Cultural Grants Program

A vibrant arts and cultural scene is important to any truly livable city.

The City's Cultural Grants Program supports a wide range of arts and cultural activity in Vancouver.

Is your non-profit arts or cultural organization:

Producing or presenting ongoing arts and cultural activities in Vancouver?
Planning a cultural project or event?

You may be eligible for funding through the following Cultural Grant streams:

Project Grants
Annual Assistance Grants
Operating Grants

Learn about funding, eligibility, terms and conditions, evaluation criteria, and process for each grant stream, below.

Applicants who are deaf or live with a disability and need support to complete their grant applications may access support to cover the costs of assistance from service providers. Please contact our program staff lead for more information.

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Eligible applicants

You can apply for this grant if your organization is a Vancouver-based:
- Professional nonprofit society
- Community service co-op legally registered with BC Registry and Services
- Registered charity with the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA)
- Local First Nation Band Council
To receive funding, your organization must:
- Be incorporated for at least six months
- Have an active presence and have programs and services delivered within Vancouver, or be led by either Musqueam, Squamish or Tsleil-Waututh Nation members and held in their unceded traditional homelands upon which Vancouver sits
- Be accommodating, welcoming, and open to people of all ages, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities (including trans, gender diverse, two-spirit people), ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, religions, languages, and socio-economic conditions, in their policies, practices, and programs
- Have an active Board of Directors composed of volunteers representative of the mission and people served
- Have, at minimum, professional leadership; preferably one or more paid staff, in combination with contract staff and volunteers
- Compensate professional artists; preferably at minimum standard industry rates
- Have diverse revenue sources (earned, private, and public) for the project
- Provide financial statements with signatures of two Board members for the most recently completed fiscal year including, at minimum, a balance sheet and income/expense statement, and preferably independently prepared as a review engagement or notice to reader
- Have completed all previous projects funded through Cultural Services and can report on the most recent City-funded project, or have written approval from a Cultural Planner to submit an application if the previous project is not complete by the time of the application deadline
Additional eligibility criteria apply. Read the information guide in the "How to apply" section below.

We don't fund:
- Organizations that do not have arts and cultural mandates or whose proposed activity does not meet the program objectives and eligibility
- Organizations that receive ongoing assistance from the City (e.g., Annual Assistance or Operating grants)
- Other City of Vancouver departments and branches including community centres
- Publicly-funded or private educational institutions (public schools, universities, colleges, training organizations)
- Projects where the central focus or theme is not artistic or cultural
- Social Service, religious, sports organizations or clubs
- Activity taking place before the application deadline
- Non-Indigenous-led organizations and activity outside Vancouver city limit
Eligible projects
- A single production, show, or a series of related arts and cultural events, performances or programs.
- Collaborative initiatives that involve professional artists and community members that address local interests, concerns or issues
- Approaches to deliver arts and cultural programs or share services and resources
- Projects that foster knowledge exchange, networking opportunities, training, or artistic and cultural development, such as conference, artist residencies, mentorships
- Outdoor arts and cultural events
The funding cannot pay for:
- Core artistic training and in-class activity
- Ongoing operations, deficit reduction or capital projects
- Fundraising or commercially-oriented activity
- Contests or competitions
- Bursaries or scholarships
How to apply
1. Read the Project Grant Program Information Guide (179 KB)
  The guide explains:
  - Grant objectives and description
  - Organizational profile
  - Eligibility
  - Assessment criteria and process
  - Conditions of assistance
  - Confidentiality
  - Additional resources
2. Contact Cultural Services for referral to a cultural planner to:
  - Discuss your organization and project's eligibility
  - Request a Project Grants application form
  - Receive valuable advice
Douglas Durand
604-871-6007
douglas.durand@vancouver.ca

Vivian Wong
604-871-6236
vivian.wong@vancouver.ca
Eligible applicants

You can apply for this grant if your organization is a Vancouver-based:
- Professional nonprofit society
- Community service co-op legally registered with BC Registry and Services
- Registered charity with the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA)
To receive funding, your organization must:
- Have a track record of receiving at minimum two consecutive grants from Cultural Services through either Projects or Community Arts
- Be physically located, have an active presence, and have programs and services delivered within Vancouver
- Have a body of body of distinct and high-quality work or services with a track record of consistent delivery and demand
- Have an active Board of Directors composed of volunteers representative of the mission and people served
- Have evidence of professional and paid leadership (artistic and administrative), generally between 0.5 to 2 full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff members which may be comprised of several part-time positions
- Have growing capacity with administrative systems (communications, human resources)
- Have growing financial resource diversification
- Sustained average annual cash budget generally between $75,000 and $300,000
- Diversified cash resources (earned, private and public)
- Independently-prepared financial statements (ideally a review engagement)
- Have demonstrated increasing capacity to consistently pay professional artists at standard industry rate
- Be accommodating, welcoming, and open to people of all ages, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities (including trans, gender diverse, two-spirit people), ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, religions, languages, and socio-economic conditions, in their policies, practices and programs
Additional eligibility criteria apply. Read the information guide's "How to apply" section below.

We don't fund:
- Publicly funded or private educational institutions (public schools, universities, colleges, training organizations)
- Organizations that do not have arts and cultural mandates or whose proposed activity does not meet the Program Objectives and Eligibility
- Other City of Vancouver departments, branches including community centres.
- Social Service, religious, sports organizations or clubs
The funding cannot pay for:
- Core artistic training
- Capital projects
- Deficits
- Fundraisers
- Bursaries or scholarships
- Contests or competitions
How to apply
1. Read the information guide (188 KB)
  The guide explains:
  - Grant objectives and description
  - Organizational profile
  - Eligibility
  - Assessment criteria and process
  - Terms and conditions of assistance
  - Confidentiality
  - Additional City resources
2. Contact Cultural Services for referral to a cultural planner to:
  - Discuss your organization and project's eligibility
  - Request an Annual Assistance Grants application form
  - Receive valuable advice
  Marnie Rice
  604-871-6634
  marnie.rice@vancouver.ca
Eligible applicants

You can apply for this grant if your organization is a:
- Professional nonprofit society
- Community service co-op legally registered with BC Registry and Services
- Registered charity with the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA)
To receive funding, your organization must:
- Have a track record of receiving two consecutive years of core support outside of project-based support (i.e., Annual Assistance) from the City of Vancouver
- Be physically located, have an active presence, and have programs and services delivered within Vancouver
- Have an established body of high quality work or services that are consistently delivered and in-demand
- Have an active Board of Directors composed of volunteers representative of the mission and people served and:
  - Meet the minimum articles of respective governing acts (BC Societies Act, BC Cooperative Service Act for Community Service Co-ops, or the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act)
  - Function in a governance role and be active in policy, planning, legal, and fiduciary responsibilities
  - Must not be remunerated for services in their capacity as a Director (but may be reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred) and not hold staff roles at the same time
- Have full-time professional and paid leadership in artistic and administrative roles (at min. 1 full-time equivalent)
- Have well-developed administrative systems (communications, financial, human resources)
- Have diverse, stable financial resources, and practices with:
  - Sustained average annual cash budget of generally over $300,000 in the past three years
  - Diversified cash resources (earned, private, and public)
  - Independently-prepared financial statements (audit or review engagement)
- Compensate professional artists at standard industry rates
- Be accommodating, welcoming and open to people of all ages, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities (including trans, gender diverse, two-spirit people), ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, religions, languages, and socio-economic conditions, in their policies, practices, and programs
Additional eligibility criteria apply. Read the information guide in the "How to apply" section below.

We don't fund:
- Publicly-funded or private educational institutions (public schools, universities, colleges, training organizations)
- Organizations that do not have arts and cultural mandates or whose proposed activity does not meet the Program Objectives and Eligibility
- Other City of Vancouver departments and branches including community centres
- Social Service, religious, sports organizations or clubs
The funding cannot pay for:
- Core artistic training
- Capital projects
- Deficits
- Fundraisers
- Bursaries or scholarships
- Contests or competitions
How to apply
1. Read the information guide (172 KB)
  The guide explains:
  - Grant objectives and description
  - Organizational profile
  - Eligibility
  - Assessment criteria and process
  - Terms and conditions of assistance
  - Confidentiality
  - Additional City resources
2. Contact Cultural Services for referral to a cultural planner by to:
  - Discuss your organization and project's eligibility
  - Request an Operating Grants application form
  - Receive valuable advice
  Cherryl Masters
  604-871-6498
  cherryl.masters@vancouver.ca