Community-Run Microgrant: Info Session Video and Transcript

Alex Lingnau:

Hey, everybody. I hope you can hear me okay. If you have any issues, please use the chat bar to ask those questions, or if you can’t hear me, if you’re having any technical issues right now, let me know right away at the beginning so we can deal with that. Some other people might be joining a little bit into this presentation, but we’ll let them come in as they show up.

So thanks for coming today. Thanks for being here, I’m going to get started. My name is Alex Lingnau, I am the project lead for the Community-Run Public Art Microgrant, and I will be the person if you are applying who you’ll be communicating with about, any questions you have. If there’s issues with your application, I will let you know about them. But yeah, I’m the person to contact.

Today we are going to go over the microgrant program and application process, and we’re going to kind of go over the guidelines, we’re going to get into a lot of details, but not everything. There’s a lot of information in the guidelines. There’s a great FAQ, there’s an application checklist, so I definitely recommend that even though you’re here today, make sure you’re reading through those guidelines and keep them with you as you apply. And yeah, if you have any questions throughout this presentation, put them in the chat. We will get to them at the end during the Q&A. And yeah, feel free to keep the cameras off, mics off please, for everyone, and we’ll get going.

Before we start today, I would like to acknowledge that the land we gather on, Mohkinsstsis, is the ancestral territory of the Siksikaitsitapi — the Blackfoot people — comprising the Siksika, Kainai and 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 the spirit of this land and its people that we do our work.

Okay, we’re going to jump into this. I am going to start a slide deck. Hopefully this won’t be too dry for you guys. Pop this up and yeah, everyone should be hopefully able to see that, as well as our lovely ASL interpreter, today we have Deb and Stephanie helping us out.

So here is my contact information. If you want to screenshot this, it’ll be up at the end. If you want to write it down, you can again always contact me if you have any issues. You could also reach out to Helen Hu, she’s our public art coordinator. She’s super, super helpful, if you send her an email, she might be able to either answer it herself, or she might just forward the email right along to me and I’ll answer it as well.

This does not want to go. There we go. Okay, so I wanted to start with some information about Calgary Arts Development and the Public Art Program. Our overarching vision at Calgary Arts Development is a creative, connected Calgary through the arts, where everyone is empowered to live a creative life. And our mission is that the arts have the power to create vibrant communities and bring together diverse voices and perspectives.

We support artists in the development of their skills and the expression of their creativity. Calgary Arts Development supports and strengthens the arts to benefit all Calgarians. So, as the City’s designated Arts Development Authority, we invest and allocate municipal funding for the arts provided by the City of Calgary, and we leverage these funds to provide additional resources to the arts sector.

Our programs support hundreds of arts organizations across the city, as well as individual artists and artist collectives.

A Public Art program, some of you might already know about us, but it is kind of new. As the Arts Development Authority in Calgary, we are uniquely positioned to deliver and create a future Public Art program built upon our knowledge of and strong relationships with the fine arts community in Calgary. As of 2021, Calgary Arts Development has been engaged in a multi-year transition with the City of Calgary to take over as operator of the public art program.

We are creating a Public Art program that is engaging and relevant and accountable. This means that the program must reflect the rich diversity of the city, including connecting with Indigenous voices to tell the past, current and future stories of Calgary. Our intent is to foster meaningful connections and dialog between artists and communities, utilizing art in the public realm to reflect Calgary’s diverse stories and values.

So CADA’s role in all of this is commissioning new artworks through open competitions, sort of like what we’re doing with the microgrant program, programming. So, youth programs, artist development and temporary exhibitions, and we’re also working to build public art awareness and activating the existing public art collection. We still have a counterpart with the City, they’re responsible for conservation of the collection and maintenance of every public art piece in the city. And they also work to activate the collection and get it out into the public.

So Calgary Arts Development is committed to working with communities that have historically been underserved. We are guided by the core principles of EDIA or equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility. We are committed to the process of eliminating institutional racism, ableism, and barriers in our programs, policies and practices.

We try to centre the creativity and leadership of those communities most impacted by structural inequities. Our commitment outlines a vision for a city where Calgarians of all backgrounds can access, create and participate in art as part of their everyday lives. The four pillars of our vision for this are:

• Equity — so creating access for Calgarians who have had less opportunity for philanthropic and governmental support due to the systemic barriers
• Diversity — supporting artistic endeavors that reflect our diverse community and, in supporting the work of artists of diverse backgrounds
• Inclusion — engaging a wide variety of voices and perspectives in shaping and furthering the work that we do, and
• Accessibility — so, eliminating systemic barriers that prevent people who encounter physical, mental, or cultural barriers to our spaces, programs and services

We really want to honour lived experience and the intersectional and unique experiences of different people and communities, so we follow a ‘nothing about us without us’ policy. If you are creating work about a specific community that you’re not a part of, that community needs to be actively engaged and consulted, and there needs to be a clear and intentional relationship there.

Aligning with our commitment to EDIA, we always strive to work with applicants in a one-size-fits-one way. So, this means that if you are experiencing barriers or if there’s something that you need to be able to really participate in this program, we will help you through that, all you have to do is reach out to us and we will really try to make this work. We want everyone to be able to apply to programs that they’re interested in applying to.

And of course, along with all of this, there are some things that we will not tolerate, such as hate speech, cultural appropriation and active exclusionary behaviour. So please be aware that any application or projects that contain this will not be accepted.

So going into this a little bit more, we do have Applicant Support and Accessibility Policy. We recognize that these barriers do exist within the arts community, particularly for equity seeking communities, so our Applicant Support and Accessibility Policy is for potential applicants who experience barriers in our systems and to work with them to develop the accommodations that are going to suit their abilities and situations. So, for example, we can offer translation of written materials into other languages, and we can accept verbal or audio applications.

Eligible applicants can also receive some financial support to help alleviate some of the costs associated with preparing and submitting an application. So, if you need to hire a translator, we can help pay for that as well. And again, we’ll work one on one with applicants to make sure that the accommodations that they need are provided for them. You can find this policy on our Grant Investment Program’s policy webpage. It’s also in the guidelines at the very end of the page. And again, you can also just send me an email if you’re interested, and I’ll send you all of the links. If you have any questions about this, if you want help with feedback on your application or if it’s your first time applying, please don’t hesitate to contact me as early as you can so that I have enough time to give you the best support possible.

Okay, all right, so let’s get into it. This is our timeline for the program. So, our applications are open, they have been open since July 24, 23. Excuse me, and they’ll be accepted until September 4 at 4:30pm. We do not accept late applications. If you have extenuating circumstances and you need an extension, contact me and we will talk to the leadership of CADA and figure out if the circumstances that you’re under are actually, I don’t want to say important enough, but make sure that you have a good reason for needing an extension.

We will go into assessment in September and October, everyone, or that’s when the applications will be read and evaluated, and then we are going to send out notifications in early November.

We’re hoping to have all of the funds distributed by late November, and then all of the projects must be completed by December 31, 2025. So, you’ll have a full year to finish this project. And again, projects cannot start before July 23, 2024. This program is not open to projects that are already in process.

Okay, so what is this program? The Community-Run Public Art Microgrant. So microgrants are typically small, one-time awards given to community run short-term projects. Community-run organizations like neighbourhood associations, nonprofit or charitable organizations, grassroots organizations or cultural groups are all eligible to apply for funding. This is a really broad, eligibility requirements. So most groups are eligible, you do not need to be a formal group. We just want to see that there is a community organization that’s working together towards the same goal.

Groups are required to hire a local artist and pay them at any level of experience to produce any form of public art in their neighbourhoods. Communities can apply for up to $15,000 to support the project, and groups can also apply to repair or refurbish an existing piece of public art.

So, say there’s a mural that the community really loved and they want to see it come back to life. This program could be used to hire the artist who did that mural so that they can refurbish it and bring it back.

And you can also apply for this program if you want to develop a second phase to an existing project. So if you had, really successful community arts performance and you want to do another version that’s maybe a little bit larger, you can apply to that as long as it’s not an ongoing program.

Excuse me. It’s a little dry in here.

So, our first submission requirement is that the project has to address one of our five project themes. So this year we have:

1. Honour Indigenous Stories and Perspectives. So here you can highlight Indigenous histories and contemporary experiences, you can explore and create paths towards reconciliation and right relations with Indigenous peoples and the land we live on.
2. Art for Social Change. So here you can consider how art can be a force for social change, how you can investigate and develop a project that could transform people’s lives, maybe even in a small scale.
3. Uncover little known stories about the city or overlooked histories. So here you can team up with community members, historians, Indigenous knowledge keepers to create a project that connects people to places and spaces and different ways, maybe celebrates overlooked people and events in the city and diverse learnings of your community.
4. Explore stories of your community. So a little bit similar to number three but a little bit more broad. So here you could create and share stories of how local community members or organizations tell the story of where they live and what that makes their community unique.
5. Of course, bring beauty, joy, whimsy and hope. So if you just want to do something that lightens up part of your neighborhood and is going to bring a smile to people’s face, that’s also a great way to go about this.

Okay, I’m going to get into eligibility here. As I said before, it is quite broad, so please go into the guidelines and read through the FAQ for a complete review of the eligibility requirements.

Again, if you’re unsure, just reach out to me, I’m happy to talk to you about it and we can figure out where you fit into this program. So, some of the main points is again that this is open to nonprofit, community-run organizations. I went through a list before, but really it’s any kind of group that is working together with the same goal in mind.

The activities must take place in Calgary. Applicants must either be Calgary-based or be able to show that they regularly make significant contributions to the arts that are accessible to Calgarians. If you’re not based in the city, please reach out to me and we can help determine if you are eligible for this program.

We will only accept one application per group and only one application per project. You may not receive more than one key to grant for the same project or phase of a project. But if you do receive the microgrant, you can still apply to other grants for other projects that you’re working on, just not the same one.

So, groups must hire a local artist, this is a big one. A portion of the budget must be used to pay the local artist and help carry out the project. The artwork must be in a space that is open and accessible to all, so free as well. This cannot take place in any venue that has a paid entry. And the artwork must be safe for public interaction, so, nothing dangerous, nothing that might fall on people or cause harm in any way.

As I mentioned before, this is open to new projects, but also projects that need to be refurbished because the community really wants to maintain them or to a second phase of an existing project.

A big one is that your location must be approved by the site owner, and the applicant is responsible for obtaining that approval, whether it’s on private land or City land, or hopefully not Provincial land. Sculptures or works who is requiring engineering will not be considered for this project. So if you have moving components or if you need your, if you’re doing a sculpture and it has to be embedded in the ground so that it stands up without falling, those are all situations where you’d need to go talk to an engineer to make sure that it’s safe. This is not the type of project or the type of grant for those projects. Those are a little bit more expensive and a little bit bigger.

So again, the guidelines have a lot more details. They also have details about your budgetary, costs that can be that aren’t eligible or are not eligible. So please read through this. They cover things like artist fees, accessibility costs and professional fees, all things that this grant can pay for and it will also cover things that this grant cannot pay for, like lost wages or fundraising events. So yeah, again, if you have any questions about eligibility, please just reach out to me. I’m happy to answer all of your questions and yeah, figure out what best way you can apply for this program.

So the selection process. This is just to give you guys a little bit of an insight into, what happens after you submit your proposal. So, all of the applications are reviewed by an independent assessment committee made up of artist peers and community members. The membership of the assessment committee is chosen through public nominations and staff expertise, and the assessment committees are chosen to represent a broad diversity of Calgary and its artistic communities, including but not limited to artistic disciplines, gender, sexuality, age, religion, nation, physical and neurological identities, etc. The assessment committees are held to the CADA Group Agreements intended to commit to open, generous and respectful evaluations and communications. You can read through the Group Agreements through the link in the guidelines if you’re interested, and anyone can participate on a Calgary Arts Development Assessment Committee by completing the assessor nomination form. Or you can email publicart@calgaryartsdevelopment.com. You’ll find the nomination form on our website.

So once we have your applications, the selection panel will read and score your applications through September and October. They will select project applications based on how their submissions respond to application questions and scored for a possible total of 100 points. So the Program Theme is worth 25 points. The Community Engagement section is worth 25 points. The Community Benefit section is worth 30 points and the Project Plan and Maintenance Plan is worth 20 points. And I’m going to get into all of these in a little bit more detail afterwards.

We do have a Location Bonus Points system. It’s 20 extra points for any application that takes place in a neighbourhood that we have identified as lacking public art or public art opportunities. If you’re not in one of those communities, that’s fine, apply anyway. Those 20 extra points do not guarantee that you will receive a grant, it just helps us manage and kind of identify those groups that need to have a little bit more focus put on them.

After the scores are entered, oh, sorry. I’m skipping over stuff here. The Proof of Site is a yes or no score. So, if you get a no, if you do not have a proof of site, your project will not be eligible. That’s a really big thing. We need to know that you have location set for this and that the location owner is happy to work with you. In situations where you’re working with the City, and you might need a permit or you’re waiting on approvals. Just include all of that information. We are technically part of the City, we know how slow things can go, so we just want to know you’ve done your due diligence and that it’s very likely that you’re going to get your approvals.

The budget feasibility is rated as appropriate or inappropriate. If you’re budget is looked at and we consider it to be inappropriate, we might come back to you and just ask you to revise it. It’s not necessarily going to completely disqualify you from this grant.

So that’s all of those. After scoring all of these different criteria, the selection committee will discuss the applications and make a final funding recommendation in a meeting facilitated by the public art staff, it will most likely be me. And once the final funding recommendation has been reviewed by CADA leadership, we’ll send out all of the notifications to applicants. We will make a public announcement about everyone who received a grant after all of the contracts are signed.

Okay, let’s get a little bit deeper into all of the different submission requirements. After we do this, I’m going to do a run through on the website so you guys can see how this looks and how to actually fill out the application. But first yeah, let’s get into them. It looks like a lot, but it’s not that bad.

The Project Theme. So this is the first introduction to your project. Here, you want to aim to be clear straightforward and specific. Again, this is worth 25 points, and we’re looking for you to provide a brief description of your project and its goals and then tell us which theme you have chosen and explain how it relates to the project. And again, these submissions will be evaluated on how well the project relates to the chosen project theme.

Community Engagement. So, community engagement and community benefit are really essential parts of your application, together they’re worth 55 points, so more than half of your total score. That’s what public art is about, it’s about working with community, so we put a lot of emphasis here. We’re going to look for details of what community engagement is being done and how that engagement will take place. So what type of community engagement are you planning and who are you inviting to participate? How will the artist be involved in community engagement? Will they have meetings or discussions with the community to help inform the artwork? Be really clear on how community engagement is informing the artwork, where those voices are coming from and how those decisions are, how you’re planning those decisions to be made. And you really want to focus on the connection between your project and your community. Let us know where that connection is.

Community Benefit. So, very similar to community engagement, but here we’re looking to see how do you think your project will benefit the community? What is this going to bring to your community? What differences do you hope it might make in your community or beyond? And be as specific here as you can with what you want to do with this artwork and what the outcome is that you’re hoping for.

Okay, Project Plan and Maintenance Plan. So, this is something some people might have already worked with, depending on what, how many grants they’ve applied for, what type of work that they do, but a lot of people don’t have to do project plans or maintenance plans. So, we have a lot of information again, in the guidelines and the FAQ if you’re trying to figure out what should be in here, but I’m going to go over the main points here today.

So in the application this section is asking for more specific and technical details about your project. We want really specific details on what the project is and how it will be successfully completed. So, some of the things it should include are: a project timeline telling us when it’s when you think it’s going to start and when it will be completed, details on planning, installation and completion stages, and we want to know how you plan to install it and who is going to install the artwork. And when I say install, that can be a physical thing that is being, you know, painted on a wall or if there’s a performance, we want to know who’s organizing that performance, who are the people behind the program?

We’d like to know about any safety concerns you foresee. Again, just we want to know that you’re really thinking in a wholesome way about this project and looking at it from all of the angles. So if you’re worried about something being a climbing risk, we’d love to know what that concern is and how you think you might be able to mitigate it, or if you need a safety barrier for when you’re doing an installation just to make sure the community is safe while you’re working. And as I mentioned earlier, any projects that require engineering approvals will not be considered, including sculptures and objects with moving parts. So the list goes on. There’s a lot of stuff in the project plan and maintenance plan.

Some other things we want to know are how you’re going to work with the artist? Have you preselected an artist, or are you planning to do a call and receive submissions from a bunch of different artists? If you’ve already selected an artist or artists, include their bios and a little bit of information about them and let us know the anticipated lifespan of your project and what will happen when the lifespan concludes. So, for example, a mural’s typical lifespan is 3 to 5 years. So, in your maintenance plan, in the maintenance plan, we’d want to know how the community organization will deal with graffiti, any damages that come up, and then also what’s going to happen to the mural once the lifespan concludes? Will it be maintained? Will they try and get another grant to keep it looking good for a few more years, or will it be painted over? And is that decision something that the site owner is going to make? Excuse me, anti-graffiti coatings. I’m just going to make a point here about this, they are great, but they can be really expensive, so be sure to plan that into your budget. If you’re thinking about doing something like that. So sorry.

Let us know who will be responsible for any maintenance. The artwork has to be owned by the applicant and the organization that they’re applying for, or the site owner for the duration of its lifespan. I’m so sorry. Pardon me. my voice just decided to dip out in the middle of this. Okay, it’s really recommended that projects have a shorter lifespan and require little to no maintenance. Just again, $15,000 is a lot of money, but it’s not a lot of money if you have to maintain something over a number of years, those costs do really add up.

Okay. when we get into the application, I’ll show this to you guys. But this section has a textbox that you can type into or copy and paste into. There’s also an upload field where you can just include any additional information that you want. You can put your whole maintenance plan. If it’s a PDF you can upload it that way, and you can upload any supporting materials you have. So artist bios can be included there, anything else about the site you want to let us know? Really anything that you think will help the assessors understand your plans a little bit better.

Okay, Proof of Site and again the Location Bonus. So in this section, we want you to provide documentation that the site owner has given their approval for this project. This can just be an email or a letter from the site owner, it doesn’t have to be anything huge, it doesn’t have to be a full contract. We just want to know that there is, you guys are already working with the site owner, and they’re aware of what you’re proposing and happy to have it on their space. This again is a yes or no score. So if you don’t have that proof of site, you will not be eligible for this grant.

When you’re planning for locations, remember that event spaces can have entrance fees. So check with the location you’re looking at and make sure any event you’re doing can be free of charge to anybody who’s accessed who wants to come. Also, make sure that those spaces are accessible. We don’t want to, you know, create wonderful projects in spaces that community members cannot access.

Some big, exciting considerations just to think about, if your project is on public land, it is you’re responsible to determine if it is City-owned or provincial-owned. You can call 311 usually they’ll be able to, let you know exactly who’s responsible for the land. We really don’t recommend working on provincial land, it can move a lot slower than even working with the City to get approvals.

If the work is going to be on City land, we do need applicants. If they’re not a community organization or a community association, they need to work with their neighbourhood community association in order to get approvals to do their project on City land.

Excuse me. So a copy of a written agreement or letter of commitment with the association will be requested before the location of the artwork can be approved by the City, and any additional assistance can be provided to work with the City after the project is commissioned. And a really useful, useful resource for identifying and getting approvals for city land is the City of Calgary Neighbourhood Services. In the FAQ I believe we have a link to this as well. But if you just look it up on the internet, the City of Calgary Neighbourhood Services, it’ll bring you right there. Excuse me.

Online, when we’re looking at the application, there’s just a simple text box in this section to type in your neighbourhood and then we’ll determine if it is on that list of, eligible location bonus neighbourhoods. Again, these neighbourhoods are on that list because we’ve identified them as lacking in public art programming or grant opportunities. You are not guaranteed funding if you’re in one of those neighbourhoods, you still have to have an eligible project in your submission, but the bonus points do help us to prioritize those neighbourhoods. And again, if you’re not one of those neighbourhoods, please apply anyway, the intention of this grant is to fund as many projects as we can with this budget. This year, we will be able to fund 30 projects at $15,000 per project, and we’d love to do that.

All right. The budget. Again, budget is a big one. Some people have created tons of budgets before, some people have not, but for this one, we want you to be as detailed as possible. So this section is evaluated as appropriate or inappropriate. As I mentioned before, if we look at it and it seems inappropriate for the type of artwork proposed, we might come back to you and say, hey, you guys need to rethink this, but we’re not going to just make it a no right away if we think it can be fixed.

Some really important things to include in your budget and to consider are does your budget appropriately pay your artists, any Indigenous Elders or Knowledge Keepers, collaborators that you’re working with? Is the budget appropriate for the type of art proposed? We want to make sure that the materials, any extra equipment that you might need are included in that work so that the artwork can be completed as you imagine it? And do you have a contingency? There are no additional costs available if you have cost overruns, so it’s really great to put, you know, 10% aside for anything that might come up that you’re not, that’s unforeseen, let’s say.

And the applicant is responsible for managing your budget, when you do your final report at the end of your project, we want to see an actual budget with where the money was spent. And it’s your responsibility to maintain that throughout the project, and keep all of your receipts, hold on to anything in case we get audited, I need that back from you.

A big one is that a portion of the budget must be used to hire a local artist. I’ve said this a couple times already, but it’s a big one in there. If you’re unsure of how much to pay an artist, we really recommend looking at CARFAC. It’s a website that kind of has an outline of a base cost for different roles that an artist has on projects. Some artists already have a set fee that they work in, and if you know who you’re working with, definitely talk to them about what they expect to be paid for this type of project and the work you need them to do.

The budget should include all of your costs for materials, events, maintenance, anything that could be a part of this. If you’re doing community engagement events and you want to have some food or refreshments at those events, please include those costs in your budget. And if you’re really unsure of what you should include, we do have some templates and example budgets available.

If you’re unsure of, you know, what certain things you’re going to need for your project, or you just want a little bit of help thinking a little bit wider about your project, I definitely recommend looking at this. I’ll show you where they are in the guidelines before I get into the online application. So you guys can see there under the FAQ, under the question What Should be Included in the Project Budget? There’s two links in there for those templates and examples.

Okay. So we’re going to dive into how to apply for this program. Applications are only accepted through our online platform, and you’ll be able to access the interface through. I don’t know if you guys can see my mouse here, but the button on the left-hand side, apply for grants, artists calls and funding circled in red there, if you click on that, it’ll bring you to this page and you’ll be able to click the How to Apply login button here to get to the grant portal.

So I am going to switch screens.

Here we go. Okay. Hopefully everyone can see that now. So this is our community guidelines, or sorry, our Community-Run Public Art guidelines page. You’ve seen this if you found the link to this info session, so I don’t need to tell you where to find that. At the very bottom here under additional files you’ll find our FAQ, and if you scroll down, you’ll be able to find what should be included in the project budget. And here are the links, just over here highlighted in red. You’ll be able to click those for automatic downloads.

Okay, so back to the grant portal. So unless your organization has already done so, applicants must register as an arts organization to apply. This program is only open to organizations so if you are an individual artist or an artist collective, you won’t have access to this grant on our platform. It doesn’t matter if you’re not an arts organization, it’s just the terminology we use to keep things separate, but it doesn’t matter. So if you need to register, click the register button down here and the registration options will show up. So again, you can choose the not-for-profit arts organization With or Without a CRA Business Number. If you’re not sure, just click Without a CRA Business Number, we can always add that at the end. And if you need to add a new contact to an arts organization that’s already registered, click this button here and you can complete a profile for that new contact.

So I’m just going to go through the Without a CRA Business Number really quickly. So once when you’re registered ,when you’re registering, it’s just going to ask for all of the information about your organization, contact information for your organization. It’s also going to ask for a primary contact, so here this should be the person who is going to be in charge of the application and who is going to communicate with me and with CADA as we go through this process. Make sure all of this information is up to date. I’ll show you where you can change it later, but we want to make sure that if we need to get a hold of you and let you know that we need revisions, or that you’re successful and you’re getting a grant, we want to make sure we have the right email address.

Once this is all filled out, click the I’m Not a Robot button down here and then submit. Once you have submitted, the primary contact will get an email asking them to set up a password. Once that stage is done, you’ll be able to log in with your email address and password and see your account or your profile.

So once you’ve logged in, you can always go up here in the top right hand corner. There will always be this red circle with an initial in it that will match whoever’s name this is under. If you click this, you’ll be able to see the My Organization and My Profile tabs. These will let you change any of that information that you entered in the registration process, and any of this information is going to be automatically imported into your application. You can change it after you’ve started your application, but you cannot change it after you’ve submitted an application, it won’t reflect any changes after that point. So once again, just make sure these two tabs are up to date and we’ll be good to go.

On your home page here, you’ll be able to see under, open opportunities, you should have at least a one if you’re an organization. This is the button you’ll click to get to the application. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll be able to see any applications that you’ve already submitted or that you’re working on under Draft here what we have selected, you can see I have a test application in there, that I’ve started. I can go back to this and edit it as many times as possible until I’ve submitted it. Once submitted, it will go into this next tab. There’s nothing in there right now. And then if we need revisions from you, you’ll see it under the revisions tab.

So those are the main three that you will need the final report. The second to last tab over here. Once your project is complete you will receive a final report to fill out and it’ll be under here. So let’s go to the application. I’m going to click on my Open Opportunities button. And here I can see the Community-Run Public Art Microgrant 2024 is the first one that is open to me. So if you click on the view button that is just going to download the guidelines for you, if you click on apply, you’ll be brought to another screen here asking you to click this Begin Application button.

Oh interesting. So sorry I’m going to go through the test one because there is a bug in there. So this is the way you will go through. if you’re not using a test account like I am. I’m going to go to the home page and just open this application. So once you’re looking at the application, the first page you’re going to see has some information boxes up here, feel free to read through them. They’re just there to help you out as you go through and have some good reminders. As you scroll down, you’ll see your information here. It should be correct. Again, if it’s not, go up into the right-hand corner. Make those changes in My Profile or My Organization.

There are two tabs on this form, so the first one here is contact information. You can see it’s got this red line under it right now. Here again a lot of this information is ported over from your profile. Just make sure it’s all correct and up to date. You will have to select your primary contact from a dropdown menu. If you have multiple people there, they should all show up, but make sure you choose somebody in this field, they will be receiving all of the emails from us.

If we click over to submission requirements, this is where you will include all of your information. So at the top, how did you hear about this call? This is just some data for our research team. but the first question is the program theme. So again this is the first introduction to your project. So be as clear as possible. And yeah, let us know some details about your project and how it relates to the project theme that you’ve chosen.

There is a word count down here, I believe it’s 500 normally, this is not a guide, it’s not a it’s not a requirement, it is just a maximum. We don’t want you to go over that, but you can write as little or as much as you want within that range. Please keep scrolling down. We’ll see Community Engagement again, this is another text box you can copy and paste into here, or you can type directly into this box. Community Benefit. Same thing, just a text box there. If we get down to project plan and maintenance plan here we have a text box where you can write everything you want and you can include point form or short sentences. You don’t need to write full paragraphs, you can break this up however you want, and you can also drop files or upload them right into this field. If you drag and drop, just drag them right here. And if you want to upload, click Browse Files and it will open another window and you can select files directly from your computer.

Once you’ve uploaded something it will show up down here and you can remove it if you need to. You can click this checkbox to select it, and then press the little garbage bin button to delete that file if you’d like to delete it.

Proof of Site. we have a yes or no question here. Very simple, just let us know if you have yes or no site and then upload any files here. So that would be a copy of an email that you received from the site owner or a copy of a letter, whatever it may be. Same thing, the file will show up down here as an uploaded item, and if you made a mistake and uploaded the wrong one, you can always remove it the same way.

Under Funding Request, this is just the amount that you would like to request. Again, it’s up to $15,000, it can be anything below that as well, if you don’t need more, if you’re doing a smaller project, but don’t go over $15,000 because it won’t let you apply. And then here we have another upload field for your budget so you can drag and drop. Or again select from your computer. And this field, and then same thing again we have this little delete option. If you put the wrong thing.

That’s everything for the submission requirements. Just that one form at the very bottom of the page here we’ll see four red buttons Withdraw is over on the bottom left. This button only click this if you’ve decided you no longer want to apply, it will remove your application from our system. While you’re working on your application, you can click this Save Draft button while you’re working. It will just make sure that everything is being saved as you’re entering it. If you are going to take a break and start the next day, make sure you click Save Draft before you exit the application.

While you’re working on your application, you can always click Save and Validate. It will bring up any errors or any missing information that you need to include. Make sure that you click this before you try and submit. So I’m just going to click this now and it will show me up here. This is because again this is a test but it’s a good example. It will tell you that your submission has failed and it will give you the reasons why. So if you’re if you don’t have any text in a box, it will let you know, which is a great reminder.

The project plan and maintenance plan, if you are only uploading files, make sure that you put something in this text box, it can just be ABC or a letter or something, the program just needs to recognize that something has been added to that field. But if you want to just upload a PDF or a doc of your project plan, that is fine. All right. So again, once you’ve hit Save and Validate and corrected any errors you may have, you can click the submit button.

This will not let me submit because this is a test. But when you click submit another pop-up window will show up. Just confirming that you would like to submit your application, and you can click okay. After that is done, you are good to go.

All right, so I’m just going to go back to the home page again. Quick reminder, when you are working on your application, you’ll always see it at the bottom of your screen once you’ve started it. Once it’s submitted, it will go under the submitted tab and you will not be able to change anything, and then if we need revisions from you, they will be under the revisions tab, you will get an automatic email if there are revisions needed, but I will also reach out to you directly to explain what the revisions are and give you a little bit of information on how to go through that process in Smart Simple.

Okay. I am going to go back to our PowerPoint.

Okay. Everyone should see the screen now, I hope. Okay. Perfect. All right. Oops. Too far. So sorry. So, that’s basically everything for the application. I’m just going to go over a couple other little tips and extra information before we get to the Q&A. So first off, what is Public Art? We define this very broadly at CADA, to basically it is just an artist working with community to create public art in a public space. It can really be almost anything. It can be interactive, like a workshop or a class, that can result in it in a bigger communal art project. It can make use of digital technology like light or soundscapes. It can be temporary, like a performance. It can be social, something designed just to bring people together and kind of share ideas and culture and thoughts.

It can be functional, like birds say, final decals for windows, and it could be even a living artwork like a garden. Some of the possibilities are really endless. Here. Again, if you have any questions about if your project is eligible or not, just give me a shout.

If you are working with Indigenous content, it’s really important to us that you understand that you need to really connect and communicate with Indigenous communities in order to do this work appropriately. So if you’re not Indigenous and your project includes or you want to include Indigenous content work, we want to work with Indigenous people or use Indigenous knowledge or ways of knowing, it’s really important that you outline in your application how you’ll be engaging with Indigenous communities, and how they’re going to play a part on your project team.

So it’s really recommended that you consult with either Fort Calgary or sorry, it is now called, The Confluence. You can reach out to Blackfoot Crossing, they’re a great resource. The University of Calgary Native Centre is also a great resource, and the Elders Guidance Circle at the City, at the Calgary Public Library is a great place to go. You can set up a meeting with an Elder and talk about specific ideas in your project. And the Aboriginal Friendship Centre can also be a great place to reach out to. We really highly recommend that everyone review the White Goose Flying Report and the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Obviously, it’s very important if you’re working with our Indigenous community members, but also it’s good to read through just as a Canadian. You can find links to both of those in the guidelines there under the Successful Applications section.

Okay. And now a couple of tips. So the goal of an application is to paint a complete narrative of who you are, what you want to do and why it’s relevant, how it will impact your community and how you will achieve it. So a couple things to remember when you’re writing:

Use plain language. Avoid using jargon or technical language. Remember that the, so the selection committee is made up of people from many different practices and backgrounds. Assessors really appreciate being able to easily read and understand an application.

Make sure your project idea is clearly explained and show how it relates to the project theme.

Demonstrate that your team has capacity for this project awareness and understands the potential of their work. We’re looking for applicants who have thought about the amount of work involved in producing their project, who it will involve, or how it will affect people or benefit people in their community.

Be really detailed about your plans. Let us know as much as you can about what events you’re planning or want to plan, how the artwork will come together and what will be needed to complete it.

Another big one is do your research. Make sure you can back up what you’re stating in your application, especially with expenses if you can get a quote for work or materials that you’re going to need to complete your project.

It’s also helpful to have someone who may not be familiar with the project read through your application, they might be able to kind of spot some gaps or assumptions that you’re making in your application.

And again, review the guidelines. There’s also an Application Checklist available. And on our guidelines page, there’s a lot of really important details in these documents, and they will help you avoid holes in your application. Same with the FAQ. It’s long, but you can go through the questions that you really want answers to.

And again take a look at those budget templates and examples. It’s good practice to think about every part of your project and where hidden costs might pop up. And contact us early if you think you need help or if you have questions, reach out to us as soon as possible. We’d love to have as much time to work with you, and make sure we can give you the help that you need.

And again, here is my information if you need to contact me. If you want to screenshot this, so you have my information again, my email is everywhere in the guidelines, so it should be hopefully easy to find, but you can always just email publicart@calgaryartsdevelopment.com and your questions will get to me if they’re about this program.

Okay. And before we jump into questions, I just want to remind everyone there are open hours sessions available to book on August 8 and 23 any time between 10am and 4pm, you can book 30 minutes to meet with me and go over any questions you might have about your project. This session is, or those sessions are not meant to review your application with you, we won’t be able to go through anything like that, but I can answer your questions again if you have a more complicated idea, or if you’re concerned about eligibility and you want to have a longer discussion, you can book a meeting with me directly. The link to book both of those dates are in the guidelines or on our Eventbrite page.

And again, the online grant platform, you can see it on our web page homepage or type in calgaryartsdevelopment.smartsimple.ca to go to the registration page. All right I am going to turn off the PowerPoint and we can get into some questions. So if you have any questions you can use the hand function. and that will let me know that you would like to speak if you just want to pop something into the chat you can also do that as well, and I’m just going to go in here now.

There’s one question already. Is there a place we can find previous projects that have been funded by this community microgrant? Yes, we do have, we so this project transferred over from the City in 2020. So the first year CADA ran it was 2021, and then they didn’t run it again until 2023. So there are projects from 2021 available to view on our website. The 2023 projects are just wrapping up right now, but again, I’m happy if you want to send me an email, I’m happy to give you kind of a rundown of the types of projects that are being done this year. They’re all over the place. We have murals, of course, because it’s a great way to get into public art, and it’s usually a lot more feasible for groups, it doesn’t take too much too much of a time commitment. We’ve had a couple different cultural events and performances or multi-day events where artists are invited to showcase their work and talk to the community about how they can help, kind of build a better arts community within their own community and support each other, so those have been great. We have a Graffiti Jam coming up, which is also a mural, but it is really collaborative. So an artist will be leading that project, but people who come to that event will actually be making the art and working together to create a mural all together. Awesome. Yeah. Are there any other questions people have? Anything we haven’t gone over that people would like an answer to? I make sure I didn’t miss any big things.

Yeah, we the smart simple platform is once you’ve done it once, it’s very straightforward. It’s easy to use, but the first time it’s not so user friendly. If you have questions about that, please reach out. I’m happy to walk you through steps if you’re having trouble. If you need to add a new contact to an existing organization, I’ll show you. It’s very straightforward, but the way you attach them can be a little bit hard to find. But anything like that, please reach out. I’m always happy to answer questions. I am here specifically to answer your questions, so email me as often as you want.

One more question. Is this a one-time grant or it will be a yearly program? So it’s technically a one-time grant, but you can apply every year if you want to do a project every year. If your organization wants to do a project every year, the only stipulation there is that the previous year’s project must be completed, and your final report must be submitted and approved so that you can apply for another year if you’re doing them one after another. We do have some groups that from when this was with the City, they would apply every second year just so that they could have a little bit of a break in the middle. Again, capacity is, really important to think about when you’re taking on one of these projects. it can be a lot of work depending on your project. So just keep in mind who you have on your team and who can who can do the admin for this.

I have another question. Oh, sorry. Clearing that one up.

Yes. We, so the question was, will this grant be available in 2025 and ongoing? Yes. The hope is that this will be an ongoing grant available for the foreseeable future, it might change a little bit from year to year depending on feedback we get from the community, but we would like to keep this going.

One very important question here. Can I apply as an artist to offer art workshops for seniors? You as an artist cannot apply for this grant. It has to be a community group or organization that applies for this, this kind of artist-specific grants have been shifted over into a different category with CADA now. So this one is very much for community groups that would like to initiate a public art project in their community.

A set of workshops for seniors is great, it’s a great idea, we’d love to see stuff like that. We just want to know that it is accessible to everyone as well. So if the workshop is just for seniors, we’d like to see something coming out of that, that could be a celebration event where the entire community could come and celebrate those artists and take that artwork that they’re creating and kind of privately let them bring it out into the public and understand what that relationship is between their art and their community.

Okay. One more. Will multiple funders listed in the budget or gifts and kind of help or hinder this application? That’s a great question. So if you are applying for multiple grants, please list them in your budget. We really want to see that you are, if you haven’t already received the other grants, we want to see that you are very likely to receive that grant. So if we look it up, we want to know that the grant that you’re applying for is really in line with your project and that you will most likely receive that funding. We want to make sure that you’re going to be successful in this. So if your project hinges on having funding from multiple sources, and if you have, you know, have funding from everyone except one of those sources, and you’re not going to be able to do this project, we don’t want you to have to, you know, cancel the project.

So just make sure you’re in a position where you, you know, you’re set up to succeed with all of your grant applications. Gifts in kind are great. Again, if you can include that, even as a quote from a company, if you’re working, say you’re working with, like an equipment rental company and they’re going to offer some a scissor lift to you for a mural that you’re painting, ask them to give you a quote, just say so that we know they’ve committed to that for you. But yeah, it won’t hinder your application at all unless we see something that looks like it is going to fall through. Yeah. That’s great.

Great questions. Thank you guys for bringing this up. I just wanted to add on quickly to the artist question. If you are an artist and you have a project in mind and you need to go and find a community organization to work with, a great place to start is community associations and neighbourhood associations, but if you’re close to like, a cultural group, or cultural centre, even schools, some schools are not aware of this and they are eligible to apply. So if there’s something if you want to work with kids, it’s a great way to do that, just make sure you’re working very closely with the school and that you have all of the approvals from them.

But unfortunately, artists can’t apply, but there’s a lot of organizations who don’t know about this, and if you approach them, they might be really interested in applying. Okay. Awesome.

If there’s yeah, nothing else coming in. If you guys have any other questions. Again, I know I’ve said it a thousand times, please send me an email. I’m always happy to answer your questions at any time.

All right. And if there isn’t anything else, I will say thank you to everyone for being here today. I’ll say thank you to Deborah and Stephanie for being our wonderful ASL interpreters today and yeah, I hope to talk to you all in the future.