Training residency – Critical writing/Indigenous arts

Who is eligible to apply?

This residency is intended for organizations that receive from the Conseil des arts de Montréal, or first-time applicants. Its purpose is to offer an arts residency to an Indigenous artist or cultural worker.

What are the program objectives?

• Provide training to the next generation of Indigenous critical writers in the arts and culture sector
• Increase the amount of critical writing done by Indigenous artists and cultural workers in the arts and culture sector
• Foster a fruitful, two-way artistic exchange and intersectional dialogue
• Provide an Indigenous perspective in arts and culture
• Strengthen the professional Indigenous arts network

What types of organizations can host?

• Museums, service organizations or arts associations that are interested in hosting an Indigenous artist or cultural worker
• Arts organizations whose mandate is to: publish cultural magazine; engage in specialized or multidisciplinary dissemination, including artist-run centres and art gallery; produce events or festivals

What are the obligations of the host organization? 

• Work closely with the Cultural Advisor – Indigenous Arts and the Conseil’s Indigenous Arts Committee
• Have the call deadline approved by the Conseil des arts de Montréal
• Manage the call for applications, if the artist or cultural worker has not been selected in advance: writing the call, following up, obtaining the approval of the Indigenous Arts Committee, receiving applications, sending an acknowledgement of receipt and letters of acceptance or refusal
• Designate one or more representatives to evaluate the files and participate in the selection of the artist. The Indigenous Arts Committee reserves the right to evaluate the files in advance if required.
• Match the Indigenous artist or cultural worker with an individual or team working in publishing or arts curatorship that can support their professional development
• Manage and coordinate the residency from beginning to end
• Be able to plan residency dates and abide by them
• Pay a fee to the Indigenous artist or cultural worker selected for the residency
• Participate in a post-mortem meeting with the Cultural Advisor – Indigenous Arts and submit a final report to the CAM illustrating the key outcomes of the residency and provide organization testimonials.

IMPORTANT – Note that the selected artist or the cultural worker must create their individual profile on Orora, fill out the Self-Identification tab to be eligible for this program, and complete their final report.

If the artist or the cultural worker is selected after the evaluation committee meeting, the organization must have their selection approved in advance by contacting the Indigenous Arts Cultural Advisor by email. The Indigenous Arts Committee retains oversight over the selection of the selected candidate.

More details about the program

The Conseil des arts de Montréal’s Indigenous Arts Committee—partner to organizations funded through the program

The Conseil des arts de Montréal recognizes Indigenous knowledge and practices, and strives to respect the principles of self-determination in developing programs for Indigenous artists and arts organizations through its Indigenous Arts Committee.

Organizations that are interested in offering a residency to an Indigenous artist or cultural worker through this program must agree to work in close collaboration with the Indigenous Arts Committee to establish a long-term dialogue.

A publishing platform for Indigenous critical writing

Organizations that are interested in offering a residency to an Indigenous artist or cultural worker through this program agree to publish one or more of the artist’s or cultural worker’s critical writings.

What type of assistance is provided?

Selected host organization(s) could receive up to $10,000 to host an Indigenous artist or cultural worker in residence. The budget must include a fee to be paid to the person taking part in the residency, in accordance with the highest standard rates offered in the cultural sector*.

*Refer to the national arts associations

How long is the residency?

The residency can last between two and six months based on the needs of the Indigenous artists or cultural workers. This is a one-time, non-recurring grant.

What are the general eligibility conditions?

Status and conditions

• Be a non-profit organization or a 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
• Have a main mandate to carry out research, creative, production and dissemination activities in the arts or have a mandate to bring together and represent artists and/or cultural workers in a discipline or multidisciplinary sector

Professionalism

• Possess a level of recognized and demonstrable competence
• Be managed by qualified individuals
• Have stable artistic and/or general leadership (according to the organization’s business model)
• Have presented activities of a recognized artistic quality
• Bring together, represent or employ professional artists and/or cultural workers

For the artist or the cultural worker in residency

Must be an Indigenous artist (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) of Canada who: 

• is recognized by their peers or community as an artist or a cultural worker who has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to their arts practice and art form, whether traditional or contemporary (see definition in the glossary)
• is a professional artist 
• reside in Canada

How many residencies are offered?

One or more residencies will be offered depending on the relevance of the projects and the allocated budget.

Who is ineligible to apply?

Applicants

• Individual artists
• Artists’ collectives
• Organizations that do not meet the general eligibility requirements
• Artists’ collectives that are incorporated as for-profit or not-for-profit organizations
• Organizations whose primary mandate is research, creation or production
• Organizations dedicated to teaching, education or professionaltraining
• Public or para-public organizations representing governments or municipal corporations
• Organizations registered as general partnerships

Projects

Residency projects completed before the Conseil’s decision has been received.

Activity sectors

• Organizations working exclusively in variety arts or comedy
• Applicants 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?

Only one application may be submitted per year.

Who should submit the application?

A duly authorized representative of the organization.

Can I submit an application in English?

In accordance with the government’s language policy and the Conseil’s obligations under the Charter of the French Language, all applications must be submitted in French. Only Indigenous organizations can submit an application in English. The questions on the form remain in French.

Important: please note that if you have not completed your application, the draft will be deleted 4 weeks after the deadline. Therefore, you will not be able to reuse it for a future application. If necessary, we suggest you create a PDF and download it for your records.

What information and documents must I include in my application?

• Letters patent and general regulations of the organization for first-time applicants or if changes have been made.
• The organization’s most recent financial statements, if not already provided to the Conseil
• The organization’s policies and equity process, if applicable

How are applications evaluated?

Applications will be evaluated by the Indigenous Arts Committee. The selection will take the comparative value of the residency applications into account.

What are the evaluation criteria?

Quality of the residency setting – 50%

• Organization’s ability to support the Indigenous artist or cultural worker in residence in the development of their critical writing skills
• Organization’s ability to facilitate access to its team and various resources
• Any other services offered to the Indigenous artist or cultural worker to improve their experience

Contribution to the development of Indigenous arts – 30%

• Organization’s ability to implement a clear vision to increase the presence of Indigenous arts, artists, curators, producers in the arts and culture sector
• Quality and impact of the publishing platform
• Nature and extent of the visibility offered to the Indigenous artist’s or cultural worker’s writing
• Any other factor that ensures a meaningful collaborative experience between the Indigenous artist or cultural worker and the host organization

Project management and financial stability – 20%

• Presentation of realistic budget estimates and key steps involved.
• Efforts made to compensate the Indigenous artist or cultural worker
• Organization’s financial contribution and provision of services

What is the response time?

It will take five to six weeks from the application date for the Conseil des arts de Montréal to process it and reach a decision.

How will I be informed of the decision?

The organization representative 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 grant amount will be sent in one payment (100%) after the decision letter has been sent.

Payment times may vary depending on the internal processing time of Ville de Montréal departments, which are beyond the control of the Conseil des arts de Montréal. 

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 the proposed project as planned
• notify the Conseil as soon as possible if unable to carry out the project in the fiscal year for which the grant was awarded. The grant recipient may be obliged to reimburse some or all of the amount awarded, as applicable
• submit an end-of-project report through ORORA within three (3) months of the end of the project. The report and budget can be downloaded from the ORORA portal. You will receive an email with information on how to access them
• include in the report photographs, videos or any other relevant, royalty-free visuals that the Conseil may use for promotional or archival purposes. Forward these items by e-mail to the following address: mylene.guay@montreal.ca

Please note that the selected artist or cultural worker must also create a profile on Orora and fill in a final report. 

In addition, organizations, collectives, artists and their representatives agree at all times not to communicate with members of the evaluation committees or members of the Council’s Board of Directors in any matter relating to the management, evaluation or decisions related to their application. 

The Conseil des arts de Montréal staff are available to answer questions about the application evaluation process and decisions.