ELIGIBILITY FOR OPERATING AND PROGRAMMING FUNDING

To be eligible to receive Operating or Programming funding, an organization must:

• Be registered and governed as a not-for-profit organization in Alberta or Canada. 
• Have operated for a minimum of one year with completed financial statements.
• Have regular annually recurring activities focused on the arts and culture relating to:
  - artistic creation, production, and/​or presentation,
  - the support of sectors or artistic disciplines in the Edmonton arts community,
  - the promotion of participation in art making, and/​or
  - other objectives and actions that enable innovation and build resilience in the arts sector.

• Maintain up-to-date information and documentation in their organizational profile in the EAC online portal, SmartSimple.

Operating organizations:

• Have a primary mandate focused on the arts.
• Have a significant portion of their activities, services, governance and management occurring annually within Edmonton, for the benefit of Edmonton residents.

Programming organizations:

• Undertake specific arts and culture-based activity.
• Have annually occurring arts and culture-based activities occurring within Edmonton for the benefit of Edmontonians.

To be considered for multi-year funding support, organizations must meet the eligibility and specifics for Operating, and must be a previous multi-year recipient. Organizations who have previously received multi-year and meet eligibility will be considered for multi-year in 2026. 

WHAT IS NOT SUPPORTED

Funding Investments will not be considered for:

• Organizations that receive operational funding from the City of Edmonton, or another of its partners including but not limited to the Edmonton Heritage Council.
• Organizations that do not have activity rooted in the creation, support, production or presentation of arts and culture.
• Organizations focused on education, religious outcomes, competitions, demonstrations, capital construction development, or fundraising.
• Organizations in arrears with the City of Edmonton.
• Organizations with overdue Edmonton Arts Council reports.

The Investment Framework and Funding Strategy approved by the EAC Board of Directors to guide funding from 2025 – 2027 focuses on four funding priorities. One or more of these four priorities must be met for an organization to be considered for funding from the EAC:

• Demonstrated commitment to the fair and professional payment of Edmonton artists and arts workers.
• Effective pursuit of their primary mandate(s) to support, engage, produce, or present work by and for Indigenous communities and/​or equity-seeking groups.
• Provision of accessible or low-cost public programming to a wide range of Edmontonians, for example by presenting a free festival event or activities.
• Effective operational management of Edmonton arts facilities, that are accessible and available for the use of multiple artists, audiences, and communities.

Apply through the EAC’s online portal SmartSimple: 

Organizations seeking funding must register in the Edmonton Arts Council online portal (eac​.smart​sim​ple​.ca).

UPDATE YOUR ORGANIZATION PROFILE IN SMARTSIMPLE

*Please note that the Organization Profiles have been updated and organizations need to review their profiles for completeness before applying for this funding opportunity.

The organization profile requires:

• The registration of at least two (2) organization contacts that will be engaging with the EAC.
• General organization information, such as:
  • Artistic Discipline(s)
  • Mandate, Mission, Vision and/​or Values
  • Objectives and Goals

• Documentation supporting the organization’s operational status including legal name, provincial registration, board member information, and policy documentation.
• If the organization operates and/​or manages a publicly accessible space used for arts activities, a section with specific questions about that space will need to be filled out in the profile. 

For technical support needs, email support@​edmontonarts.​ca or call 780−424−2787. If this is your first application to this program, we encourage you to contact us at grants@​edmontonarts.​ca.

INVESTMENT AMOUNTS

Grants are intended to contribute to programming and administrative costs associated with an organization’s ongoing artistic activities. Applicants may receive less than the full amount requested. The level of assistance is determined by several factors including the organization’s budget, its scope of activity and funding history, as well as the assessor recommendations and resources available to the Edmonton Arts Council annually. Funding amounts will, in most cases, align with recent investment amounts from the EAC.

The Edmonton Arts Council does not provide funding for capital projects, fundraising or deficit reduction.

GENERAL

In this section of the application, you will be asked to indicate your funding request for the current year.

ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND

This information will be directly imported into your application from your organization’s profile in SmartSimple. Please ensure your organization’s profile is up-to-date and submitted before completing your application.

• Organization or event name
• Website and online presence
• Primary and secondary discipline
• Purpose and mission
• Objectives and goals
• Festival activities (if any)
• Primary and secondary mandate and objectives
• Primary and secondary activities

FACILITY OPERATIONS

This information will be directly imported into your application from your organization’s profile in SmartSimple. If your organization manages or operates any arts facilities, please ensure the following details are included in your profile:

• The name and address of each facility.
• The type of facility and the activities it is commonly used for.
• Information about any long-term partners or groups that also use the space.

FINANCIAL DATA

Financial questions pertain to the organization’s mostly recently completed fiscal year, including:

• The percentage of artistic work and activities that took place in Edmonton.
• Details regarding any other sources of municipal funding.
• The dates of the organization’s fiscal year, which should match governance documentation and financial statements.
• Financial Statements for the most recently completed fiscal year, signed and approved by your board (PDF upload).
• Annual Return for the most recently completed fiscal year (PDF upload).
• Specific budget information that aligns with the Financial Statements*.

If annual financial documentation or statistical information is not complete at the time of application, it may delay or interrupt any funding relationship with the EAC.

*Some organizations may be using the Canadian Arts Database / Donées sur les arts au Canada (CADAC) system, which shares information amongst multiple funders including the EAC. The EAC has modeled our required financial information after the standard set by CADAC. For more information on the expectations of financial reporting, please see this sheet of definitions as provided by CADAC.

STRUCTURE & CAPACITY

Organizations will be asked to provide information about their current board, staff and volunteer structures at the time of the application.

• The policies and practices the organization uses to guide their work (PDF upload – profile).
• A description of any unofficial policies and practices the organization follows (short text – 150 words).
  
• The organization’s approach to policy creation (short text – 150 words).
• Minutes from the most recent Annual General Meeting (PDF upload).
• A graphic representation of how the organization is structured (PDF upload).
• Information on the organization’s current board members (fillable table – profile).
• Information on the organization’s current key staff (fillable table, checkboxes, statistical data, etc.).
• An explanation of the organization’s structure of responsibilities (text box 150 words).
• The compensation structure for any paid staff or contracted artists and arts workers (text box 150 words).

ACTIVITIES & WORK

Organizations will be asked to provide information about both their completed activities from January 1 – December 31, 2025 and their proposed activities for the upcoming year of January 1, 2026 – December 1, 2026. The EAC is aware that these timeframes do not align with some organizations’ fiscal years. As such, financial information provided may not directly align with the information presented in this section of the application. Organizations will be asked to include:

• Most recent Annual Report (optional – PDF upload).

• A table of activities, including:
  - Brief description of each activity;
  - Key dates and timeframe;
  - Activity type (selected from a predefined list);
  - Total number of attendees;
  - Postal code of the activity location.
• The organization’s approach to inclusion, diversity, equity and access and Indigenous considerations in your work (text box).
• A description of how the organization defines and measures success in its artistic work (checkbox selection and short text box – 100 words).
• Methods of evaluation for the organization’s activities (checkbox selection and short text box – 100 words).
• A description of how the organization sets goals or plans for future artistic work (text box 200 words).
• If your organization is seeing a significant change in activities in the coming year, please describe the reasoning for the change (optional text box – 200 words).

SUPPORTING MATERIALS

Supporting Material is required and important for the accurate assessment of your application. To support your application, you may upload up to 10 audio/​visual/​PDF files and up to 5 direct links to external websites related to your organization.

• These must include samples of your artistic work, but may also include letters of support, reviews, interviews, etc.
• For each item uploaded, provide a description of the material which could include creation date, medium, location, names of artists, etc.
• Uploaded video or audio files should total no more than 10 minutes in length, and all files should be less than 2GB in size. Uploads are preferable to links whenever possible, so that access for assessors is as simple as possible.
• Links must be direct and public. These links should go directly to the support material specified, rather than to a landing page or home page requiring further navigation by assessors.

Please do not provide links that go through file sharing sites, such as Spotify, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc., or online portals that require an account to access. This is for the privacy of assessors, as well as to have direct access.

Please do not submit images as PDF files; instead, directly upload images in JPEG or PNG format.

Organizational Effectiveness

Organizational Effectiveness is discussed on page 11 of the EAC’s Investment Framework.

The EAC supports organizations that are operated and governed on a not-for-profit basis. This means the organization:

• Exists for a collective social benefit.
• Does not financially profit by ownership.
• Can earn money and pay fair wages.
• Can generate income in excess of expenditures.
• Responsibly re-invests its resources, including surpluses over time, into pursuing the organization’s mission.

Structure & Focus – Is the organization:

• Clear in its mission, consistent with goals carried out in the public interest for socially beneficial purposes?
• Registered in some way under Alberta or Canadian law, consistent with its mission?
• Organized in some way consistent with its mission and registration?

Governance – Does the Organization have or show the following?

• Current and updated documents that define its mission and structure, such as Bylaws.
• A structured group that provides oversight and direction, such as a Board or Steering Committee.
• Systems that provide for and are used towards the regular renewal of that oversight group.
• An annual budget, and regular financial statements approved by the oversight group.
• Systems that provide for the regular review of the mission, activities, management and finances by the oversight group, and evidence that the systems are used.

Management – Does the organization operate consistently with:

• Evidence that required registration documents have been managed on a timely basis to maintain the organization in good standing?
• Systems for monitoring and controlling budget expenditures?
• Financial systems, reports, and audit practices consistent with the size of the organization, or the level of public funding it receives?
• Human resource policies and practices consistent with the size and scale of the organization?
• Evidence that those policies, systems, and practices are implemented effectively?

Impact

Impact is discussed on page 12 of EAC Funding Investments 2024.

There is no expectation that organizations will have impact in all four areas. Organizations pursue their mandates and objectives and may specialize in specific areas of impact. The areas of impact are designed to help the EAC categorize and synthesize information about the broader arts ecology.

Impact on Artists and Arts Workers

• The effects and impacts that this organization has on individual artists.
• This could be through the payment of artists, career development, etc.

Impact on Artform / Artistic Discipline

• The effects the organization has on a particular artistic discipline. 
  
• This area of impact is focused on the art form itself, not the art practitioner (e.g., dance as an artform, not the individual dancer).

Impact on the Arts Sector

• The impact of the organization on the arts community and arts sector more broadly. 
  
• Primarily measured through facility spaces, tools, equipment or administrative support provided to artists; contribution to sector knowledge and networks; development of new models or best practices and research. May display cultural leadership and build reputation.

Impact on the Public

• The effects that the organization has on the audiences, the Edmonton public, and communities. This may include arts practitioners, but only in the sense of being a member of the audience or Edmonton public. 
  

Contribution to the Edmonton Arts Ecosystem

The value of the organization’s continued strategic development within the context of the Edmonton arts ecosystem.

The identification of the organization’s engagement through the following priority areas (if any):

• Demonstrated commitment to the fair and professional payment of Edmonton artists and arts workers.
• Effective pursuit of their primary mandate(s) to support, engage, produce, or present work by and for Indigenous communities and/​or equity-seeking groups.
• Provision of accessible or low-cost public programming to a wide range of Edmontonians, for example by presenting a free festival event.
• Effective operational management of Edmonton arts facilities that are accessible and available for the use of multiple artists, audiences, and communities.

ASSESSMENT PROCESS

Once an application is submitted, the EAC reviews the submission for eligibility and completion. If the application needs additional information, you may receive a revision request. The EAC will then prepare an internal review of the submission, including information to share with assessors that is relevant to the assessment criteria, and historical knowledge of the organization.

A panel of diverse, knowledgeable members from the community will then review the applications and conduct their assessment. These assessment panels will provide evaluation, context, and recommendations to the EAC on the organization’s work and impact.

Assessors will use: 

• The submitted application;
• The program guidelines;
• Past records regarding the organization’s organizational effectiveness;
• An assessment form focused on criteria related to the intentions of this funding.

Funding is not guaranteed. The goal of the Funding Strategy is to direct available funds where they will have the most impact. Through the assessment process, organizations may be recommended to maintain, increase or decrease current funding levels. Organizations no longer maintaining suitable standards, or that no longer engage in arts and cultural activities, may see a reduction, which could result in being phased out of the program.

Assessors provide input on investment recommendations to the EAC, which are considered alongside internal review, and historical information. Following assessment, EAC staff will summarize all relevant information when presenting investment recommendations for approval.

Investment decisions made by the EAC through this process are final.

This process will take 6 months from the deadline. Thank you for your patience!

For more on assessment, please review the 2024 Investment Framework.

For technical support with the SmartSimple application, email support@​edmontonarts.​ca or call 780−424−2787. If this is your first application to this program, we encourage you to contact us at grants@​edmontonarts.​ca.

RESOURCES

Please visit the Resources section of our website for more information on profile and application expectations:

• Video resources
• Funding FAQ

DRAFT APPLICATION ASSISTANCE

The EAC offers the opportunity for applicants to have their draft application reviewed before the submission deadline.

If you would like someone to review your draft application with you, please email no later than 10 business days before the application deadline. Requests for review made after this time may not be possible.

Please ensure you have a complete draft of your application ready in SmartSimple at least 2 days (48 hours) before your scheduled meeting. If you do not have a draft ready in SmartSimple, your meeting may be rescheduled to accommodate serving applicants that are able to have their drafts reviewed.

REVISION REQUESTS

If your application requires an update or additional information, the named applicant will receive a Revision Request by email. This information is mandatory and if not completed may result in your application being withdrawn from assessment. You must log in to the SmartSimple portal to see the details of a Revision Request. 

Please add support@​edmontonarts.​ca to your safe senders list to ensure you don’t miss notifications from SmartSimple. Check your email regularly in the weeks after submitting to see if your application requires attention.

FEEDBACK

Feedback to organizations will be provided in writing following the assessment. These Assessment Reports will be presented as PDF documents attached to the application in SmartSimple. The applicant will receive a notification email when these reports are available. Assessment Reports will contain feedback from the internal review as well as the assessment process. Organizations are encouraged to consider the feedback provided when applying for future EAC funding. Some organizations may experience changes in their funding relationship with the EAC in response to this feedback, and the priorities laid out in the Funding Strategy.