Arts and culture organizations now can apply for grants of up to $50,000 for small capital projects.

By investing in creative spaces, the new Collaborative Spaces Program will:

• grow the creative economy;
• promote artistic creation;
• increase shared resources and facilitate collaboration; and
• enhance accessibility for artists and audiences throughout B.C.

This program follows a successful pilot in 2015-16 and is part of the Creative Economy Strategy’s commitment to target $1.5 million toward collaborative creative spaces over three years.

Collaborative Spaces grants will support:

• Renovations to expand or repurpose an existing creative space (for example, a gallery or theatre).
• Renovations to expand or repurpose an existing community facility for increased creative purposes (for example, a friendship centre or heritage site).
• The purchase of specialized equipment (for example, a film projector, theatre seating or sound equipment).

A limited number of project grants will be available each year, and may be applied for up to 80% of the project costs. The remaining 20% can be matched through cash or in-kind contributions from other sources.

Arts and culture groups, band councils, Aboriginal friendship centres and non-profit organizations with an arts and culture mandate are eligible to apply. The application deadline is Sept. 1, 2016.

Quotes:

Community, Sport and Cultural Development Minister Peter Fassbender –

“Improved cultural facilities have far-reaching benefits, enhancing artistic creation and helping create healthy, vibrant communities. By investing $1.5 million over three years in collaborative creative spaces, our government is helping to grow our province’s creative economy.”

Michael Colclough, Executive Director, Wachiay Friendship Centre Society –

“Collaborative Spaces funding is responsible for moving our community artist and youth multimedia hub project from a dream to reality. Local artists and youth now have a dedicated facility to work on their digital and analog artistic creations with state-of-the-art equipment available for audio and video experimentation. The hub will make an incredible contribution to the arts in our community.”

Quick Facts:

• The B.C. government invested $436,300 in 11 arts organizations as part of the 2015-16 Collaborative Spaces pilot project.
• Launched in February 2016, the three-year Creative Economy Strategy will help grow the creative sector.
• The strategy focuses on four key areas:
  • Leveraging talent and creative clusters.
  • Accessing new markets.
  • Maximizing investment.
  • Enriching communities.
• The United Nations has identified the creative economy as one of the world’s fastest-growing sectors for income generation, job creation and export earnings.
• With 24,800 artists, B.C. has more artists per capita than any other province.
• British Columbia’s culture GDP was $6.7 billion in 2014, representing 3% of B.C.’s economy.
• British Columbia had 81,385 culture jobs in 2014, or 3.5% of total jobs in B.C.
• The B.C. government is spending more than $60 million on artists, arts and culture organizations in 2016-17, including $24 million for the BC Arts Council and about $17.5 million in community gaming grants.

Learn More:

For a list of recipients of the 2015-16 Collaborative Spaces pilot project, visit: http://ow.ly/4ndx9x

For more information about the Creative Economy Strategy and the Collaborative Spaces Program, including the program guidelines and application form, visit: http://www.gov.bc.ca/creativeeconomy