Back to All Grants Creative Communities Annual Operating Grants for organizations to support work that enables public participation in arts and culture. Application Deadline March 3, 2025 Grant Category Discipline Apply Guidelines What does this program support? Who can apply? First time applicants What activities does this program fund? Additional information Introduction What does this program support? Who can apply? First time applicants What activities does this program fund? Additional information Reach out to a Grant Manager Kevin Reigh Senior Manager, Arts Discipline Programs 416-392-6802 x 227 kevin@torontoartscouncil.org What does this program support? The Creative Communities Program provides Annual Operating support to non-profit Toronto arts organizations (both incorporated and unincorporated) engaged on an ongoing basis in work that enables public participation in arts and culture. Funding through this program supports both operations and programming. The City of Toronto supports this program through a funding allocation approved annually by Toronto City Council. Art practiced at a community level creates a powerful sense of inclusion, understanding, and the possibility of self-expression among participants. It can involve one or more art practices, such as music, dance, theatre, visual arts, and storytelling. The collaborative involvement of professional artists with community members is a necessary component. TAC contributes to the development of community arts in Toronto by supporting community-engaged arts activity that demonstrates vision and excellence. In addition to funding professional arts organizations and community groups engaged in community arts activities, TAC recognizes the vital contribution emerging arts organizations make to the cultural life of Toronto and provides funding opportunities to assist these groups to access professional artistic leadership. Who can apply? To be eligible for this funding, an applicant must:1 be non-profit; have professional artistic leadership and pay appropriate professional fees to artists; be located in the City of Toronto and have a significant portion of its activities occurring within the City; have a history of sustained creative communities activity over the two years prior to this application; have received a minimum of two project grants through TAC’s Arts Discipline or Strategic programs; have a viable administrative structure; have sound financial management; submit verification of financial results of the last completed fiscal year: for requests over $50,000, audited financial statements are required; for requests of $50,000 or less, if annual operating revenues are $100,000 or more, a review engagement is required, (or, if available, audited financial statements); for requests of $25,000 or less, if annual operating revenues are under $100,000, unaudited financial statements that include a balance sheet and a statement of income and expenses is required, (or, if available, audited financial statements or a review engagement); demonstrate a range of revenue sources on an annual basis, including earned, government and private sector revenues; be governed by a Board of Directors or other body responsible for the organization. Schools, tuition-funded training programs and curriculum-based programs are not eligible to apply to this program. Organizations must conduct their creative communities activities on an annual, ongoing basis either throughout the year or on a seasonal basis. A single project does not constitute annual or seasonal activity. Organizations, whose level of activity varies from season to season, in keeping with their mandate, must describe their multi-year creation and production cycle. Annual and biennial festivals that have completed a minimum of two editions are also eligible. First-Time applicants First-time applicants are organizations that did not receive an operating grant last year. First-time applicants must consult with the Creative Communities Program Manager before submitting an operating grant application. Additional eligibility requirement. First-time applicants must have at least $75,000 in total revenues for the last completed year, and in projected revenues for the current and request years. First-time applicants to the Annual Operating program may only apply in the first year of a multi-year cycle. What activities does this program fund? Community Engaged Arts: This program funds professional arts organizations that bring artists and communities together to do creative and participatory work. The engagement can be through programs such as: storefront and neighbourhood-based arts centres artist residencies collaborative creation and presentation/exhibition of artwork workshops and mentoring exploration of community issues through art sustaining of traditional, culturally-based art forms The organizations must include Toronto-based professional artists in its programs. Please note that, although teaching and learning (from group workshops to one-on-one mentoring) can be an important part of the community arts process, this program does not fund faculty salaries.Arts Service Organizations: This program funds professional arts organization that supports the work of professional artists working at a community level. This can include: organizations that provide booking/promotional services to professional artists working in schools, parks, libraries and community centres multidisciplinary arts organizations that serve and support artist-members organizations whose primary purpose is to support the professional practice of community arts Additional information TAC Accessibility Grant Projects involving Deaf artists and artists with disabilities may apply for an additional TAC grant by completing the Accessibility Expenses section of the application and including the requisite information in their budget. A TAC Accessibility grant will provide up to a maximum of $5,000 towards accessibility costs for artists incurred during the project. Accessibility costs include but are not limited to: ASL interpretation, audio description, closed captioning, communications assistants, attendant care (including helpers for Elders), support workers and equipment rentals or other supports required to meet artists’ accessibility needs). Application Accessibility Support Applicants who are Deaf or have a disability and need support to complete their grant applications can apply for funds to cover the costs of assistance from Application Support Service Providers. Up to $500 is available per eligible applicant in each calendar year. Please contact your Grant Program Manager at least six weeks before the grant program deadline to determine eligibility, request application support funding, and to review the process for payment to be made to your Service Provider. Requests for application support require approval from the Grant Program Manager. Additional information here. Can I apply to other TAC grants? Toronto Arts Council has two Grant Categories:1. Discipline (e.g.: discipline-specific project grants and operating grants in Theatre, Dance, Music, etc.)2. Strategic (e.g.: Animating Toronto Parks, Artists in the Library, Animating Historic Sites, Artreach, Open Door, etc.) Creative Communities Annual Operating is a Discipline program. Applicants may receive a maximum of one Discipline grant per calendar year. Applicants may not apply for more than one Discipline grant at a time. However, we offer other types of granting opportunities through our Strategic Category, and you may be eligible to apply to one of these programs. Please note: if you apply for a Creative Communities Annual Operating grant you cannot also apply to another TAC program for the same project. For more detail on our granting categories, go to our About Our Grants page. about our grants TAC recognizes that due to systemic barriers within the broader arts community (e.g. limited mainstream presentation opportunities for artists from equity-seeking communities) that some flexibility may be required in interpreting eligibility criteria to take into account equivalent professional experience and contexts. Potential applicants from equity-seeking communities are encouraged to discuss their eligibility with the Program Manager in advance of submitting an application.