Vivats Award – Boldness in Art

Accompanied by a $10,000 grant, the award recognizes innovative and constructive actions that have had a significant impact on eco-responsibility.

​​Who ​is eligible for this award?

Organizations and collectives in the Montréal arts community who have led the way in eco-responsibility through innovative and impactful initiatives.

What are the program’s objectives?

This award aims to:

• recognize the most impactful eco-responsible initiatives and practices in the chain of artistic creation, production, and dissemination in Montréal
• highlight the contribution of a Montréal artistic organization or collective that is committed to the eco-responsible transition and demonstrates rigour, boldness, and transparency in its actions and communication of its progress
• ultimately, the initiatives recognized by this award could inspire Montréal’s arts communities and serve as a conduit for generating lasting change by introducing new ways to decarbonize the arts sector

More details about the award

Finalists will be invited to participate in a round table as part of the awards ceremony in June 2024. This activity will be an opportunity to promote these organizations or collectives and discuss their actions.

What is the value of the award?

The winning artists’ collective or organization will receive $10,000 from the Conseil des arts de Montréal.

What do the partners contribute?

The Conseil des arts de Montréal is proud to partner with the Conseil québécois des événements écoresponsables for this annual award as part of Les Vivats.

How many awards are given?

Out of all the applications received, a maximum of 3 finalists will be selected who will benefit from public visibility. There will be one winner chosen from the three finalists. Only one award will be given each year.

What are the general eligibility criteria?

Artists’ collectives

• Be composed of professional artists as defined by the Conseil
• The person who submits the application must be a member of the collective, a resident of the Island of Montréal, and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
• Two thirds of the collective’s members must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents. The proportion of members residing outside Canada may not exceed one third
• A majority of members (50% +1) must reside on the Island of Montréal, including the person responsible for the application

Arts organizations

• Be a non-profit organization or 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
• The organization’s main activities must be in the research, creation, production, or dissemination of arts and culture
• Meet the Conseil’s definition of professional arts organization

What types of projects are eligible?

Professional artistic creation, production, and dissemination projects

What is the timeframe to complete the work?

Artistic works must have taken place between January 1 and December 31, 2023.

Who is ineligible to apply?

Organizations and artists’ collectives with a dissemination mandate who manage a cultural facility or a venue with regular programming are not eligible for this category of the Vivats awards.

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.

How do I apply?

Visit Les Vivats’s website for more information or to submit your application. 

How are applications evaluated?

Applications will be evaluated by an independent selection committee composed of art and eco-responsibility professionals. The members of the jury must comply with the Vivats Code of Ethics (in French only). They will assess the applications with the help of a grid of evaluation criteria and then meet to deliberate. The members of the jury for the current year will be named publicly after the deliberation meeting.

The Conseil will work with the Vivats team to ensure the representativeness of each jury in keeping with its vision of equity, diversity and inclusion.

All applications will be evaluated on merit; the comparative value of the proposals will be taken into consideration.

What are the evaluation criteria?

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Project quality 35%

• Bold and innovative nature of the project
• The project’s artistic merit and quality

Project impact 40%

• Environmental and social benefits
• Impact on the arts sector
• Benefits measured and communicated
• Partner engagement
• Motivation for change

Project replicability 25%

• Transparency of the approach
• Willingness to share and communication capacity
• Development of tools to facilitate replicability of the project by others, in various contexts

What is the response time?

The winning artists’ collective or organization will be announced publicly at the awards ceremony in June 2024.

How is the grant paid?

The Conseil des arts de Montréal will pay the $10,000 award in a single instalment following the announcement of the winning artists’ collective or organization. The terms and conditions of payment can be found here.

Note that if the jury selects an artist collective as a winner, the representative of the collective will need to provide their social insurance number and contact details to the Conseil des arts de Montréal so it can issue a T4A tax form. Under current tax laws, receiving a cash prize is considered taxable income.