TOURISM, HERITAGE & CULTURE
CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Operational Grant Program
Production / Presentation Arts Organizations Component
- Program Deadline: April 15th -
2014-2015 PROGRAM GUIDELINES
Goals
Administered by the Cultural Development Branch (CDB) of the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture (the Department), the
Production/Presentation Arts Organizations Component of the Operational Grant Program provides operating grants for eligible
organizations that meet the evaluation criteria to help them produce and present arts programs and products in order to promote the
vitality of the arts community. The program is designed to help strengthen the artistic and organizational capacities of eligible
organizations to ensure their ongoing artistic growth and development.
Objective
Drawing from the Cultural Policy for New Brunswick’s goals with respect to access to culture through arts organizations in New
Brunswick, the program seeks to achieve the following:
 Help organizations improve access to, and create a greater awareness of culture in New Brunswick resulting in measurable
increases in participation in cultural activities;
 Support excellence and professionalism in arts organizations, measured by the organizations’ ability to improve capacity, to
develop staff through increased levels of professionalism (artists/creators, arts professionals, administrators) and to
disseminate artistic works and or arts products of high quality;
 Enhance the contributions of culture to New Brunswick’s quality of life and economic growth, and ;
 Support the efforts of arts organizations to achieve greater self-sufficiency; greater efficiency in service delivery and financial
management; and reduce their dependence on public funding.
Program Structure
The Operational Grant Program aims to support Production/Presentation-based Arts Organizations that represent the best investment
for the province. The evaluation process will focus on the merit of the applications and reward excellence, growth, and efficiency of
organizational structure and financial management. Applicants will be assessed along three main pillars which are:
1) Artistic excellence and organizational professionalism;
2) Audience development; and
3) Cultural sector development.
The Production/Presentation-based Arts Organizations program component is for organizations whose main role is to produce and/or
present works to the public. It recognizes the following:
 Production: professional performing arts organizations (theatre, dance and music);
 Presentation: professional visual and media arts organizations.
Applicant Eligibility
Note: For First-time applicants: Prior to submitting an application to the program, interested organizations must contact the Cultural
Development Branch to discuss status and eligibility with program officers, no less than two months before the application deadline.
An organization wishing to enter the program for the first time should have a history of two years’ project funding from the Department,
ideally on projects that enhance the organization’s operational capacity and/or strategic positioning in the sector.
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Based on program objectives outlined above, the Department reserves the right to make the final decision with respect to granting a
new applicant access to the program.
Organizations applying under this program must demonstrate that they:
 Are a production/presentation-based arts organization whose main role is to produce and/or present works to the public;
 Are incorporated as a non-profit organization;
 Are established in New Brunswick;
 Have been in operation for at least two years;
 Operate on a full-time basis and support ongoing activities;
 Are not in violation of the Act under which it was incorporated;
 Employ qualified professionals in designated administrative and/or artistic positions (i.e. director, coordinator, artistic director,
etc.)
Ineligible Organizations
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Recreational or commercial organizations;
Organizations that failed to submit a report on an earlier grant awarded by the Department or that submitted an incomplete
report;
Universities, colleges, and municipalities, except university galleries that support the presentation of professional New
Brunswick artists;
Capital projects (equipment, renovations, new buildings etc.) and fundraising activities.
Evaluation Process
Pre-Assessment:
Before forwarding applications to the independent assessment panel, the Department conducts an initial review of the application
and/or organization to ensure basic eligibility to the program. An application may be withheld from the panel if:
 The submission is late;
 The submission does not contain all required components and the organization fails to forward the information to the
Department on request, in a timely manner;
 The applicant has failed to address serious issues identified by previous assessment panels;
 The organization fails to meet its financial obligations and/or the required reports, and financial forms for other funded projects
are not forwarded to the Department in a timely manner;
 The organization undergoes a disruption of activities that has a negative impact on the organization;
 The organization is in violation of the Act under which it was incorporated;
 The funding budget available to the Department is reduced such that a revision of the expenditure plan is necessary.
Assessment Panel:
Following pre-assessment, applications are forwarded to an independent application assessment panel. Panellists conduct an
individual scoring of each application, and then meet about four weeks later to discuss and score the applications as a group.
The application assessment panel consists of independent professionals working in the arts sector in Canada with the knowledge and
expertise to make sound qualitative judgements in their field, whether as practicing artists, creators, interpreters, arts administrators,
directors, arts critics, arts educators, or other arts professionals.
Members are selected to ensure fair representation of expertise, knowledge of the arts sector, regional diversity, language and culture.
The panel’s recommendations are based on the merit of the applicant’s overall operations, in terms of meeting the program objectives.
Specifically, the panel examines each applicant’s relative success in the areas of Excellence, Audience Development and Cultural
Sector Development. A copy of the Evaluation Grid is available on the website of the Cultural Development Branch, or by request to the
Department via email.
Once the panel’s group discussion and scoring of applications is complete, final recommendations are made for each applicant’s grant
allocation.
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Evaluation Criteria
The multi-criteria evaluation method is based on general criteria linked to the program objectives, which are based on the objectives of
the Cultural Policy. The evaluation takes into account the applicant’s organizational effectiveness (fiscal responsibility, efficiency) and
the overall artistic merit and impact of its productions and presentations. To guide applicants, an explanation of each criterion is found
in the Application Form.
Grant Requirements
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Organizations must complete the program Application Form, including all required attachments;
Organizations must acknowledge the support of the Province of New Brunswick in all promotional material of the organization.
Note: In the case of disagreement concerning the interpretation of its policies and programs, the Department reserves the
right to final interpretation of the intent and implementation of a program. The Department reserves the right to revise
programs at any time without notice.
Grant modification and allocation
At the outset of the panel evaluation process, applicant funding allocation begins with a base amount of 80% of the previous year’s
grant. Any supplementary amount to the grant is based on the strength and merit of the application (described above), and
recommended by the panel. The panel may recommend that an applicant receive 100% of the previous year’s grant (status quo), an
increase to the previous year’s grant, or a decrease to the previous year’s grant (less than 100% of the previous year’s grant, or less
than 80% of the previous year’s grant).
The panel may also recommend that no grant be allocated.
This may occur if:
 The organization has not met minimum standard requirements as a Production/Presentation Organization, or the work of the
organization is a duplication of the work offered by another organization;
 The organization has failed to demonstrate significant improvement in problem areas identified by previous panels.
Notification of Results
Production/Presentation Arts Organizations will be notified of the results within three months following the application deadline.
Reporting Requirements
Production/Presentation Arts Organizations are required to complete financial and statistical reports on the CADAC website, as well as
provide a year-end report of activities with the application before being eligible for funding to the next fiscal year. Annual financial
reports are also required.
An organization in receipt of an annual operational grant will be required to provide these report documents with the application form for
the next fiscal year. The deadline date to receive all documents is April 15th.
These documents are:
 Online CADAC financial form (see application form for details);
 Online CADAC statistical form (see application form for details);
 Year-end report of activities, which include:
o Major accomplishments of the current year;
o Human Resources challenges;
o Financial challenges;
o Objectives for the up-coming year.
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Financial reconciliation
CADAC’s role is to ensure that last year’s actual financial figures are the same in CADAC and in the organisation’s own report –
CADAC’s role is to reconcile the financial statements for the last completed year and the financial data in CADAC. CADAC will be in
touch with the applicant directly if the figures don’t match. Grant cheques can be withheld until the applicant completes all changes
required by CADAC.
Additional Information
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The Department must be notified immediately of any change in the initial application or the budget submitted.
Applicants must keep the guidelines and a copy of their application form for their records.
The Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture is subject to the Right to Information Act and the Protection of Personal
Information Act.
The guidelines for this component may be modified without any notice and apply to all applications submitted.
Acknowledgement of Department’s Support
Successful applicants must acknowledge the support of the Government of New Brunswick in all promotional material associated with
the grant.
Release of Information to the Public
The applicant hereby acknowledges and agrees that, if awarded a grant, the name of the grant recipient, the recipient’s community, the
program name, and the amount of the grant, will be published by the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture on the Government
of New Brunswick web site and in the Department’s Annual Report.
Application Deadline
Complete applications must be submitted by April 15th. Applications received after the deadline will NOT be accepted.
Contact Information and Mailing Address
Should you have any questions or require any assistance, please contact Rebekah Chasse or Caroline Young Walker, Program
Officers and Consultants with the Cultural Development Branch of the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture at Rebekah
Chassé, (506) 453-5372, rebekah.chassé@gnb.ca or Caroline Walker, (506) 444-5303, caroline.walker@gnb.ca.
Complete applications must be mailed to the following address:
Cultural Development Branch
Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture
670 King Street, P.O. Box 6000
Fredericton, NB E3B 5H1
Phone : (506) 453-2555 · Fax : (506) 453-2416