within your organization, especially as it concerns this grant, we understand that our programs and our processes create barriers in itself to access for organizations who may want to apply. In recognition of these barriers, our Applicant Support and Accessibility Policy is available for those who may need support from program staff or financial assistance to access support from someone outside of CADA. This includes support for any part of the grant in process, whether it be understanding our program and who is eligible and deciding if you want to apply, it includes, creating and submitting a grant application, support for you even after you’ve received grant, such as understanding your grant agreement, sharing project updates, submitting final report, including changes to your project.

As you know, anything can happen, there could be a change in the middle of your project. We welcome you to reach out to us, don’t be, don’t hold back and feel like, oh, maybe they would, they would cancel the grant. No. We understand that changes can occur at any stage in your project, in your grant, and so please feel free to reach out to us as we aim to make this process the easiest for you so that you can continue to focus on your production.

Some examples of accommodations are translation of written material into other languages, transcription of verbal meetings or audio and video recordings into written document, language interpretation for phone or video meetings as we have today, video or audio applications. This means that if you want to, you know, if you prefer to do your application verbally, we can set up a Zoom meeting, and in that meeting, we ask you the questions that’s in the, on the website, that’s on the application platform and you respond, and we’re recording this Zoom session and take notes of your responses, especially exactly how you express it and we put that into your application, you can review that and submit that or edit it updated and submitted, and for all of these, we will work one on one with you. So don’t be afraid of a group meeting, it would have to be one on one, and we encourage you to reach out on time. Our team can assist you over the phone, in person or online. Help is available for applicants even if they choose not to apply at the end of the day, even if it’s just to find out, you’re welcome to reach out.

If you need help or have any questions about accessibility and the support that’s available to you, please contact our team by emailing grants@calgaryartsdevelopment.com. We can also provide information about community resources for established, emerging newcomer organizations that serve this group of people, we would be happy to support you on that.

One thing we just ask you is please reach out to us not later than April 20 so that we have about two weeks to support you, and there is no rush, before the deadline. So please feel free to reach out as soon as possible.

Next slide please. Yes. Very quickly, as I mentioned earlier, we, this will not be a run through of the guidelines, as we probably have done in the past, we want to create this space as a bridge to talk more and speak more to changes that have happened this year, these really, some crucial, a few crucial changes that we need to communicate to you. But also we want to make this space open for your questions and also to chat about some of our observations with assessors and assessment and see how we can help support your processes better. So this would not just be a run through of the guidelines. And I encourage you once more to read the guidelines, which is going to speak on very crucial spaces and points to support you through this process.

Okay. So quickly, program overview. As you can see on the screen, the Project Grant for Organizations, and for this purpose for short, we refer to this program as the PGO, so if you hear the PGO, please know that I’m talking about the Project Grant Program for Organizations. Just, it just makes it easier and less disturbing for me. So PGO, the PGO is intended to provide one time funding to support organizations with a project or part of a project. By one time funding, we mean that this funding is not renewed each year, and we’ll speak more to this in a few, slides ahead. So to get another grant definitely, in coming year, you need to apply again. So if you’re successful this year, it doesn’t mean that you will get another grant next year automatically. That’s simply what we mean by one time funding.

We know that we’ve had a major confusion about this in previous years where we’re saying, organizations understood it, and I think it must have been a miscommunication from us, saying that one-time funding means you cannot do this project again, but we’ll talk more about that, one-time funding simply means that if funding is not renewed to get another funding next year, the project grant, you will have to apply again and I hope that clears it up, but we’ll talk a little bit more about that, in the next few slides.

This program is open to nonprofit or arts organizations in Calgary, and by nonprofit arts organizations, one more time we’re seeing are organizations with a core artistic mandate. We know there is no you can’t go to the CRA or to the, to the government and say, you want to register a nonprofit arts organization, you register a nonprofit, but we how we know a nonprofit arts organization is by the core of their practice, the core of what they do. Not that the arts is just one of the things, one of the expressions, but the art is the core or is the main, main form, main thing that their organization invests in. And so, you’re serving artists or serving and you’re working with artists, serving people, serving family, but your main product or service is artistic. We’ll speak a little more to that and take your questions as we go.

Applicants may apply for up to $30,000 through, towards their activities. This simply means that if your project requires the entire $30,000, you can ask, request for that in your grant and showing that by your budget. If your project requires only $4,000, you’re welcome to also apply. So, it doesn’t mean apply for $30k, it just means apply for what you need up to a maximum of $30,000. In the same vein, if your project requires over $30,000, you are welcome to still apply, then you have to show CADA how you intend to fund the rest of the budget. So maybe another grant or organization, savings or, donations or partnerships, or in-kind, whatever it is, we just want to see that your budget and your revenue matches. And that’s really simply to give us the, give assessors faith that you have thought through your project. You know, what it requires in Juneau, what to do to get, you know, what, to do to get that funding to enable you complete that project.

We believe that you, as you are the best architect of your project, so you do know exactly what you need to accomplish your plan, but we encourage you to spend time researching your costs. So, at the end of the day, you are not under budgeting, which is a problem, or over budgeting, which is also a problem. We’ve seen this in assessment meetings. You want to, we’re not saying they hardly can use an exact budget, but at least you want to show how you’ve come across or come about this budget so that your fees are realistic, you want to be thoughtful in your planning and all of that.

So very quickly, a deadline, we, total funding pool for 2025, which is gone higher than what we had last year, I believe we had $700k last year, this year we have $800,000 on the pool. Deadline for application is May 7, 2025, in case you didn’t know already, the program opened April 2. So, application can come in like right now. If you already have your draft, you can hit submit right now and it’ll come to us, but deadline is May 7, assessment will run from May to June. And if you’re if you if you’ve ever been an assessor, you know what that means. It means that assessors are reading applications, putting in their thoughts, their questions, your scores, their notes, and then we gather again with them and have meetings and talk through each and every application to make sure that whatever they’ve said, what questions have read, where might be able to provide answers. As staff, we stand in the gap for organizations providing answers, providing thoughts and countering biases, or, you know, working through biases which we know exists, so that’s what happens between May and June. And finally, notifications are sent off mid-July, and funding will be released in August. Yes.

And as you know, final reports are due 60 days from the deadline, from the end date of your project. Feedback meetings for non-organizations that are not successful are offered immediately. So, from that notification, if you were now successful there’s usually a link in that email saying a feedback meeting where you can ask us any question and say okay, what did assessors think about my project? What do you think might have helped? and we can talk through all of that.

Yes. Thank you so much Areum for the next slide.

Who can apply? Once again, registered nonprofit arts organizations in Calgary, as well as provincial arts service organizations, and those are provincial organizations registered across Alberta who serve Calgary residents as well, they also work and serve Calgary artists registered nonprofit arts organizations in Calgary, and could be in any discipline, it could be music, craft, visual, film. Any discipline in the arts is welcome to apply to this program. Yes. So provincial arts service organizations are eligible. This refers to nonprofit organizations registered and operating across the province of Alberta who have a core arts mandate and whose artistic offerings benefit Calgarians, Calgary citizens. Thank you, Areum for that.

Who cannot apply? Now, this is where there’s one major change that we would like to address. And it is sad, but we we’ve, yes, you can see, new this year, this program is not open to individual artists or collectives. So, if you’re collective or an artist and you’re looking to apply, we encourage you to apply to another open program right now, which is called the Project Grant Program for Individual Artists and for Collectives. It’s currently open and it’s being run by my colleague, Taylor Poitras. You can reach out and make inquiries on that. It is, yeah. So yes, not open to individual artists and collectives. It is also not open to nonprofit organizations that do not have a primary arts mandate, where the art is not the reason they exist is not the first or the primary reason to exist. It is also not open to registered for profit businesses, post-secondary institutions, and civic partners. In the previous, in our previous years, at least in the last three years since I’ve been with Calgary Arts Development or CADA, as you know it, we have accepted applications from registered nonprofit organizations who do not have an arts mandate. We have allowed them to apply as long as they had good relationships and partnerships with artists, communities, but this year, we will no longer be able to accept that. And the reason is simple. A lot of organizations, as we’ve just wrapped up our org operation, operating grant program reports, and as we’ve also heard, and being part of this ecosystem, we understand the funding challenges, so we’re basically going back to the design and the reason why CADA exists.

CADA exists to provide support and funding so that arts organizations, artists, are core recipients of public funding to continue this incredible work to keep the arts alive, to keep it going, and that’s why we’re we, you know, just pulling back from funding, just regular, nonprofit arts and nonprofit organizations. So, what this means is that you have to be registered and, you’ll you have to have a core arts mandate to be able to access our fund access cadence funding this year.

And as you know, a lot of civic, City funding, City grants have been pulled off or pulled back or canceled or slashed down, and all arts organizations are really in dire need of funding. And the truth is, for some of these organizations without a core arts mandate, it’s been a challenge even to convince assessors sometimes to walk through. And so, the success rate, I cannot say has been great for nonprofit organizations, it’s easier for assessors to easily walk through an application coming from an arts organization because they can relate. But it’s tougher when it’s, you know, like a health organization trying to partner with artists was really challenging. So, for those few resources, two reasons were coming back to the core and also seeing the increase in the needs of our organizations.

This year, $800,000 is dedicated to only nonprofit organizations with a core arts mandate. So, registered for-profit corporations and businesses are not eligible, post-secondary institutions are not eligible civic partners, and all the organizations receiving operating funding from the City of Calgary, not from CADA, but from the City of Calgary will no longer be able to apply. And we can talk about this if you feel like your organization might be in the middle, and you need to get more clarity on that, please, I would encourage you to email myself and Areum, and we can have a one on one with you to discuss. Yeah. And I hope that that is clear. So that was one major change this year.

What can you apply for, Areum, please just prompt me because I can see. Okay, I can see the number of the slide, I know I have to stop on slide 11 and Areum will take it out from slide 12. So just so that you don’t keep listening to one voice, you can hear someone else,

I think it helps to keep the information in better.

So, this is what can you apply for. If you called in to chat for those of you online, is there any organization joining us today and this is your first time, ever applying to the Project Grant for Organizations? If so, please type in the chat and I’ll take a look at that soon. Thank you.

What can you apply for? One project or a distinct phase of a project. Yes. So could be if the funding can cover fully your project, yes. if the funding can only cover one phase, maybe phase two, maybe you had done research last year and this year you’re looking to actually go into production, yes. And maybe that’s all that the funding can cover. Yes. So, you’re welcome to apply for that.

Projects should have a clear start and end date. This is very, very important, and Areum my colleague will speak more to that when we talk about timelines. You should also highlight specific set of activities processes and your goals, your organization’s goals. Organizations can apply for activities such as research, creation, development or production of artistic work, presentation or dissemination of artistic work, experimentation or development, or new or adapted approaches to how your organization operates. Cross-sector collaborations are also welcome. Creative economy and neighborhood level initiatives are welcome.

If you have quick concerns about eligibility, the eligibility of your project or activities within your project, please again reach out to us, a phone call or an email, an email is usually better if you want to maybe share a summary of what you’re trying to do, just share some resources. This is what our organization is trying to do, this is what we would need the funding for, we just want to check in, would we be eligible? If it’s a very clear-cut response, we’ll respond to you, if not, we will set up a meeting with you, and if you, probably we’ll, we’ll talk more about this.

But we also have open offices. So, if all your all questions are not responded to today, you can still book a one, an open office meeting with us so we can go deeper. Next slide please. Thank you.

When can your project take place? Projects can start, now this, some of these details may appear different from what you’ve known in the past, and this is another area of change or modification as we really try our best to listen to you, our, organizations listen to your feedback. When I joined CADA, the program, deadline was September 6, my very first year. The second-year program deadline was August 30. The third year, I think was sometime in July, which was last year. So, this time around, things have changed by up to two months. So many changes as we try to honour your summer and also honour when your projects, most of our organizations when your project happen just to increase your chance of being eligible as an organization. So, we hope you see all this work and see the impact of your feedback, your notes, your emails, your queries, sometimes on the phone, they’re really helpful for us in designing or redesigning, you know, reviewing, programs. And so, yes, details would appear different than what you used to, projects can start before the program opening date, which is April 2, and must be completed the like, latest date on project completion, you can see the timeline is so broad, January 31, 2027.

Projects funded through this program cannot be completed before April 2. Because yeah, I know we’re trying to be more accommodating, but there’s still a limit to which what we can cover. So, your project, if your project ended March 31, it would not be eligible, in the application. And so, if your project ends before our program deadline, please remember the deadline is May 7, so if your project is ending before the deadline May 7, you are eligible to apply. However, you have to submit your project, your application before your project end date. So, if your project is going to happen on May 1, please you are eligible to apply. Please submit your application this month before that deadline because we don’t want you applying after your project is ended. We want you applying before your project ends, and I hope that, yes. So, I can see some questions popping in the chat and I will take a note of that. Areum, if you can respond to those, fine. If not, I would respond to that soon.

And then finally, if your project ends before, no, I already mentioned that. If your project will be completed before grant results are released in July, I remember when I read the timeline earlier, notifications will be sent out in July. So, if your project will be maybe in the month of June or early July, it’s eligible, but if you will be done before that date, here’s another new thing: contingency plan. And this is because of what we’re hearing from assessors and some of you who have served as assessors in the past, you’ve experienced this bias where assessors are finding it difficult to walk through an application that already ended and there’s no plan of where or if this is what will happen if we get the funding, this is what will happen if we do not get the funding, this is how we hope to go on or this is how we hope to fund it, or this is how this is another budget, maybe this is a Plan B. We know, this this might feel like additional work for you, but we also want to give you the help it, make it easier for you to have a strong fighting chance.

As you know, last year we received about 90 something applications and funded about 40 less than 40. So that’s like a 40%, 30 something per cent chance, success rate. So, we just want to make it a playing field where everyone has a chance of making a strong case. So that’s why the contingency plan and budget has come up. So, if your project is ending before you get notified of your funding, which means I don’t know if I’ll get this funding, but if I don’t get this funding, this project is going to happen, and here is how we intend to make it happen. And if we get the funding, this is what will stick to this budget. So yeah. So that’s the other change I wanted to mention.

And finally, and I think we already spoke to this and, but I want to just offer a few questions, examples in the, next slide, Areum, which speaks to one-time funding. In the past we’ve had organizations we I think we have confused organizations in a way they one-time funding means, if you’re doing this festival, you can apply next year. No, it’s actually eligible. What we mean by one-time funding again is the fact that you get the funding this year does not mean that you automatically get in next year. You have to go through the process again of applying for the next phase of your project. And a few examples we, marked out was if you organize it, for instance, if an organization received the PGO grant in 2024 to produce their annual film festival, they can apply again in 2025 this year for that same festival, and if they are successful, they would get the grant. But it doesn’t mean that they would get the grant for 2026, they still have to do that same process. And the reason why we’re bringing this clarification. So because we have the Operating Grant where organizations, as long as you’re in good standing, you get that funding each year, renewed, as long as your reports are in place, you’re reapplying and you’re in good standing, you’re reporting, your organization is following the rules, you stay in the program. It’s not the same for the Project Grant for Organizations. It’s a one-time, I got this, successful, this year, it closes with your report. You do another year, it closes. So that’s, final piece for me. I will quickly take a look at the question and then pass it on to, as I mentioned earlier, we want to make this as interactive as possible, so please feel free to drop your questions so you don’t forget. So, I can see yes, from four organizations. yes, from four organizations. So, we have four new organizations, thank you so much, all four of you, will definitely speak to maybe how we, the application process is Smart Simple at the end of it. So, we’re pushing that to the end so that we can engage you in making sure that your application is coming through stronger.

Apologies, I’m sure you’ve already mentioned this, but what’s the best email to reach you about a project idea? Oh, awesome. Yes, we have an email contact card, I will also put it in the chat and put the email address in the chat for you and at the end will also show a contact card where you can just screenshot screengrab. But once I’m done and I pass this on to Areum, I’ll put in a chat for you. So thank you so much for, we’ll come back for questions, but for this next phase, Areum will be walking, Areum will be walking us through, the next few slides on the program itself, but very quickly, I want to just say a big thank you to, Lana and, sorry, trying to make sure I say the name correctly, Lana, and I’m missing that. Anyway, we have our ASL interpreters, joining us today, and this is the first time we’re working with them, so I really, really appreciate the work that you’re doing. Thank you so much, and then, Rosalie, yes, thank you for being here and making this work. And thank you, everyone, for joining us today. So over to you.

Areum Kim: Thank you, Perpetual. So, I’ll speak about the program timeline. So, April 2, applications open, it’s open, and you were able to find that in Smart Simple already. And staff can provide feedback on your draft, of your application, if you reach out before April 20. After this date, we cannot guarantee that your application can be reviewed, just based on the volume of requests. We’ll try, but we just can’t guarantee. And please keep in mind that requesting staff feedback is optional, and it does not guarantee success within the program, but it may help ensure your application is clear, eligible and complete. So, May 7 is the application deadline, we don’t accept applications after 4:30, MST, so please make a note in your calendar about the deadline so you don’t miss it. We make our deadlines at 4:30 instead of midnight, a lot of people confuse that, it’s 4:30 so that it’s during office hours and program staff are available to help with any last-minute technical issues or questions and any panic emails, we are here, we’ll do our best to answer questions up until the application deadline. And there is a deadline extension policy that applies to all of CADA’s programs, and you can find that online or in the guidelines if you need information about extensions. And between May and June, the grants will be reviewed and evaluated by a peer assessment committee and the staff, and I’ll share more information about this process later on. And the notification of results will be shared over email by mid-July. And then in August, the funds will be distributed after the sharing of results. The funds are released after grantees sign and return their grant investment agreements.

And this is kind of what you will see in the application. You’ll see a brief description, funding request, start and end date, primary discipline, program stream, frequently asked questions, budget and support material. And I’ll go over that, each section with you.

So, applications may be submitted to one of the three streams that we have for this program. Applicants should select the stream that best fits the core goal and purpose of their project. Create and Develop is focused on the creation, development or research of an artistic work. So, the project will not result in something that will be shared with an audience or the general public at this time, it may eventually be shared publicly, but it is not part of the project, timeline and goals for this project grant application.

A few examples would be, a research project, creating a new work, adapting previous work, any pre-production work you want to undertake before you actually start, sharing your work. So, any type of pre-creation or creation, or research work is eligible for that program stream.

Second program stream is called Program and Present, and it is focused on sharing your artistic work with the public. So, this could involve the creation and production of artistic work all the way through presenting it to an audience. So, you, if your project can fit into from the conception and start of the creation all the way to the presentation, you can apply to this program. Examples include exhibitions, presentations, performances, album releases, touring, publishing, distribution, marketing and etc.

And then our third program stream is called Grow and Adapt, and this program is focused on the experimentation or development of new or adapted approaches to how you work, including artistic, operational, administrative and governance practices. So, organizations should demonstrate that the projects of this nature are distinct from the work that’s typically part of their regular operations, and it builds upon your organization in a meaningful or transformative way. So, ongoing operational or admin work will not be eligible for this. For example, it can look like staff training, or relationship and community building in areas of truth and reconciliation or equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility work. And this project may not have an artistic outcome or even a clear end result, but there should be a clear, clear reasoning with potential for learning and changing how you work.

So, more examples include strategic planning, business adaptations, projects related to developing practices and policies related to advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, or truth and reconciliation or audience development, research work. So, the streams are, kind of for, for us, mainly for the staff, so we can group applications. We can, we can, all throughout our assessment committees, we kind of balance which types of applications that come in, but we also consider a range of disciplines and, and such. So, the selecting of program streams really help us make well-rounded assessment committees.

So, in your application, there will be a section for organization introduction. This is new this year as well. It’s going to it’s going to be short, maximum of 200 words. So, this program receives applications from organizations of many different sizes and forms from a very large org with more than $1million in operating budget to small, volunteer-run organizations without any staff. And this is also a multidisciplinary program, so we see applications from all kinds of disciplines and art forms. So, with that in mind, your organization’s context matters when assessors try to understand and evaluate the application.

So currently there is organizational mandates section that is part of your organization profile, not part of the application. It’s with your profile that gets ported over to the application automatically. But this section often just has vision and mission statements, which are written in a very succinct way, so we created this question to give a chance for orgs to say more about their org beyond the mandate or anything they think it’s helpful for assessors to understand your organization in relationship to your project. So, imagine if you’re if the assessor doesn’t know anything about your organization, what would you share? For example, if your organization supports emerging artist visual artists through residencies, that’s all you do, you can kind of share that context of how you work, and if it if especially if it fits into your program, project proposal. Or you can share that your organization is a volunteer-run, does two productions a year, its production is created by your volunteers, etc. like anything that will help create context for your project proposal.

So, we also have a quick section that asks for project description, asking you to describe your project, including what will occur, what will take place, where it will take place. It’s max 750 words. This is where you can actually introduce your project, and we ask you to be clear. We see many applications that can be confusing to understand exactly what activities are being proposed, that’s just the limitation of written applications, it’s kind of hard to sometimes hard to write, succinctly and, in a way that really clearly communicates your idea. So, try to be clear.

And there are two other questions written questions, artistic impact and community connection. And this is tied to the program consideration scoring, so I’ll just share that alongside our Program Consideration/Scoring.

So, our program considerations and scoring are what your applications will be scored and evaluated on. Your success and your application depend a lot on your responses to the questions in this section. The three considerations are artistic impact, community connection, and planning. I’ll review each category in depth, in a few slides, and I’ll just touch base on the scoring process.

So, the committee, assessment committee members will review applications and rate the level to which they agree or disagree with each of the program category, consider scoring consideration based on the information you provide in the application. So, the four ratings are strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. And each program consideration will be weighted equally, so artistic impact will be weighed as just as the same as your planning, etc.

So artistic impact is a section where you will, in the written section, this is where you will describe your organization’s artistic goals for the project and how you define success. And you can consider how project might impact your organization’s artistic vision and mandate. And the assessors will be asked on this question, whether the application demonstrates a deep understanding of their organizational mandate, artistic goals, and what success will mean for them.

So that’s what assessors will be asking in regards to your application. So, think about that as you write the application. So, for example, you can talk about artistic goals that you have for the work, the artistic processes techniques approaches, and how does this work connect to your past work or how does it build or create an entirely new milieu for your organization. You can talk about how this project can create new opportunities and models to govern and operate your organization, how will this enhance your organizational processes, what are the impacts on your sustainability as an arts org? You could talk about your organization’s discipline, specific goals and impact that the project could have on the artistic discipline and the artistic communities that you’re a part of.

So those are examples I could think about, depending on your project. So, make sure to tell assessors what is most important to you when it comes to this project. The assessment committee is interdisciplinary, so not all assessors will be deeply versed in your particular discipline, so make sure to explain, and break things down as you would explain something to a non-expert, so I was to, encourage you to stay away from jargon, and I would encourage you to not assume that the assessor will know this is necessarily know what you’re talking about.

It’s also good to include how you will measure success, learning or impact in regards to artistic impact. So, this is not necessarily about what you think the funder or assessors would want to hear, but defining what success looks like to you and your organization. Think about what your artistic goals are, what you need to achieve them and how you will know, if you’ve achieved them. It’s good to start thinking about this now, to develop your own system of evaluation that can be highly beneficial to organizations’ growth and development for this project and beyond this project.

Second program consideration/scoring category is Community Connection. So, in the written section under Community Connection, you will be asked to describe the people or communities that are connected to this project and why you’ve chosen this community. What are your community-related goals for this project and what will success mean for your organization? And then the assessors will be asked to consider, that the applicant shows a clear and in-depth understanding of the relationships and communities connected to this project, their goals, and what success will mean for them. This can include future relationships and community connections, as well as those occurring during the project itself. So again, think about, remind yourself what the assessors are asked and think about how you can kind of respond to that, how you can show this. We define community as those who view, participate, collaborate, engage or benefit from your work.

So, depending on your project, this can include audiences, participants, students, artists, collaborators, partners, venues, neighbourhoods or specific communities aligned around shared identities. It could also refer to discipline-specific to a graphical, religious, or cultural communities or communities that share a particular interest, or value. So, I would encourage you to start by naming and specifying your community, whether existing one or the one you would like to forge new relationships with. And this is where you can describe how your community will be engaged or considered throughout this project. The depth and quality of your relationships is just as important, then the breadth or the quantity of your relationships, so don’t worry if you or project caters to a very small audience or community. We would just be specific, about why you’re working with that community. We don’t expect you to be everything to everyone, but we just want to know how you are considering community in a thoughtful, respectful and intentional way.

A reminder that if your proposed project intends to work with or for a specific community, it will be essential to speak directly about your current relationships and connections to that community. So, for example, are you a part of the community? If not, how are you engaging with the community? Are you including them? Are you respecting and holding their perspectives in a meaningful way? Are those involved being equitably compensated, etc.? And for projects that are more internal and don’t directly engage or involve other community, and if your project doesn’t have an element of sharing work publicly, this is where you might describe your organization’s general community and the audiences who you present to, who accesses your organization’s artistic programing and services?

And just like Artistic Impact, we encourage you to consider what your measures of success are, and how you are going to evaluate the success of your community connection. So that’s the second part of the program criteria.

And then the last one is Planning. The assessors will be asked whether the applicant has included enough information to clearly show what they want to do and how they will do it. There is an in-depth understanding of what it will take to carry out the project and meet their goals. This is shown by a clear, realistic and well-supported project description, timeline and budget. So planning is another crucial part. If a project has, even if a project has a strong artistic and community impact but if the planning is insufficient, your project may not be assessed well. You want to provide a clear picture of how you intend to carry out this project and that can be done through budget, timeline and support material, which is all part of your application, and I’ll speak to those.

So, the budget section is embedded into the application form, and you will be filling it out, filling it out inside the form. In the budget you need to include all expenses and revenues, and your budget needs to balance to zero. Perpie spoke to this up a little bit, your, whatever your expenses are, the revenues including your CADA grant ask all have to balance to zero, and there are notes section in the budget that you can use a section to show how you calculate it, these budget line items, and you can add details there.

If there is a more complex breakdown, you can use the support material section to show how you calculated those lines, like artist fees and etc. And it’s really important to back up your budget. They use the support material section to back up any budget line items that you’re claiming. And I can speak to that in a few slides.

And then lastly, make it easy to read. So, if you have a big marketing expense, instead of lumping $8,000 of marketing experience into one line and add all the details in the notes, you can break it out into several different marketing expenses, for example. So, try to make it easier to read.

There is a section that asks you to upload timelines. In the timelines, you need to outline all major tasks, events, activities, milestones and deadlines. You can include dates, locations, and people involved. You can indicate what’s confirmed or pending. And again, you can, I encourage you to make it easy to read, clear and intuitive. We encourage having a PDF format instead of Word or Excel so it’s easy to navigate. And I also want to add to not make it too long, we’ve seen some timelines spanning seven pages. Assessors will be overwhelmed with information because they will be all reading 30 + applications. And in the support material section, this is where you can upload PDFs, images and audio/visual files. This can include examples of previous works presented by your organizations or works in progress. Anything that helps give a picture of what you do or what you intend to do. This is where you can also add quotes or any support for the budget items, and quotes are really important, especially when you’re contracting services, purchasing or renting equipment or venues, etc., assessors really want to see those costs backed up, so utilize the support materials section.

You can also add other budget notes that are too long to include in the budget template. Something like fee schedules, like the CARFAC minimum fee standards or Canadian Actors Equity or any of the any other, fee schedules that are out there to you help provide guidelines on artist fees, you can include it in the support materials. I would just be specific about where you’re pulling the fees from, from the schedules instead of attaching the entire schedules, because they’re often many pages long. And you can also include support letters from partners or artists or whoever is, involved in your project that confirms their participation. And if you want to include links, we suggest saving links, along with a description with the of the link as a PDF so the assessors can easily click the links directly in the PDF. And feel free to combine multiple PDFs into one upload area as needed, just keep in mind that assessors will only be asked to review up to ten minutes of support material for each applicant. Some assessors could do a deep-dive and they take a long, longer time with each, application, but our general guidelines, based on how much we’re compensating, the assessors through the honorarium, we suggest that they read up to 5 to 10 minutes of support material. And they’re reviewing many applications, so please only provide information that is directly relevant and easy to read.

And then I will talk about the contingency plan a little bit, Perpetual kind of gave context of why we added this section. So again, it’s required only if your project ends before being notified of grant results in mid-July, and thus this doesn’t have to be long, it can be just a one-page document outlining how you intend to fund this project without knowing whether you’re successful or not.

So, because, for this program, you’re eligible to apply to any project that ends before April 2, by the time we go into assessments, some of this project would have already ended. And we have seen assessors wondering why, how the organizations fared without receiving the funds. There are questions like how they intended to, how they completed the project, how did they pay artists and art workers without having the funds? And there are questions about whether the budget was followed or did they have a different budget. And how, I think the biggest questions are, how are artists being properly compensated without the confirmed grant funding?

So, this can be a one-page document to show how you intend to fund the project without knowing whether you have this funding, request granted or not. So, for example, the contingency plan could share what you intend to pull from your organization’s operating funds, and, or you could share that you have an alternate, pared down budget, that you’ll go with, and then you will top that up if you receive the PGO funding and, and then you can include through that contingency budget or any other contingency plans you might have for the project.

So again, it doesn’t have to be elaborate. It’s just a way to support your application without inviting in assumptions or too many questions around how the project would have been completed. So yeah, that’s the new section. We usually see only a handful of organizations who have completed would have completed the project by assessment time, but, yeah, this is just a way to share and assure assessors about the validity of your project, the need for your project, and how you will pay artists.

Areum, I don’t know if you want to, I mean, you still able to share the next slide just so we can quickly wrap up? We’re almost done. And I think Areum talked, touched on this a little bit. How are grants awarded? Assessment committees, we set up committees. And again, you see a bar, a QR code, and I can also pop that in chat. We set up assessment committees of 4 to 5 assessors, and who are these assessment committee members, they are peers from the arts community within Calgary. Some of them are artists, some of them are arts administrators, we ensure that we bring as much representation from the community to, you know, in relation to the applications we’ve received. So, if we have more theatre, music, visual, we try to bring different voices into that space to, just to speak to applications as we discussed, and they are the ones who score these applications. Also, these members, these committee members are paid an honorarium, and we do have terms of reference that we, are very much linked to our guidelines. I would encourage you to read that. That’s the other document you can find that on the website. We can also pop that in the chat. It also includes information about how we ask committees to review applications for eligibility and completeness in much more detail.

Assessors are kept confidential and anonymous until next year, until the following year, when a full list of assessors are posted. As part of our annual report to the city, assessors are required to declare conflict of interest according to the Conflict of Interest policy, which means that they will not be evaluating applications where there is a real or perceived conflict. It could mean that they are part of that organization, or they would benefit from that project, or they have a conflict actionable, or maybe had past experience, pleasant or unpleasant experience with an organization, and so they call themselves out of that application process. And so, you also welcome to be part of that process. You’re welcome to be an assessor. Next slide please, Areum.

And this is for first time applicants, which I can notice we don’t have too many. So, I won’t spend too much time on this. From the website you can see where you click on the log in, you can see the log in on the arrow up there. You can log in right there. And if you do, if you’re new organization, click on the same log in, and when you get on that page it will tell ask you to register or create a new account. And from there use your email address as the administrator. To set up an account, you need one person and an email address that has not been used on Smart Simple before, it is a separate application, a separate email address that is not used or attached. I mean, we’ve had anyway, let me read what I have in my notes so I don’t mislead you. If you do not already have an account with us, you will need to create an account and set up your user profile before you can apply. You will need an organizational account, not your individual collective account.

When you log in, you will notice that there is a section called My Organization Profile. Please ensure that your organization profile is fully complete and up to date. And now once you log in, you’ll see one of the few things you see, changes on the portal is that you can, now there’s an invitation to update your profile, and we encourage you to do this often just in case of changes, have, you know, happened or occurred within your organization.

The profile section includes your information about your organization, your mandate, which will be automatically transferred over to your application to any grant application. And that’s one of the things your assessors get to see, so please ensure that this is accurate and up to date. If you make changes to your profile after submitting, those changes will not be reflected in the application. So please, once you log in and you see that prompt to update your profile, please click it. Click on it and update. And this is for everyone, both new and existing organizations.

When you log in, you also notice a section called Open Opportunities, and this is for new organizations. This is where you find any open grant currently there. You should see Project Grant for Organizations, click Apply and begin application to open a draft application form. The application form will contain important instructions throughout. Please take time to read all the instructions as they are very important and give guidance to what to include, how to make changes and where to find information as needed.

There will be multiple tabs that contain all parts of the application form, including which in question, which is your program overview, budget, support materials, remember to save as you go, hit the Save Draft as you go, and when you are done, with your application, when you filled out everything, you’re welcome to hit the validate, Save and Validate and it will help to prompt if there’s anything missing.

And if you remember, we talked about the contingency plan. If you know your project is going to end before you are notified in July, please upload that additional information. If you need help, or have questions, that is to how to provide that, please reach out. We’ll be happy to work with you. It’s also our first time where we can work with you to see how best to make that happen.

And when you’re done, just hit the Submit, after you’ve saved and validated and there is no prompt, then go ahead and submit and you will receive an email afterwards. Yeah. So that’s pretty much that. And I remember Areum mentioning our deadline is 4:30pm May 7. Submit before that time, we encourage you. I know we like last minute, I also do that too, but I encourage everyone to, we’re trying to make your summer, easier, which is why we’ve moved it up two months, two whole months. So please try and be, you know, get rid of the pressure so that we all have ease throughout this process. Yes. Next slide please. You’re welcome. You can scan that QR code. You’re welcome to become an assessor. The membership of the peer committee committees are chosen through public nomination and staff expertise. If you or anyone you know is interested in accessing any of our programs, there is a nomination form on our website and that add that you want to be, and you assessor where it says describe any other skill that you that will give the nominee insight as a potential assessor. You can add that and that will quickly prompt us, prompt you to us. It helps to, if you if you’ve noticed that maybe in your field or your discipline, there is poor representation, nominating yourself or someone to be an assessor just ensures that we have enough voices to speak to these things. It’s interesting when you are in an assessment room, it’s the conversations are wholesome and rich, and that’s because we’re hearing from people from different fields, and we’re also hearing from people from that field, you know, in regards to, in relation to the application that is being discussed. So, it’s good to have more and more representation. So, if you find that maybe you’re in the animation or film or, or craft industry and you notice maybe I want to serve, I want to volunteer, please complete this form. We’ll be happy to work with you.

Yes. And that’s really it this time around. Thank you so much to everyone who joined us. And again, open, if you have any questions at all for us, we’ll be happy to respond to your question. Passing this back to Areum.

Areum: Yeah, just I’ll just wait for any questions to come in. And again, I can’t see the chat or hands.

Perpetual: I can see it, I have it open on my screen. Yeah, while we wait for questions, I want to once again, thank you, Lana and Rosalie, for being here with us and for working with us. This is really beautiful to, just watching you work is so, I don’t know, it’s such a blessing. So, thank you for the work that you do. Okay, any final questions or Areum, any final thoughts? Okay.

I will pull something back again from what you were sharing on notes in the budgets. And this will be the last thing that I say because just because of that, how useful and helpful that section can be. I encourage organizations to please make the most of that section. It can save you a lot, it can save assessors a lot. Understanding our assessors, just like you, if you volunteer to be an assessor, they want to find information as questions arise in their mind, they want to see the answers. So, if your budget is maybe $15,000 for artist fees, please, in the notes section, break it down, you can write lead artist or lead character lead cast $1,000 times three shows or times three days of production, supporting cast, this this amount times this. And you they do the math, make it add up. And when they check your supporting material about artists you’ve contracted, you know, agreement or their confirmation, they should be seeing those names as well. And please do your research in terms of paying artists, we’re seeing assessors constantly, you know, speak to how they appreciate when, there’s so much thought given to payment to artists, so much thought given to timelines of what is demanded and requested. So, it’s not just money. It’s like, how thoughtful are you about the artists? Are you considering the time? Is your rehearsal schedule looking so unrealistic or is it spaced out with consideration for their energy, for their skill, for their professional, you know, well-being, artistic well-being generally? So just being very thoughtful research with your artists to find out what works for them. And sometimes it’s helpful in the area of testimonials or feedback, you can write and say, We came to this number or we came to this conclusion based on, you know, having a conversation with our artists, they said this would be the better way for them to work, or just being very open, honest and thoughtful in your dealings with artists as well as Elders or Knowledge Keepers, where you’re not just extracting information from Knowledge Keepers without honorarium or meaningful, the meaningful benefit to them.

And that last year we spoke to that a lot in our info session. So, I will spend too much time there. And Areum did mention that again today, if you’re working with anyone from a community out of yours, say First Nations, Métis, BIPOC communities, anything, or the Asian community or you’re working with a Canadian community, Canadian community, you’re from a different one, Caucasians. So just go ahead and speak to a little bit about your process, how you got to where you made that decision. Is this beneficial to them? Is this helping them work best and give their best in the way that they feel respected and welcomed? And also speak to the fact that you have been given permission, you have been welcomed, you have been invited to work with them or to carry that story, or to interview, and this is just really staying connected and committed to equity, to reconciliation, to growing our community. And that’s a wrap for me. Thank you all so much. Areum, do you want to close us out?

Areum: Yes. Thank you, Perpie. You can sign up for our weekly newsletter to get up to the news. CADA has lots of programs going on, including at public art there. A bit of a different department that us that a lot of organizations can also apply to Community-Run Microgrants in Public Art. And you’ll you’re, you’ll be able to find out in the event and exciting things that are happening at CADA. Yeah. And thank you for listening to our, our program contacts. You can you’re very welcome to contact us if you have any other questions.

If you want to request to review, this recording session will be uploaded online. So, you can refer back to it if you need to. The question-and-answer part will be edited out. So, don’t worry about that, that, that and, yeah. Thank you so much for coming and listening to us.

We’ll end the meeting now. Thank you so much.

Perpetual: Thank you, Lana. Thank you, Rosalie. Thank you, Areum. Thank you. Take care. Bye.