Canada Council Explore and Create 2026: who can get up to $75,000?
Explore and Create is the Canada Council for the Arts program that pays for new artistic work. Its main door, Artistic Creation, is a grant of up to $75,000 per application for Canadian artists, artistic groups and arts organizations, capped at 3 applications and $150,000 per calendar year. As of September 2026 it is open on a rolling basis: you apply any time before your project starts, and results usually arrive within 5 months.
Two eligibility rules come first. First, you need an eligible applicant profile in the Council's portal: for an individual that means being 18 or older, a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, Protected Person, or a First Nations, Inuit or Métis person from the land now known as Canada, with a paid artistic track record. Second, the project must mainly create work. A project that is mostly touring or sharing finished work, or a translation project, is not eligible.
Explore and Create at a glance
| Amount | Artistic Creation: up to $75,000 per application, maximum $150,000 per calendar year. Artist-driven Organizations: up to 60% of an organization's total annual revenues, averaged over the last 3 years. |
|---|---|
| Funding type | Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, the federal arts funder. Not a loan. |
| Who can apply (Artistic Creation) | Artists or arts workers, artistic groups, artistic organizations, business cultural connectors, and First Nations, Inuit or Métis artists, arts and cultural workers, cultural carriers, groups, and for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. |
| Key exclusions | Organizations currently receiving core grants; projects mainly focused on touring or sharing work without creation; translation projects; commercial projects in cultural industries; anyone under 18. |
| Limits | Artistic Creation: 3 applications and $150,000 per calendar year. Artist-driven Organizations: 1 application per calendar year, 4-year funding cycle. |
| How and when to apply | Online through the Canada Council portal, with an account and applicant profile. Artistic Creation: any time before the start date of your project or activity. |
| Status, September 2026 | Artistic Creation is open, rolling. The Council's deadlines page (updated September 4, 2026) lists no upcoming Artist-driven Organizations deadline. |
| Official page | canadacouncil.ca: Explore and Create |
What happened to Research and Creation and Concept to Realization?
They are no longer separate components. The Council's Explore and Create page says Artistic Creation supports the activities previously funded by Research and Creation and Concept to Realization.
Explore and Create now offers two funding opportunities: Artistic Creation, the project grant most artists apply to, and Artist-driven Organizations, multi-year funding for established not-for-profit arts organizations. Older articles that name the two old components describe the program before the merger.
Artistic Creation covers any stage: research, experimentation, creation, production, community collaboration and public sharing, which counts only alongside at least one of the others.
Who is eligible for Explore and Create?
Canadian professional artists and arts workers, artistic groups and not-for-profit arts organizations, plus a few specific business types, as long as each holds an eligible applicant profile.
Individual artists
The Artist or arts worker profile requires you to:
- be at least 18 years old;
- be a Canadian citizen living in Canada or abroad, a permanent resident, a Protected Person, or a First Nations, Inuit or Métis person from the land now known as Canada;
- work in an artistic practice the Council funds, with skills developed through formal or informal learning;
- have been paid in a way appropriate to your practice and region, and have either kept an artistic practice for at least 1 year with at least 2 public artistic activities, or worked in an arts role for at least 12 months;
- be committed to an arts career and recognized by other artists or your community.
Activities abroad count; coursework does not. First Nations, Inuit and Métis applicants have their own profiles, including one for emerging artists.
Groups and organizations
An artistic group needs core members who are 18 or older and Canadian citizens, permanent residents or Protected Persons, plus at least 2 paid public artistic activities. An artistic organization must be a Canadian not-for-profit with a board and artistic leadership, active for at least 2 years, with at least 2 public works and a history of paying artists professional fees.
Can a small creative business apply?
Only a few kinds. Business cultural connectors can apply to Artistic Creation: an architectural firm or studio, a literary event organizer such as a bookstore or library, or a record label, established in Canada for at least 2 years. An architectural firm must be at least 75% Canadian owned with its head office in Canada. First Nations, Inuit or Métis for-profit organizations can also apply. Otherwise, the Council says it does not fund commercial projects in cultural industries such as comedy, music, film, television and video games.
How much can you get from Explore and Create?
Up to $75,000 per Artistic Creation application, and never more than you ask for.
After peer assessors rank the applications, Council staff set each grant amount based on your eligible expenses, the amount you requested and the program's budget. A grant cannot exceed the amount requested, so build a budget you can defend line by line. The cap across a calendar year is $150,000 over no more than 3 applications.
Expenses must relate directly to the project and be justified. Examples the portal lists include honoraria for Elders and Knowledge Keepers, project travel, safety costs, child or dependent care needed for the activity, public accessibility costs such as captioning, and equipment bought for the activity: up to $2,000 per item and 15% of the requested grant in total, with building-related equipment excluded.
Is Explore and Create a grant or a loan?
It is a grant, not a loan.
If you are successful, you complete a Funding Award Acceptance form in the portal that sets out the conditions of your grant, and you provide banking information so the Council can pay you. Project grants also require a Final Report after the project wraps up. The Council enters all grants in box 105 of a T4A slip and cannot give tax advice, so check with a tax professional.
Explore and Create is one piece of an artist's funding. Check what else you qualify for in 60 seconds, from provincial programs to business funding for your creative practice.
Check what else you qualify forHow do you apply to Explore and Create?
Through the Canada Council's online portal, once you have an account and an applicant profile.
- Create a portal account. If you had an account before August 2025, you still need a new one in the updated portal; sign up with the same email and your history transfers.
- Choose your applicant profile. Under Granting Eligibility, read the profile criteria and attest to the one that fits. You can do this before or during your application, and the profile is subject to an eligibility review, so setting it up early avoids surprises.
- Preview the questions. The Artistic Creation page in the portal links a preview of the application questions.
- Prepare support material. An arts and cultural CV of up to 3 pages (one per member for groups), at least one example of artistic work such as a 10 to 20 page writing sample or visual or audio documentation, and, if you have presenting partners or collaborators, written confirmation of their involvement with short bios or CVs. An application missing required support material is made ineligible.
- Submit before your project starts. Artistic Creation has no fixed deadline, but it must arrive before the start date of your project or activity.
- Wait for results. Usually within 5 months. Applications in the updated portal receive a breakdown of scores for each criterion.
Application Assistance is available to applicants who self-identify as Deaf, hard of hearing, having a disability or living with mental illness, or as First Nations, Inuit or Métis facing language, geographic or cultural barriers. The Council also sets aside dedicated funds for Deaf and disability, Black and racialized, First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and official language minority applicants who complete its self-identification form.
How are Artistic Creation applications scored?
A committee of peer assessors scores each application on three weighted criteria, and you must reach the minimum in every one to be considered for a grant.
| Criterion | Weight | Minimum | What is scored |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artistic | 50% | 35/50 | Quality of your work and potential outcomes (/20), your artistic or cultural rationale (/20), relevance and timeliness in your practice or community (/10) |
| Impact | 30% | 15/30 | How the project advances your practice and career (/15), its potential to benefit artists, participants, audiences and communities (/15) |
| Feasibility | 20% | 10/20 | Your capacity and experience, including a realistic timeline (/10), a detailed budget showing fair payment and efficient use of resources (/10) |
A fourth condition must also be met: respectful and ethical cultural and artistic practices, meaning First Nations, Inuit or Métis cultural protocols and materials are treated respectfully, or the project has no Indigenous content. Assessors' scores are averaged into a ranked list and grants follow that ranking. Decisions are final and can only be appealed where there is evidence of a procedural error.
What gets Explore and Create applications rejected?
An application goes unfunded if it falls below the minimum score on any one criterion, or ranks below the point where the budget runs out; the Council notes that with high volume and limited funding, not every request can be supported.
Some applications never reach scoring. Watch for these:
- missing required support material, which makes the application ineligible;
- a project mainly about touring or sharing work, with no creation, or a translation project;
- items on the Council's general ineligible list, such as coursework, activities that do not pay artists fees to the standard of the practice, fundraising and capital expenditures;
- commercial cultural-industry projects;
- an organization that already receives a core grant (its staff may apply only for unrelated personal projects).
Can you combine Explore and Create with other funding?
Yes, with one firm limit: you cannot receive Canada Council money for expenses another source already covers.
When municipal, provincial, territorial or federal grants support the same activity, your budget must show how the public funding fits together. Provincial, territorial and municipal arts funders are other public sources to look at; our guide to art grants in Canada maps them.
Artist-driven Organizations: the multi-year option
Artist-driven Organizations gives established not-for-profit arts organizations core funding over a 4-year cycle, up to 60% of total annual revenues averaged over the last 3 years.
It is open to organizations that already receive this core funding, or to incorporated not-for-profit arts organizations with professional staff, at least 5 years of continuous public professional activity and revenues above $75,000 in each of the last 3 years that have received 1 composite grant or 2 Canada Council project grants in the last 5 years. The limit is 1 application per calendar year, and eligible organizations request access through the portal's help desk.
Frequently asked questions
What is the maximum Explore and Create grant?
Artistic Creation, the Explore and Create funding opportunity open to artists, groups and organizations, pays up to $75,000 per application, with a maximum of $150,000 and 3 applications per calendar year.
Does Explore and Create have a deadline?
Artistic Creation has no fixed deadline. You apply any time before the start date of your project or activity, and results usually arrive within 5 months of submitting.
Are Research and Creation and Concept to Realization still open?
Not as separate components. The Canada Council says Artistic Creation now supports the activities previously funded by Research and Creation and Concept to Realization.
Can a for-profit business apply to Explore and Create?
Only specific types: business cultural connectors (architectural firms or studios, literary event organizers and record labels established in Canada for at least 2 years) and First Nations, Inuit or Métis for-profit organizations. The Council does not fund commercial projects in cultural industries.
Do I need a Canada Council portal profile to apply?
Yes. You apply through the Canada Council portal, which needs an account and an applicant profile. You can select a profile before or during your application, and it is subject to an eligibility review.
Where to go next
Artistic Creation is open year-round; here is what to line up beside it:
- See every program open now, with deadlines.
- Explore and Create program record: eligibility gates, documents, deadlines.
- Check what else you qualify for in 60 seconds.
GrantCompass is an independent funding database, not a government office or the program's administrator. Some features are paid. Program details on this page come from the Canada Council for the Arts' own pages as of September 30, 2026; confirm current terms on canadacouncil.ca before you apply.