What does this program support?
The Black Arts Projects Program provides support to individual artists, artist collectives of 2 or more Black artists working on a non-profit basis and incorporated non-profit Toronto Black arts organizations.
This grant supports arts projects by Black artists, Black artist collectives, and Black-led, Black-focused and Black-serving organizations and is intended to support the development, continuation, and flourishing of Black arts communities.
This program is multidisciplinary and recognizes a diversity of art practice, including new and emerging art forms, culturally relevant art practices, and multi/ interdisciplinary arts projects. Applicants can apply for projects that engage one or multiple arts disciplines.
Applicants may apply in one of two categories described below:
1. Creation & Development: Supports full creation, partial creation, or completion of work-in-progress of an arts-based project at any stage and in any arts discipline. Project activities may include artistic creation in one or more stages of a project, including an arts education project (i.e., workshop(s)). This may also include OR solely focus on the beginning stage of research and development.
Open to individual artists and artist collectives
Maximum grant in this category is $10,000
Maximum grant in this category including a mentorship component is $15,000
Expenses can include:
Artistic, production and administrative fees and costs, including venue, publicity, marketing and outreach;
Fees paid to collaborators, mentors and creative resources;
Studio costs, materials and production elements that are essential to creation;
Rental of space or software to conduct research interviews; accessing support materials, i.e., archives;
Visiting sites of significance.
2. Presentation: supports exhibition, presentation, and dissemination of work by Black artists in any arts discipline
Open to individual artists, artist collectives and arts organizations (this component does not fund creation of works meant for presentation);
Activities may include a series or one-off exhibition, festival, or presentation in one or more arts disciplines and/ dissemination of existing work;
This component does not fund workshops and conferences;
Maximum grant in this category is $15,000;
Maximum grant in this category including a mentorship component is $20,000;
Expenses can include:
Artistic, presentation, exhibition and administrative fees and costs, including installation, rehearsal, venue, and production;
Dissemination costs including publicity, marketing and outreach;
Fees paid to collaborators and mentors.
Additional resources for project grant recipients include:
i. Mentorship – mentorship for project grant recipients interested in connecting with artists that can support them in building or acquiring skill sets to develop their art practice. A mentorship option will be available in each project grant category and applicants will be asked to indicate which mentor(s) they would like to work with and provide rationale for the mentorship. An additional budget of up to $5000 is available as compensation for mentors and mentees.
ii. Arts Career Development - drop-in workshops focused on growing and establishing art practice. Project grant recipients may request and select sessions that are of benefit to them.
iii. Black Futures Studios Co-Creation Lab - access to a multidisciplinary co-creation lab for artists to collaborate, meet, and exchange ideas. This space will provide open multidisciplinary studio spaces to create and collaborate on work.
How to apply
Applicants register and submit the application on TAC Grants Online (https://tac.smartsimple.ca). Applications can be submitted on an ongoing basis, any time before 11:59 pm on September 23, 2024.
After 11:59 pm on September 23, 2024, your 2024 application can still be accessed in your Application History page in TAC Grants Online. To work on a new application after September 23, 2024, you can start a new draft from the Apply page after the program re-opens by November for the following granting year.
Learn more and read the full program guidelines here!