Alberta Foundation for the Arts – Indigenous Arts Individual Project Funding

Project funding for Indigenous artists in Alberta, and it is unusually broad about what a project can be: creating and producing work, marketing and audience-building, research, and training or career development including mentorship and master classes. For a musician that stretches to recording and production costs, commission fees, a mentorship with a senior artist, travel and accommodation, promotion, royalties, supplies, and basic living expenses of up to $3,000 a month while the work is happening.

The ceiling is $18,000, and the AFA will fund up to 100% of eligible expenses, so no match funding is required — the request is simply your costs minus any other income you expect. Capital purchases, property, building a studio, recreational training and costs already incurred are excluded.

You need to be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or Protected Person, to have had your main home in Alberta for at least a year, and to live there at least six months a year. Individuals, ensembles and unincorporated collectives can all apply.

Applications go through the GATE portal, and first-time applicants should register at least five working days early. Alongside the project description, budget and artistic resume, you submit work samples: up to ten images, five minutes of audio or video, or written work. Project descriptions may be given orally, up to three minutes, and Indigenous artists may describe their cultural background in place of a conventional CV.

Deadlines are 1 September and 1 March. An expert panel weighs artistic merit, your capacity to deliver, whether the budget makes sense, the project's impact on you and on the art form in Alberta, and its connection to Indigenous culture and community. Decisions take four to six months.