Indigenous Arts Residency Program

Who is eligible to apply?

This residency is intended for organizations and museums that receive  funding from the Conseil des arts de Montréal, or first-time applicants. Its purpose is to host an Indigenous artist-in-residence.

What are the program objectives?

The Conseil des arts de Montréal identified Indigenous artists among the priority group that should benefit from specific measures in view of their substantial contribution to the cultural and artistic vitality of Montréal. The Conseil 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. In light of this, the program objectives are:

• help increase the representation of Indigenous artists in the arts and culture sector
• provide greater visibility to Indigenous arts in the arts and culture sector, and thereby support their advancement
• 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 are the obligations of the host organization?

• Work closely with the Cultural Advisor – Indigenous Arts and the Conseil’s Indigenous Arts Committee to establish a long-term dialogue and advise them of any changes to the residency schedule 
• Have the call deadline approved by the Conseil des arts de Montréal
• Manage the call for applications, if the artist has not been selected beforehand : 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)
• 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 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 providing organization testimonials

IMPORTANT – Note that the selected artist 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 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.

What type of assistance is provided?

The selected organization will receive a maximum of $20,000 to host an Indigenous artist in residence. The budget must include a fee to be paid to the Indigenous artist, in accordance with the highest standard rates offered in the cultural sector*.

*Refer to national arts associations

How long is the residency?

The duration of the residency varies based on the artist’s needs. 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 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 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

What types of projects are eligible?

• Research and creation 
• Production 
• Development of arts practices 
• Artistic guidance  
• Collaboration 

How many applications will be accepted?

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 and specific eligibility conditions
• Artists’ collectives that are incorporated as for-profit or not-for-profit organizations
• Artists’ agents
• Organizations dedicated to teaching, education or professional training
• Public or para-public organizations representing governments or municipal corporations
• Organizations registered as general partnerships

Projects

Residency projects that are completed before the Conseil’s decision has been received (five to six weeks before the application deadline).

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 per year?

No, 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?

Contribution to the development of Indigenous arts – 50%

• Organization’s ability to implement a clear vision to increase the presence of Indigenous arts, artists, curators, producers in the arts and culture sector
• Implementation of well-established equity policies or processes in the organization
• Nature of the support provided to the artists to reinforce or develop their arts practice
• Any other aspect of the host organization’s reach that benefits the artist

Quality of the residency setting – 30%

• Access to a creation or production space and specialized equipment
• Organization’s ability to facilitate access to various professional resources
• Any other services offered to the artist that enhance their experience
• Any other aspect that fosters a meaningful exchange between the artist and the host organization

Project management and financial stability – 20 %

• Presentation of realistic budget estimates and key steps involved.
• Efforts made to pay artists
• Organization’s financial contribution and provision of services

What is the response time?

It will take five to six weeks from the date the application is submitted 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 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.