Operating Grant Increase Program

Operating Grant Increase Program Guidelines
Group Agreements
Conflict of Interest Policy
Confidentiality Policy

Assessment committees will review written material and attend verbal presentations by applicants, and evaluate each application according to the criteria outlined in the Program Criteria & Scoring section of the guidelines.

Calgary Arts Development staff will download assessor evaluations into a scoresheet and assign numerical scores to the ratings. Each criteria statement will be weighted equally. The score assigned to each rating will be consistent across all criteria statements (e.g.: ‘Strongly Agree’ will always equal the same number of points).

The committee will discuss applications in a meeting facilitated by the program specialist for arts organizations. The committee’s final scores will result in a list of organizations recommended for funding. Calgary Arts Development staff will review these recommendations and finalize the funding list. Partial funding may be allocated.

Assessors are required to declare conflicts of interest according to the Conflict of Interest Policy. Calgary Arts Development thinks of conflicts of interest as close family members, people who are involved in the activity being applied for or where there is a real or perceived financial benefit. If in doubt, assessors are encouraged to talk with Calgary Arts Development staff. If a committee member has applied to the program or declared a conflict of interest, they will not assess those specific applications or be present for any discussions of those applications.

Assessors will report to Calgary Arts Development staff. All deliberations of the assessment committee as well as all records, material, and information obtained by a member and not generally available to the public shall be considered confidential.

Adhering to the Confidentiality Policy, assessors shall maintain the confidentiality of their deliberations and shall safeguard such records and information from improper access.

Calgary Arts Development reserves the right to remove individuals from the process or assessment committee if they do not adhere to the terms of reference, program guidelines, group agreements, conflict of interest policy, or confidentiality policy, or if their conduct is otherwise counter to the stated values and expectations of this program.

This program is intended to provide one-time increases of up to $25,000 to operating grant clients to support the recovery of our arts sector and build the runway to resiliency. These are not intended as relief funds. Grants will be made to organizations who demonstrate forward-looking aspirations responding to and building upon the impacts of the pandemic to ensure a vibrant, revitalized, and re-imagined arts sector for Calgarians post-pandemic.

Funding priorities include:

• Re-opening efforts.
• The development of new business models.
• Attracting, restoring, and retaining jobs for artists and arts professionals.
• Truth and Reconciliation, anti-racism, and equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA).

Organizations may request up to $25,000. 

Total funding available for this program is $1,400,000.

Applications to this program will consist of a short written proposal and verbal presentation to the assessment committee, which will be composed of Calgary Arts Development staff and artistic and community peers. The proposal will be supplemented by information submitted through the interim report to provide context as needed.

Our team is available to answer questions and to offer support at any time during the assessment process. Please contact the program specialist as early as you can to ensure they can provide the best support possible.

Calgary Arts Development is committed to open, fair and transparent processes. We will work one-on-one with assessors who experience barriers to access to develop accommodations that suit their abilities. Some examples of accommodations are:

• Translation of written materials.
• Interpretation for meetings.
• Braille transcription.

Please contact grants@calgaryartsdevelopment.com with any questions.

We acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the Blackfoot Nations—Siksika, the Piikani, and the Kainai; and also acknowledge the Beaver people of the Tsuut’ina and the Bearspaw, Chiniki and Wesley bands of the Stoney Nakoda First Nations, the Métis People of Region 3, and Indigenous peoples who make the Treaty 7 region their home.

As part of our responsibility to Calgarians to ensure equitable access to public funding, Calgary Arts Development is dedicated to addressing and working to eliminate institutional inequity in our programs, policies, and practices. We also acknowledge that our actions—both conscious and unconscious, past and present—have benefited some communities while limiting opportunities and outcomes for others including Indigenous communities, Black communities, persons of colour, persons with disabilities, Deaf communities, as well as persons with diverse sexual orientations or gender identities.

We envision a city where all artists have the freedom, agency and platform to share and amplify their stories, art, cultures and experiences: a city where Calgarians of all backgrounds can access, create and participate in art as part of their everyday lives.

To that end, Calgary Arts Development’s community investment team is accountable to ensuring that lines of communication are welcoming, clear, and open, and that the scoring process is fair and deeply considerate. Do not hesitate to reach out to us to support your questions, both philosophical and technical, especially where personal tastes and biases intersect with or complicate your ability to evaluate this program.

Equity Priorities

The equity priority groups identified for this program are Indigenous, Black, persons of colour, Deaf persons, persons with disabilities, persons living with mental illness, and 2SLGBTQIAP+ individuals. For details on each of these equity priority groups, please refer to the equity priority group descriptions.

Calgary Arts Development has adapted these priorities and descriptions the Toronto Arts Council’s Equity Framework. We are grateful to the Toronto Arts Council for their work in this area.

The membership of the peer assessment committees will be chosen through public nominations and staff expertise.

Anyone can ask to participate on a Calgary Arts Development assessment committee by completing the assessor nomination form or by emailing grants@calgaryartsdevelopment.com.

Assessment committees are chosen to represent the broad diversity of Calgary and its artistic communities, including but not limited to: artistic discipline, gender, sexuality, age, religion, beliefs, nation, physical and neurological identities.

Committee Membership: Individual artists and arts workers with experience and knowledge from a variety of artistic disciplines and practices, who actively participate in, experience, and advocate for the work of the arts community.

Qualifications

• Relevant skills, experience, and knowledge that will accommodate the range of applicants to be juried.
• A generous spirit, exceptional listening skills and a willingness and ability to embrace change, complexity and different viewpoints.
• An openness to productively and respectfully check in with bias.
• An understanding and awareness of Calgary and region, and an insight into our social and cultural climate.
• The respect of peers in the community.
• The ability to function well within a committee structure.

Assessors are responsible for participating in training sessions, the full application review process, as well as all verbal presentations and assessment meetings with the rest of the committee. Participation in each part of the assessment process is mandatory to ensure all perspectives are present throughout the process and applied fairly to each application assigned. Assessors’ time commitment for this program is:

April 2022: Assessor training

• Participate in online training and orientation sessions, hosted by Calgary Arts Development, in preparation for the review process. Specific dates TBD.

April – June 2022: Review process

• Review written material provided in advance of each presentation.
• Attend online verbal presentation meetings with applicants. Meetings will be scheduled for one hour. The schedule for these meetings will be created in collaboration with the committee, and the number of meetings per week will be determined after all letters of intent have been received as April 4, 2022.
• Committee members will remain anonymous by having their cameras and mics off, and their names obscured. Follow up questions will be asked through Calgary Arts Development staff.
• After verbal presentations, assessors will score applications according to program criteria.

June 2022: Assessment meeting

• Participate in a final assessment meeting to discuss the list as a committee, and make final recommendations for funding. As regulations for gatherings and physical distancing remain in flux, assessments will likely occur remotely using online meeting tools, such as Zoom. Specific dates TBD.
• Online meetings will not exceed five hours, including one hour for lunch and regularly scheduled breaks.

April 2022 – December 2023: Experience art

• We strongly encourage assessors to attend arts activities of the applicants being assessed – during and after assessment. As part of your participation in the assessment process, Calgary Arts Development will provide up to two tickets anonymously on your behalf to any applicant’s public events, to ensure that you’re able to experience the work you are assessing within the community. Beyond this process, we hope that you will advocate for the arts in Calgary and encourage your respective communities to participate in Calgary’s arts sector.

Calgary Arts Development will provide an honorarium to assessors as a gift to recognize their time. The honorarium will be provided to assessors after the reviewing process is completed.

Due to the structure of this program, the honorarium is a flat rate of $2,000. Assessors may be reimbursed for additional expenses related to the assessment process—please contact us to discuss.