What you need to know
Each year, several community centres profile local issues and interests, and host selected artists to carry out projects in work-only residencies that respond to these profiles.
The Artists in Communities Program is a collaboration between artists, community centre associations, and the Vancouver Park Board.
Enter your project as an individual artist or artist team to one or more community centres.
Community centre associations and Park Board staff, with the support of artists experienced in community-engagement, select artists for the residencies. An artist or artist team can only be awarded one residency per year, and no more than two residencies in a four year period.
If your project is awarded a residency, you will devote around 300 hours to research and develop your project, complete it with community members, and publish a blog and final report. Along the way, you will work with Park Board community arts programmers, community centre staff, the public, and local partners.
Community cultural development principles
Successful project proposals apply the principles of community cultural development:
- Supporting artists working in community contexts
- Encouraging the development of a wide variety of interactions between artists and community members
- Providing a framework for creative collaboration between artist and communities
- Encouraging and supporting artistic projects that leave a physical or social legacy in the community
- Making our communities more vibrant
- Inspiring participation and relationship-building
- Engaging communities and people – even those who don't see themselves as artists – as creators, producers, performers, and active audiences
Our funding no longer supports murals, tile mosaics, or banners as there are alternative funding avenues for these.
Prepare the required materials and apply
- A project description outline:
- Length: up to 1 page per community centre you apply to
- File format: PDF or Word
- Describe your project in relation to the community centre profiles' interests and issues. If applying to multiple centres, provide a project description for each centre.
- Describe how this project is based on principles of community cultural development and how it will engage this particular community. Give specific examples of how these principles will be realized in your proposed project.
- A current CV
- Length: up to 2 pages for individual artists, up to 1 page per artist for artist teams
- File format: PDF or Word
- Supporting documentation
- Include examples of your current art form in either of the following media: photos, video, or audio
- Documentation of successful works created in a community context is highly recommended
- Number: Up to 10 items (photos, video, audio)
- Images:
- File format: JPG or TIFF
- File size: less than 3 MB
- Resolution: less than 300 dpi
- Video:
- File format: QuickTime, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, or Flash Player
- Duration: all samples combined must not exceed a maximum of ten minutes
- Audio:
- File format: MP3, AIFF files, or online platforms (example: SoundCloud)
- Duration: all samples combined must not exceed a maximum of ten minutes
- Images:
- A documentation list of your works and their viewing order:
- File format: PDF or DOC
- Include your name and for each work, its title, media, format (example: QuickTime, MP3, or full online address), dimensions (if applicable), location, and date
- Mac users must include “.jpg” at the end of each image file
