This funding provides up to $18,000 to support the development of an individual Indigenous artist, arts administrators, or an ensemble of artists in Alberta by providing funding for a specific cultural or artistic project.
Deadline Information
March 3, 2025
September 2, 2025
Who can apply
Individual eligibility criteria
The AFA celebrates and supports diversity and is committed to creating equitable, inclusive, and accessible programs for all, free of barriers and discrimination. We recognize the unique contributions all artists make towards our community, and encourage applicants representing diverse communities, including Indigenous peoples, racialized communities, women, people with disabilities, and the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
To be eligible for individual project funding, you must be a resident of Alberta. This means you:
- are a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or Protected Person with an open work or study permit from inside Canada
- have had your primary residence in Alberta for at least one full year before applying
- ordinarily live in Alberta for a least six months of each year with the exception of attending a formal program of study
You must be in good standing with the AFA with no open or outstanding projects or reporting to apply. Previous grant recipients must ensure all final reporting has been approved by the AFA before new applications are accepted.
Applicants, including ensembles or collectives, must not be incorporated under either provincial or federal legislation.
Collaborating artists, ensembles, and collectives
Collaborating artists, ensembles, and collectives are eligible to apply to this program if all project co-owners meet the individual eligibility criteria as defined above.
The AFA defines project co-owners as:
- Â those who share in the ownership or copyright of the created work
- Â those who have a significant financial stake in the project
For the purposes of this funding opportunity, in addition to the lead applicant, co-owners include, but may not be limited to, the following:
- Dance projects: choreographers and producers
- Film and Video projects: writers, directors, and producers
- Literary Arts projects: writers and writers/illustrators
- Music projects: ensemble and band members, and song writers
- Theatre projects: directors, playwrights, choreographers, lyricists, and composers
- Visual Arts and New Media projects: visual artists, curators, directors (time-based or performative media), and composers or writers (audio or text-based work)
Unless identified as retaining ownership or copyright of the work, contributors who are not normally considered co-owners include, but may not be limited to, the following:
- For all artistic disciplines:Â Mentors, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers
- Dance projects: dancers, performers, designers, stage managers, videographers
- Film and Video projects: performers and/or narrators, director of photography, assistant directors, production designers, art directors
- Literary Arts projects: story/script editors, contracted illustrators/visual artists, beta readers, interview subjects
- Music projects: session musicians, producers, arrangers
- Theatre projects: dramaturgs, stage managers, designers, performers
- Visual Arts and New Media projects: studio assistants, technicians
Project co-owners must select a lead applicant to submit the application. The lead applicant must ensure all co-owners are listed in the application and is responsible for submitting the complete application before the program deadline.
If the project is approved for funding, the lead applicant is also responsible for receiving and managing any funds and completing any related reporting for the project.
If you are unsure whether an artist should be listed as a co-owner in your application, please contact your Arts Development Consultant as listed.
What does this funding support?
Types of projects
Through this opportunity, you may apply for project funding to support artistic and cultural activities:
- artistic and cultural production
- marketing
- research
- training and career development
Artistic and cultural production includes the development, creation, and production of a work.
- projects should be confined to a distinct phase of a work
- Alberta individual artists that have been contracted by commissioners to create a specific work are eligible to apply for project support through this funding opportunity
Marketing includes a program of activity for a specific period that promotes, advertises or disseminates work created by Alberta's Indigenous artists, and/or develops audiences for the artist's work.
Research includes a program of activity for a specific period of time that supports or results in the development of an artistic or cultural project. This may include the gathering of natural materials.
Training and career development in Indigenous arts can include:
- workshops
- master classes
- retreats
- mentorship programs
- professional development
- courses of study in art forms, including working with mentors or Elders
Eligible expenses
You can receive up to $18,000 to support your project. You may apply for up to 100% of eligible expenses that are directly related to carrying out your proposed project.
These expenses may include, but are not limited to:
- contracted artist and/or technician fees
- commission fees
- production
- promotion and publicity
- transportation and accommodation
- tuition or training fees
- royalties
- administration and contract fees
- basic living/subsistence expenses (housing, local transportation, food, child care, dependent care) up to $3,000/month
- other expenses and supplies considered by the AFA to be reasonable and necessary
Ineligible projects and expenses
Projects and expenses that are ineligible for AFA project funding include:
- projects eligible for funding, or already funded by, the Alberta Media Fund (AMF)
- expenses for capital purchases, such as buildings or property, or for capital development, and studio construction or renovations
- recreational training projects
- artistic activities or projects undertaken in order to fulfill credit or thesis requirements
- projects that are primarily commercial in nature
- expenses already inccurred prior to application submission, including grant writer fees