Operating Grant Program
The Terms of Reference has been updated as of January 1, 2020.
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The purpose of this document is to outline the roles and responsibilities of assessors, and to outline the criteria and processes of the Operating Grant Program. Committee members must review, understand, and commit to adhere to these terms as well as the program guidelines and policies.
Related Documents
Operating Grant Guidelines
Fair Notice Policy
Group Agreements
Program Overview
The Operating Grant Program provides stable, predictable funding to arts organizations in Calgary. In 2020, organizations will have the opportunity to increase their grant through a hybrid formula and assessment process. Operating Grant funds may be allocated to any area of an organization’s budget and are confirmed on a yearly basis until the end of 2022.
Accommodation and Accessibility
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.
- Specific requirements for meeting spaces.
Please contact grants@calgaryartsdevelopment.com with any questions.
Description of Role
Assessors will be asked to assess for one of the below categories. Possible grant increases have been determined through a formula calculating percent of grant to budget. Assessors will be asked to read and review applications, and score applicants on the criteria of artistic vibrancy, community connection, organizational capacity, and strategy & evaluation, but will not make funding recommendations. Calgary Arts Development staff will make the final funding allocations based on the final scores given by assessors.
| Category | Budget Range | Application & Reporting Requirements | % of Budget Range |
| B | $50,001 – $100,000 | Reduced application, peer assessment, reduced reporting | 12 – 14% |
| C | $100,001 – $200,000 | Reduced application, peer assessment, reduced reporting | 10 – 12% |
| D | $200,001 – $500,000 | Full application, peer assessment, reduced reporting | 8 – 10% |
| E | $500,001 – $1,000,000 | Full application, peer assessment, full reporting | 6 – 8% |
| F | $1,000,001 – $3,000,000 | Full application, peer assessment, full reporting, assessed with Category G | 4 – 6% |
| G | $3,000,001 and over | Full application, peer assessment, full reporting, assessed with Category F | 3 – 5% |
Please note that Category A (budgets up to $50,000) organizations will not be peer assessed. These applications will undergo a Calgary Arts Development staff assessment process. Assessors should consult the Operating Grant Program Guidelines for further information about the program context.
Responsibilities
Assessors are responsible for:
- Participating in assessor training and orientation sessions hosted by Calgary Arts Development.
- Reading and reviewing each application assigned to them in full.
- Scoring each application according to the program criteria and scoring matrix.
- Participating in full day, in-person meetings to discuss each application.
- Making a risk assessment according to the Fair Notice Policy.
- Attending arts events in Calgary for the artist projects or public works.
- Advocating for the arts in Calgary.
- Encouraging their respective communities to participate in Calgary’s arts sector.
Program Criteria
Assessors will score applications on the below program criteria and scoring matrix. Organizations who score less than 65 will not receive a funding increase.
The point weighting will be the same for all categories. Please contact the arts organizations specialist for clarification of terms.
Artistic Vibrancy (35 points)
- The organization understands and demonstrates how they develop, preserve, or innovate within their artistic and cultural disciplines and communities.
- The organization understands and demonstrates how they contribute to the vibrancy and vitality of Calgary.
- The organization provides relevant and high quality artistic or cultural programming aligned with their mandate and organizational context.
- The organization understands and demonstrates how their programming and services create opportunities for artists, participants, or partners to develop and present artistic work.
Community Connection (35 points)
- The organization understands who their communities are, which may include artists, partners, audiences, volunteers, and participants.
- The organization understands and demonstrates how they impact and engage with their communities through their programming and services.
- The organization understands and demonstrates how their relationships with their communities inform and impact their work.
- The organization understands and demonstrates how they create programming and services that are accessible, inclusive, and welcoming to their communities and public.
Organizational Capacity (15 points)
- The organization understands their current opportunities and challenges and demonstrates their ability to respond.
- The organization demonstrates resource management practices that are realistic and relevant to their operational context.
- The organization demonstrates their ability to deliver on their mission through responsible decision-making practices and governance.
Strategy & Evaluation (15 points)
- The organization understands their future opportunities and challenges and demonstrates their ability to respond.
- The organization demonstrates their adaptive capacity, which includes challenging assumptions about how and why work is done, and responding to challenges and opportunities as they arise.
- The organization demonstrates how they measure and assess the impact of their programming and services, and how they reflect on, respond to, and implement the results.
Scoring Matrix
The assessment committee will use a scoring matrix to assess each criterion according to the information requested and provided in the application.
Artistic Vibrancy and Community Connection
| Weak | Fair | Good | Strong | Exceptional |
| 1 – 18 | 19 – 25 | 26 – 29 | 30 – 32 | 33 – 35 |
Organizational Capacity and Strategy & Evaluation
| Weak | Fair | Good | Strong | Exceptional |
| 1 – 6 | 7 – 8 | 9 – 10 | 11 – 13 | 14 – 15 |
Exceptional: Responses to application questions are clear, relevant, and directly address criteria. The applicant demonstrates a deep understanding of their role in Calgary. The application provides a clear and distinct vision of their context, mandate, programming, and communities. The application creates overwhelming trust and confidence that the organization will be adaptive, resilient, and impactful in the future.
Strong: Responses to application questions are clear, relevant, and directly address criteria. The applicant demonstrates a strong understanding of their role in Calgary. The application provides a clear vision of their context, mandate, programming, and communities. The application creates significant trust and confidence that the organization will be adaptive, resilient, and impactful in the future.
Good: Responses to application questions are sufficient and address criteria. The applicant demonstrates a general understanding of their role in Calgary. The application provides some clarity on their context, mandate, programming, and communities. The application creates trust that the organization will be adaptive, resilient, and impactful in the future.
Fair: Responses to application questions are limited and may not directly address criteria. The applicant demonstrates a vague understanding of their role in Calgary. The application provides limited clarity on their context, mandate, programming, and communities. The application provides limited evidence to create trust and confidence that they will be adaptive, resilient, and impactful in the future.
Weak: Responses to application are insufficient and do not address criteria. The applicant does not demonstrate or articulate their role in Calgary. The application does not provide clarity on their context, mandate, programming, and communities. The application does not provide evidence to create trust and confidence that they will be adaptive, resilient, and impactful in the future.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Land Acknowledgement
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 all Indigenous people who make the Treaty 7 region their home.
Commitment to Equity
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.
To participate as an assessor in this program means you share a vision of a city where all artists have the freedom, agency, and platform to share and amplify their stories, art, cultures and experiences. We ask that all assessors are mindful of this as we share the responsibility of recommending funding and support.
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 and/or complicate your ability to evaluate this program.
Group Agreements
All members of the assessment committee will be expected to honour the following group agreements when discussing applications:
- We commit to creating a safe space for everyone by:
- Respecting each person regardless of how they identify, including their gender, sexuality, age, class, religion, beliefs, nation, physical, neurological, cognitive, and Mad identities, etc.
- Sharing language that respects everyone. In the spirit of collaboration, we will listen if someone has alternative language to share, and offer alternatives to ableist, ageist, audist, classist, homophobic, transphobic, racist, and sexist language.
- Speaking from our own perspective, and avoiding making generalized claims or assumptions about others’ identities.
- Not interrupting others.
- Being mindful of how much time and space we each take up in discussions.
- Making time and space for others to speak.
- Using “I” statements (“I feel,” “I think,” “I wonder,” etc.).
- Replacing criticism with questions and encouragement.
- Respecting those who wish to listen silently.
- Recognizing that vulnerable interactions can occur, and creating space to acknowledge and discuss hurt or offense if it does.
- We will respect all art forms, traditional, contemporary or other.
- We will consider what the criteria mean for each applicant based on:
- How they define their own practice.
- What is appropriate within their artistic discipline.
- Their stage of career, practice, experience, and expertise in their form.
- A respect for the unique traditions and rights of different First Nations, Métis, and Inuit nations and communities.
- We will try to focus every conversation around what we appreciate about every project.
- We will remember that this is not a panel of experts:
- We will honour the knowledge and experience others share.
- We will not impose arbitrary standards or ideas on an applicant or their project/activity that are not appropriate to the specific context.
- We will acknowledge the experiences and values that may make each of us biased.
- We will allow others to help us check in with our biases in a respectful and productive way.
- We acknowledge that we are all learning and may be at different places on our journeys. We will be patient with ourselves and others as we remain open to continued learning.
- We will respect the confidentiality of applicants and assessment committees. What applicants and assessors choose to share about their identities, ideas, and experiences will remain confidential, but we will take what we learn into our work and communities.
Membership
The membership of the peer assessment committees will be chosen through public nominations and staff expertise. Membership of each committee is designed to reflect 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, etc.
Assessors should have an exemplary track record of professional, business or community-minded ethics and a strong commitment to the continued growth and vitality of the arts in Calgary. Candidates are screened for qualifications in line with program needs, as well as any potential conflicts of interest. Committees for the Operating Grant increase will be comprised of seven members in total.
Qualifications and Required Skills
Peers: Artists and arts professionals active in Calgary’s artistic communities with professional experience, skills, and knowledge directly relevant to the arts sector.
Community Members: Calgarians with an appreciation for the arts (any discipline) who actively attend arts performances and presentations. Community members should possess skills that are transferable to the non-profit arts sector, including, but not limited to:
- Non-profit board governance.
- Organizational management.
- Business planning and project management.
- Marketing and communications.
- Event production.
- Investment and resource development.
- Community and government relations.
- Design or creation within the broader creative industries.
Additional Skills
- 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.
Term
Assessors will meet for training and orientation sessions and will attend the arts activities of the applicants they will be assessing, if possible. Assessors will be asked to participate for a term of approximately one year. Assessors’ time commitment for the Operating Grant Program is:
March – April 2020: One training and orientation session in preparation for the review process.
May – June 2020: Online review process.
June 2020: Two full-day review meetings to discuss each application and make recommendations for funding.
July 2020 – July 2021: Experience arts activities of the applicants being assessed.
Committee members are encouraged to view the work of Operating Grant clients as much as possible for the duration of the term.
Lines of Accountability and Communication
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 these Terms of Reference, assessors shall maintain the confidentiality of their deliberations and shall safeguard such records and information from improper access.
Conflict of Interest
Assessors will follow Calgary Arts Development’s Policy on Conflict of Interest and Code of Conduct (excerpt from Calgary Arts Development’s Governance Manual below). All assessors are required to sign a statement agreeing to fully disclose any actual or perceived conflict with any applicant whose submission they have been appointed to review. Assessors with an actual or perceived conflict with an applicant will be removed from the assessment process for said applicant.
“Upon consideration of any proposed activity with the potential to benefit an organization or initiative with which the director or volunteer committee member shall participate in the decision-making process where there is a potential or actual conflict of interest. The individual so affiliated shall leave the room during discussion and shall not vote or use personal influence in the decision-making process.”
Confidentiality
Protecting the Anonymity of Assessors During the Granting Cycle
Calgary Arts Development requests that individuals engaged as assessors maintain their own anonymity and the anonymity of other assessors in order to prevent the possibility of pressure being applied from grant applicants and the community that could affect assessments.
Disclosure of Assessor Names by Calgary Arts Development
Calgary Arts Development will release assessor names as part of its annual Accountability Report published the subsequent year. In the case where assessors are engaged in programs that contain a verbal presentation from applicants, assessors will be introduced to applicants at the time of the presentation, before the program cycle is complete.
Protecting the Confidentiality of Applicants and Applicant Information
All deliberations of assessors, all corporate records, and material submitted by applicants as part of their applications that are not generally available to the public shall be considered confidential. All assessors are required to safeguard such records and information from improper access and to sign and adhere to a confidentiality agreement prior to accessing any confidential information.
Honorarium
Calgary Arts Development will provide an honorarium to assessors as a gift to recognize their time and cover expenses such as parking. The honorarium will be provided to assessors after the reviewing process is completed. Assessors may be reimbursed for additional expenses related to the assessment process. Please contact us to discuss.
$15 per application read
$50 for training session
$140 per day for assessment meetings
Contact Information
Please contact Marta Ligocki, Specialist, Arts Organizations, with any questions about the assessment process and program at marta.ligocki@calgaryartsdevelopment.com or 403-264-5330 ext. 205.
