Four-year operating grants

Who is eligible to apply?

Professional arts organizations already receiving two- or four-year operating assistance and working in one of the disciplines listed in the Eligibility section

What are the program objectives?

This program supports the creation, production and dissemination of art and the implementation of professional artistic activities across the Island of Montréal. By providing financial support to various organizations in the arts community, the Conseil helps them fulfill their mandates. It supports artistic excellence and enables various Montréal audiences to experience art in all of its forms.

What type of assistance is provided?

The assistance is meant to provide financial stability to organizations, so they can better plan their activities, manage more easily and ease evaluation requirements. The grant is awarded to help the organization carry out all of its mandate-related activities.

What is the duration of the support?

Four-year operating assistance is allocated in conjunction with the organization’s fiscal year.

Funding may fluctuate throughout the cycle:

• decreasing if the Conseil’s budget is cut
• increasing if the Conseil receives additional funding in its budget
• decreasing in accordance with the Conseil’s Withdrawal of Support Policy

What types of projects are eligible?

• creation-production
• specialized or multidisciplinary dissemination
• publication of cultural magazines
• production of an event or festival
• production support
• be a museum
• be a professional association, alliance or service organization.

for organizations with a double mandate:

• creation-production and presentation (performing arts)
• creation-production and festivals (performing arts)
• presentation and festivals/events (performing arts)
• dissemination and production support (visual arts, digital arts, film-video)

What are the general eligibility conditions?

Status and conditions

• be a non-profit organization or an artists’ cooperative that pays no dividends
• be headquartered on the Island of Montréal
• have a board of directors whose members are mainly Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada
• their principal mandate is either to create, produce, and distribute creative work in the arts, or to bring together or represent artists or cultural workers in a specific artistic discipline or multidisciplinary arts.

Professionalism

• possess a level of recognized and demonstrable competence
• be managed by qualified individuals
• have stable artistic leadership
• have presented activities of a recognized artistic quality
• bring together, represent or employ professional artists and/or cultural workers

Are there any special eligibility conditions?

• be receiving two- or four-year operating assistance at the time of application
• demonstrate solid artistic and administrative stability in order to ensure a strong artistic presence and continuous development
• have received very good evaluations for the past several years

What types of activities are eligible?

Activities planned for the next four fiscal years.

When must the activities be carried out?

Organizations must carry out their activities according to the four-year timeline set out in the application, the grant received and the financial statement dates.

How many applications will be approved?

The number of operations grants awarded by the Conseil varies depending on the number of applications received, the evaluation of the interest and relevance of artistic activities, and the available budget.

Who is ineligible to apply?

Ineligible applicants

• organizations that do not meet the general eligibility requirements
• individual artists
• artists’ collectives
• organizations not receiving two- or four-year operating assistance at the time of application
• cultural magazines that publish fewer than three issues per year, are distributed free of charge or available only in electronic format
• public or para-public organizations representing governments or municipal corporations
• organizations dedicated to teaching, education, and professional training

Activity sectors

• organizations working exclusively in variety arts or comedy
• organizations working exclusively in cultural mediation

Applications

• incomplete applications
• applications received after the deadline

Ineligible applications will not be considered by the evaluation committee.

Can specific populations receive additional financial support to submit their application or complete their project (accessibility costs)?

Yes. Accessibility costs refer to costs that certain individuals, particularly those who are D/deaf and/or living with a disability, must pay to take advantage, in the same way as others do, of the services and programs offered by an institution for research, to create, produce or disseminate their art. Reimbursement of part of these costs by the Conseil des arts de Montréal may offset the financial disadvantage.

The Support Fund for Accessibility Costs is a financial assistance measure that complements the Conseil’s other programs. The deadline to apply for support for accessibility costs is the same as that for the program being applied to.

Artists, collectives or organizations that have obtained financial assistance from the Conseil to carry out a project can also file an application for accessibility cost support up to three months after the decisions related to the successful project have been sent out, provided the project is not completed before the deadline to send out decisions for accessibility cost support applications.

Support is divided into three components:

• Component 1 – Financial support to submit a grant application or to apply for one of the Conseil’s initiatives
• Component 2 – Financial support for accessibility costs for a project funded by the Conseil
• Component 3 – Financial support for presenter organizations for accessibility costs to welcome audiences for a project funded by the Conseil

For more details, please see this additional information on the Support Fund.

Can I submit more than one application in the same year?

Organizations can only submit one application per new cycle. Organizations can only apply once every four years. No applications can be made during the course of the four-year cycle.

Access to one-time funding

Organizations that receive four-year operations assistance may have the option of applying for an additional one-time grant each year, depending on the budget available at the Conseil.

Organizations must complete the requisite forms.

Who should submit the application?

The person responsible for the organization’s activities (administration, management) or appointed by the board of directors.

What information and documents must I include in my application?

In addition to the form available on the ORORA platform, the detailed project description and the budget, the documents to include are:

• financial statements from the last fiscal year, if not already provided, signed by two members of the board of directors
• letters patent of the organization (include all pages of the document), if changes have been made
• the organization’s constitution and bylaws, if changes have been made
• press kit or review (short version)
• list of links to excerpts or complete versions (depending on the discipline) of works or activities related to the application. Four links maximum.
• if desired, a personal appendix (presented as a single PDF document) comprising any documents that you feel are relevant to include in your application. They are not required to include any information that is necessary to properly assess your application.

How are applications evaluated?

The Conseil, with the help of peer evaluation committees in each discipline, assesses all applications on the basis of merit and awards grants according to available budgets.

Please note: unsuccessful applications by organizations receiving four-year operating assistance may be evaluated with two-year operating or project grant applications.

What are the evaluation criteria?

There are two categories:

• evaluation based on the organization’s mandate
• evaluation based on intersectionality

Why are there criteria based on the mandate?

Organizations first undergo mandate-based evaluations, according to the specific nature of their mandate and the weighting system used.

How is the creation-production mandate evaluated?

Artistic merit: 60%

• presence of a strong and original artistic direction
• clarity of the organization’s artistic priorities and their place within the arts community ecosystem
• artistic quality and originality of the organization’s past initiatives and planned projects
• consistency of activities with the organization’s mandate and artistic orientations
• coherence between the organization’s programming choices and its resources
• importance given to risk taking
• organization’s leadership in their community

Organization’s outreach and contribution to audience development:        20%

• effectiveness of the organization’s outreach strategies with various audiences on the Island of Montréal and, depending on the organization’s mandate, national and international outreach (mediation activities, touring, etc.)
• public recognition

 Management and administration 20%

• ability of the organization to effectively manage its activities and complete its projects
• evidence that the organization’s financial position is stable and balanced
• organizational health and good governance
• diversity of funding sources
• diversity of profiles and expertise in the members of the board of directors
• attention given to strategic planning and managing changes and various stages of development (e.g., staff turnover, succession, growth management, etc.)

How are the mandates of professional associations, alliances and service organizations evaluated?

Mission and fulfillment of the mandate: 40%

• quality and consistency of activities or services with the organization’s mandate and orientations
• size of the membership or clientele served

Contributes to the development of the discipline and      the arts community: 40%

• organization’s contribution and impact on the development of its community
• ability to maintain and/or improve services
• efforts made to improve the working and socio-economic conditions of artists in their discipline, if applicable
• quality of community or partner involvement
• organization’s leadership in their community

Management and administration: 20%

• evidence of a balanced and sustainable financial position
• organizational health and good governance
• diversity of funding sources
• diversity of profiles and expertise in the members of the board
• attention given to strategic planning and managing changes and various stages of development (e.g., staff turnover, succession, growth management, etc.)

How are the mandates of publishers of cultural magazines evaluated?

Artistic merit: 65%

• quality of the editorial content and consistency with its artistic orientations
• relevance and quality in the choice of creators, artists and collaborators
• consistency and quality of the visual presentation

Magazine’s reach: 20%

• contribution to improving the visibility of artists, writers and organizations
• development of a publication plan that drives readership and increases awareness of the discipline in question
• effectiveness of communication, marketing and promotion activities
• organization’s leadership in their community

Management and administration: 15%

• adherence to the publication plan
• importance of revenue from memberships taking into account the discipline and target audience
• evidence of a balanced and sustainable financial position
• organizational health and good governance
• diversity of funding sources
• diversity of profiles and expertise in the members of the board of directors
• attention given to strategic planning and managing changes and various stages of development (e.g.,       staff turnover, succession, growth management, etc.)

How are the mandates of festivals, events and specialized and multidisciplinary presenters evaluated?

Quality and impact on artistic development: 60%

• clarity and relevance of the organization’s mandate and artistic priorities, and their place within the arts community ecosystem
• strong and original artistic direction
• quality, consistency and relevance of programming in relation to the organization’s mandate, artistic orientations and resources
• quality of the artist or organization’s reception and the support offered to them and efforts made to pay show purchasing fees
• efforts made to open a dialogue and meet with different disciplines (multidisciplinary organizations)
• importance given to risk taking
• organization’s leadership in their community

Organization’s outreach and contribution to audience development: 20%

• organization’s familiarity with its audience and ability to receive, retain, develop and renew it
• effective mediation, communication, marketing, promotion and advertising activities
• organization’s ability to take socio-demographic issues into account in its audience development strategy

Management and administration: 20%

• evidence of a balanced and sustainable financial position
• organizational health and good governance
• diversity of funding sources
• diversity of profiles and expertise in the members of the board of directors
• attention given to strategic planning and managing changes and various stages of development (e.g., staff turnover, succession, growth management, etc.)

Why are there criteria based on intersectionality?

Intersectionality aligns with the Conseil’s strategic priorities, which were articulated by the arts communities consulted in the development of its strategic plan, and is considered key to the vitality of the arts community. It supplements the other evaluation criteria specific to the various mandates. The Conseil seeks to recognize and encourage organizations that help address the challenges identified by the Montréal arts community. Depending on their mandate, the nature of their activities, their history or any other specific element, each organization can identify with a range of priorities in various ways. The Conseil also considers it crucial that organizations hoping to receive four-year operating assistance make special efforts to compensate artists, artisans and cultural workers, comply with the collective agreements in effect and demonstrate their ability to work with various partners, establish forward-looking partnerships and be well-rooted in their local community

The criteria are divided into three categories: inclusion, outreach and culture of innovation.

How is the strategic priority of inclusion evaluated?

Equity and meaningful representation:

• Indigenous artists, cultural workers and those with Indigenous arts practices
• culturally diverse artists and cultural workers
• minority, non-western or mixed race (other than Indigenous) arts practice
• atypical or underrepresented artists and audiences
• intergenerational connections and transmission of knowledge
• genders, in particular male/female parity

How is the strategic priority of outreach evaluated?

Emphasis on local initiatives:

• strong presence of artists in communities
• development of lasting connections between the artists and educational institutions

Local, national and international outreach

• significant presentation and touring of works on a local and national scale
• strong presentation and touring of works internationally

How is the strategic priority of innovation culture evaluated?

New practices and R&D:

• innovative management practices
• appropriation of digital technology

Intersectionality bonus

The scores attributed to intersectionality are added to the peer committee’s mandate-based score. Totalling 10 points, the bonus is broken down as follows:

Inclusion maximum of 5 points

Outreach maximum of 3 points

Innovation maximum of 2 points

What is the response time?

It will take 12 to 14 weeks from the date of the application for the Conseil to process it and reach a decision.

How will I be informed of the decision?

The representative for the organization will receive an email invitation to view the results on the ORORA platform. No decisions will be communicated by phone.

Can I appeal the decision?

The Conseil’s decisions are final and not subject to appeal. However, Conseil staff are available to answer any questions regarding decisions.

Applicants agree not to communicate with members of the evaluation committee or the Conseil’s Board of Directors about the management or evaluation of their application, or about decisions related to their application.

How will the grant be paid?

The guaranteed four-year grant is allocated annually in four payments:

First Payment

• 90% after a positive decision for the first year in the cycle
• 90% after receipt of interim report for each subsequent year

Second payment

• 10% for each year in the cycle once the financial statements and the final report have been submitted (within four months of the end of the fiscal year)

One-time grant payment

• grants for special projects and cultural exchanges are allocated in a single payment

Commitments

Accepting payment of the grant constitutes, for the organization, an undertaking to complete the activities covered by the grant and to comply with the accompanying conditions, which will be communicated upon selection of the application.

Organizations agree to:

• carry out activities as planned
• notify the Conseil of all major changes to its mandate, management or board of directors
• notify the Conseil as soon as possible if unable to carry out the project in the fiscal year for which the grant was awarded. In such cases, the grant recipient may be obliged to reimburse some or all of the amount awarded
• if requested, submit activity reports and financial statements at the required times
• if applicable, include in the report photographs, videos or any other relevant, royalty-free visuals that the Conseil may use for promotional or archival purposes