Arts-Based Community Development & Leon and Thea Koerner Award

Description

The Arts-Based Community Development (A-BCD) program supports eligible organizations to either:

  • Engage professional artists in the development and delivery of projects that provide arts-based community development impacts and benefits to a specified community through the creation and presentation of new artworks.

or

  • Provide training or mentoring for artists or community workers to understand and learn about how to create and safely implement or facilitate arts-based community development projects.

This program provides support in two categories:

Category 1: New Work by Participants

Applications for New Work by Participants projects:

  • Have professional artist(s) facilitate an artistic creation process with a specified community to create new artistic work.
  • Are collaborative, with participants actively involved in development of the ideas and making of the artwork.
  • Clearly describe the processes that will be used by the artist(s) and the participants in developing the work.
  • Recognize the long-term commitment required of community-engaged practice by allowing projects to be presented in single iterations or in phases over a maximum of three years.
  • Publicly presents the collaborative artwork created by participants.

Category 2: Training for A-BCD Practitioners

Training for A-BCD Practitioners projects:

  • Focus on training and skills development for artists to be able to initiate and conduct arts-based community development activities.
  • Create opportunities for experienced arts-based community development practitioners to demonstrate new ways of knowledge sharing, including training or mentoring artists and social service practitioners in safe and effective approaches to arts-based community development.
  • Enhances the capacity of artists to provide leadership by offering them an opportunity to develop their practice as a means of community transformation or social change.
  • May also involve creation of New Works by Participants in a specified community, but a significant focus of the project must describe the training and learning for A-BCD practitioner(s), taking place under supervision and mentorship of experienced A-BCD practitioner(s) as project lead(s).
  • Are presented publicly, if applicable.

The Leon and Thea Koerner Awards (LTK Award) are grants provided by the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation through a partnership with the BC Arts Council. The LTK Award is given to up to 5 organizations that are recognized for achieving social benefit through excellence and innovation, creating projects that lead to social change or transformation. This aligns with the principles of arts-based community development.

Program Guidelines (PDF)

Application Preview (Word)

Application Checklist  (PDF)

Review the Program Guidelines to learn about:

  • How to apply
  • Who can apply
  • Eligible projects and expenses
  • Exclusions
  • Grant amounts
  • What is needed for the application, including support material
  • How applications will be assessed

Please review the Program Guidelines before contacting the Program Advisor.

Professional Artist Information Form (fillable PDF)

Social Service Lead Form (fillable PDF)

Applications are currently being accepted until May 16, 2024.

Resources

Information Session

Application Assistance

This program provides funding for support services required to create and submit grant applications, project updates, and final reports for BC Arts Council grants.

Access Support

This program provides additional funding to support access costs associated with a project funded by a BC Arts Council grant.

How to Apply

Applications are submitted through the Grant Management System.

New applicants must register and create a profile in the online system. Once the registration request is submitted, it may take up to four business days to process your request.