Canada Council for the Arts - Explore and Create
Read our 2026 guide to Explore and Create · See what is open now
Compared with the 242 other application forms we have read
- The decision is made by anonymous reviewers in your own field. 3 work that way.
- Winning means you must credit the funder publicly. 16 ask that.
- Scored mainly on your track record and who is on your team. 18 lead with that.
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Eligibility & Details
What this program funds and who can apply
Program Description
Funds Canadian artists, artistic groups, and arts organizations to create new artistic work. Explore and Create now offers two funding opportunities: Artistic Creation (which supports the activities previously funded by Research and Creation and by Concept to Realization) and Artist-driven Organizations. Every project must primarily aim to support the creation of artistic work; projects that involve public sharing or dissemination must also involve creation activities.
Eligibility Requirements
- Individuals must be at least 18 and a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, a Protected Person, or a First Nations, Inuit or Métis person from the land now known as Canada
- Must be a professional artist, artistic group, or arts organization
- Project must primarily aim to support the creation of artistic work — projects that involve public sharing must also involve creation activities
- Maximum 3 applications per calendar year, and a maximum of $150,000 in funding per calendar year
- Applications are assessed on artistic merit, feasibility, and potential impact
- For-profit organizations can apply only as a Business cultural connector (architectural firm or studio, literary event organizer or record label) or as a First Nations, Inuit or Métis for-profit organization
Quick Assessment
Funding Details
- Amount
- Up to $75,000 per application (maximum $150,000 per calendar year)
- Type
- Grant
- Level
- Federal
- Co-Funding
- Up to 100% of eligible costs
- Deadline
- Rolling — apply any time before the start date of your project (Artistic Creation)
Program Scorecard
Competition, effort, and approval at a glance
Moderate — standard application process
High competition — many applicants
Moderate — standard requirements
How to Win
Insider tips, common pitfalls, and what successful applicants look like
Insider TipCreate your Canada Council portal profile at least 30 days before your first application — profile validation is a hard prerequisite and cannot be rushed. You get a maximum of three applications and $150,000 per calendar year, so sequence them deliberately rather than firing off a weak one. The most common rejection is a vague artistic rationale; peer assessors need to understand why this project, why now, and how it advances your practice. Every project must involve creation — a proposal built mainly around touring or public sharing is ineligible on its face. Keep budgets clean and narrative-forward — itemizing every $50 expense hurts more than it helps. Artists who have attended Canada Council information sessions or webinars for their discipline have a measurable advantage in understanding what the peer cohort expects.
Rejection Pitfalls 11
- Vague or poorly articulated artistic rationale — peers cannot evaluate unclear concepts
- Project is mainly focused on public sharing, dissemination or touring without an element of creation
- Translation project (explicitly ineligible)
Success Profile
Professional Canadian artists with an established body of work, a clearly articulated project rationale, and a realistic dissemination plan. First-time applicants from under-represented groups (Indigenous, Deaf/disabled, artists of colour) receive priority consideration in assessment. Organizations must be incorporated NPOs with 5+ years of public activity and verified revenue history for the Artist-Driven Organizations component.
Evaluation Criteria
Peer assessment using comparative ranking within discipline cohort. Three criteria: Artistic Merit (50%, minimum 35/50) — quality and depth of artistic rationale, significance of creative vision, strength of work samples/portfolio; Impact (30%, minimum 15/30) — potential to advance the discipline or reach new audiences, contribution to artistic sector development; Feasibility (20%, minimum 10/20) — applicant's capacity to execute, budget reasonableness, timeline realism.
How Canada Council for the Arts - Explore and ... judges your application
What the reviewer scores, what gets applications rejected, and what to write.
Distilled from 6+ source documents, condensed into one brief. Sources as of 2026-09-10.
6 of the sources
- Explore and Create canadacouncil.ca
- Artist-Driven Organizations - funding opportunity 1004 cca-internal-cac-interne.my.site.com
- Artistic Creation - funding opportunity 1006 cca-internal-cac-interne.my.site.com
- 1006_Artistic_Creation_preview_EN cca-internal-cac-interne.my.salesforce.com
- Core appendix_en - Appendix for Annual Update Reports and Applications cca-internal-cac-interne.my.salesforce.com
- Profile eligibility criteria canadacouncil.ca
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What Canada Council for the Arts - Explore and ... favours
Investigate creative processes and take risks◦
“The program encourages artists and curators, groups and organizations to investigate creative processes and take risks.”
The form
Identification and applicant profile
- 1Identification of applicantshort answerno limit
- 2Applicant typeselectionno limit
- 3Addresses, email and telephoneshort answerno limit
- 4Applicant profileselectionno limit
- 5Portal checklist formscheckboxesno limit
Basic information
- 6Name your applicationshort answerno limit
- 7One-sentence summaryshort answerno limit
- 8Artistic practiceselectionno limit
- 9Type of activitycheckboxesno limit
- 10Start dateshort answerno limit
- 11End dateshort answerno limit
Activity Description
- 12Activity Descriptionwritten answer · 7,000 characters
Describe your proposed activities.
Respectful and Ethical Cultural and Artistic Practices
- 13Respectful and Ethical Cultural and Artistic Practicesyes/no + written · 1,700 characters
Do your activities include the participation of First Nations, Inuit or Métis individuals or communities?
- 14Respectful and Ethical Cultural and Artistic Practicesyes/no + written · 1,700 characters
- 15Respectful and Ethical Cultural and Artistic Practicesyes/no + written · 1,700 characters
- 16Respectful and Ethical Cultural and Artistic Practicesyes/no + written · 1,700 characters
Activity Plan
- 17Activity Plan - capacity and experiencewritten answer · 3,500 characters
- 18Activity Plan - collaborators or partnersyes/no + written · 1,700 characters
- 19Activity Timelinewritten answer · 3,500 characters
Budget
- 20Budgetspreadsheetno limit
Last Details
- 21Last Detailswritten answer · 1,700 characters
Support material
- 22Support material - arts and cultural CVlist · 3 pagesno limit
- 23Support material - examples of artistic worklist · 20 pagesno limit
Declaration
- 24Declarationcheckboxno limit
Artist-Driven Organizations (ADO)
- 25Artist-Driven Organizations - Core appendix (ADO stream only)tableno limit
bar = length the funder allows, from its stated limits
Judged against
Canada Council for the Arts - Explore and ... publishes its score sheet. in Premium
- 1
Is the work artistically strong and unmistakably yours?
Show them Write the activity description in your own voice, name the artistic risk you are taking, and attach work samples a peer would respect.◦
In the funder’s words · 5
- The artistic quality of your work and the potential artistic outcomes of your proposed project. /20
- The artistic and/or cultural rationale for your project. /20
- The relevance and timeliness of your project within your area of practice and/or community. /10
- The clarity of your artistic vision and the alignment of your activities with this vision. /25
- The quality of the artistic works or activities. /25
- 2
What changes for artists and audiences?
What to show, and the funder’s 2 criteria behind it in Premium
- 3
Can you deliver this, on time, paying people fairly?
What to show, and the funder’s 4 criteria behind it in Premium
- 4
Are Indigenous protocols and knowledge handled respectfully?
What to show, and the funder’s 1 criterion behind it in Premium
8 questions the reviewer answers about you, in Premium.
Where applicants fail
“If your application does not include all required support material it will be made ineligible.”
“Your application may be unsuccessful if you fail to demonstrate these points.”
Premium · the rest of this brief
See all 25 rules that can reject you and every criterion you are judged on. Then we draft your application for you.
18 more rules that can reject you · 7 more criteria · 22 more prompts
Do you pass?
Each one can rule you out. Tick the ones you meet.
You
Artistic group
Artistic groups
At least 18 years old
Be at least 18 years old
Canadian citizen
A Canadian citizen living in Canada or abroad
First Nations, Inuit or Métis person
A First Nations, Inuit or Métis person from the land now known as Canada
Your organisation
First Nations, Inuit or Métis for-profit
First Nations, Inuit or Métis for-profit organizations
The project
Not translation projects
Translation projects
No capital expenditures
Activities that include capital expenditures, unless clearly indicated as eligible in program guidelines
AI use “applicants may use AI tools but are fully responsible and accountable for the accuracy, relevance and originality of the content; misuse to fabricate applications will not be tolerated; peer assessors are prohibited from using AI”
Documents to attach
Ticks are kept on this device.
The money
Maximum per applicationUp to $75,000 per application
Up to $75,000 per application (maximum of $150,000 per calendar year)
ADO core maximumUp to 60% of annual revenues
Up to 60% of your total annual revenues, averaged over the last 3 years
Your shareContributions towards eligible expenses; other revenue encouraged
Canada Council’s grants are intended to be contributions towards offsetting eligible expenses. You are encouraged to include other revenue sources to contribute to covering your eligible expenses.
StackingMultiple public grants must show complementarity
If a combination of different municipal, provincial, territorial or federal grants contribute to your activity or initiative, your financial information must clearly demonstrate the complementarity of the public support awarded.
Costs before approvalStart date must be after submission date
Your start date must be after the date of submission.
What it pays for · 5
- Expenses directly related to your activities. All expenses must be justified and align with the delivery of the project.
- Honoraria for Elders and Knowledge Keepers including payment(s) or gifts for individuals as a thank you for their time and knowledge.
- to a maximum of $2,000 per item purchased
- Safety-related expenses to make your project safe for participants, such as supplementary insurance riders, safety gear, on-site specialists, etc.
- Child/dependent care expenses if they are required to complete your activity (excluding regular, ongoing expenses).
What it does not pay for · 3
- Activities that include capital expenditures, unless clearly indicated as eligible in program guidelines
- Contributions to endowment funds
- Prizes and awards ceremonies
From application to money
- Submit in the portalSubmit anytime before project start date
- Peer assessmentPeer assessment within 5 months
- Results by emailResults by email with score breakdown
- Accept the awardAccept award via Funding Award Acceptance form
- Banking informationProvide banking information to receive payment
- Final reportFinal report after funded activities
In the funder’s words · 6
- Submit in the portal
- Submit your application in the Canada Council portal at any time before the start date of your project or activity. (Any time before the start date of your project or activity)
- Peer assessment
- An eligibility check is followed by review by a peer assessment committee that scores and ranks every application. (Usually within 5 months of submitting your application)
- Results by email
- Results arrive by email with a score breakdown, and the program officer and director set amounts from the ranking.
- Accept the award
- The Funding Award Acceptance form outlines the details and conditions of your grant or prize.
- Banking information
- If you decide to accept, you’ll need to provide your banking information so that we can process your payment.
- Final report
- A Final Report is required after the funded activities, and any written acknowledgement must use the Council's full name.
Quoted lines are word for word from the source documents; lines marked ◦ are our reading of them.
Everything you need to win Canada Council for the Arts - Explore and ...
Not a marketing summary. The actual checklist, intel, and stack strategy reviewers look for.
- 11 rejection pitfalls reviewers flag — so you catch them first
- 8-document checklist with what each reviewer is actually checking
- Your Application Game Plan — the print-ready PDF the preview below describes
- 10-step application timeline with prep hours per step
- Insider tip from program officers on what separates winners
- 12-program stacking strategy to combine with compatible funding
- Success profile + evaluation criteria — exactly what reviewers score on
Application Playbook
Step-by-step process, required documents, and expenses
Application Steps
Required Documents 8
Eligible Expenses 13
- Professional fees and compensation for artists and collaborators involved in the project
- Materials and supplies for artistic creation
- Equipment purchases required specifically for the activity, excluding equipment related to a building (max $2,000 per item purchased, total combined costs up to 15% of the requested grant amount)
- Venue and studio rental for creation, rehearsal, or presentation
- Travel costs related to the project (research, creation, touring, residency)
- Accommodation and per diem for project-related travel
- Child or dependent care costs required to complete project activities (not ongoing regular care)
- Documentation and archival costs
- Marketing and promotion of the artistic work
- Technical production costs (lighting, sound, fabrication)
- Post-production costs (editing, mastering, printing)
- Translation and accessibility costs
- Living expenses during dedicated creation periods (subsistence)
Ineligible Expenses 11
- Projects mainly focused on public sharing, dissemination or touring of artistic work, without an element of creation
- Translation projects
- Fundraising activities and costs
- Capital expenditures (building purchase, major renovation)
- Activities funded through other Canada Council programs for the same project
- Ongoing studies or academic research funded through SSHRC (exception: Creating, Knowing and Sharing)
- Self-publishing costs
- Illegal activities
- Regular ongoing dependent care expenses (only project-specific care is eligible)
- Building-related equipment not specific to the artistic project
- Administrative overhead not directly tied to project delivery
Intake Periods
Artistic Creation: rolling intake — submit any time before the start date of your project or activity, with results usually within 5 months of submitting. Artist-driven Organizations: no upcoming deadline is currently posted; check the Canada Council deadlines page. A maximum of 3 applications and $150,000 in funding apply per calendar year.
Deadline Notes
Artistic Creation has no fixed deadline: apply any time before the start date of your project or activity, with results usually within 5 months of submitting your application. No Artist-driven Organizations deadline is currently posted. The discipline-specific deadlines that once applied to Research and Creation and Concept to Realization no longer exist — both components were merged into Artistic Creation. Check https://canadacouncil.ca/funding/grants/deadlines for current dates.
Open Application Portal →Ineligible Organizations
- Organizations currently receiving core (operating) grants from the Canada Council
- For-profit organizations, except Business cultural connectors (architectural firms or studios, literary event organizers, record labels) and First Nations, Inuit or Métis for-profit organizations. Commercial projects in cultural industries are not funded.
- Government departments or agencies
- Educational institutions applying as the lead (faculty may apply as individual artists)
- Artist-driven Organizations component only: organizations that are not incorporated not-for-profits with professional staff, at least 5 years of continuous public professional artistic activity and revenues over $75,000 in each of the last 3 years
- Organizations without demonstrated public artistic activity
Funding Stack Strategy
Compatible programs, clawback risk, and combined funding potential
Compatible Programs
Clawback Risk
Low RiskHow Canada Council for the Arts - Explore and ... Compares
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Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the questions founders most often ask about Canada Council for the Arts - Explore and ...