2023-24 Explore and Create Funding Results

Overview

• The Canada Council for the Arts has heard requests from various stakeholders within and beyond the arts community for more transparency about the results of our granting competitions, including a detailed breakdown of the results.
• In response, the Council is publishing the 2023-24 competition results for two components of its Explore and Create Program. As this is the first time we are releasing competition results in this concerted way, we look forward to your feedback. Your response will inform how the Council publishes the results of future competitions as they are completed.
• The results include summary results on number of applications, requested amounts and awarded amounts, and more detailed information about grant recipients and success rates by type of applicant, designated priority group, province and territory, and field of practice, and statistics on peer assessment committees.

Research and Creation and Concept to Realization components (2023-24)

About the Explore and Create Program

The Explore and Create program of the Canada Council for the Arts funds Canadian individual artists, artistic groups, and arts organizations committed to the creation and dissemination of innovative, vibrant, and diverse art. Explore and Create supports the research, development, creation, and production of artistic works, encouraging artists to investigate creative processes and take risks that lead to the development of unique works destined to connect with the public. 

The Research and Creation component supports the initial stages of the creative process. Canadian artists, artistic groups and arts organizations can apply to develop and make creative works. Grants provide support for creative research, creation and project development.

The Concept to Realization component supports the full creative cycle – from the initial idea through to presentation, at any stage of the creative continuum. Canadian artists, artistic groups and arts organizations can apply to create projects intended for presentation. Grants provide support for artistic research, creation, project development, remounts, production, post-production and presentation.

Funding Results | Overview

2023-24 highlights for the Research and Creation and Concept to Realization funding components of the Explore and Create program (excluding composite grants).

• 13,349 applications assessed by 458 peers
• 2,162 successful applications resulting in a 16.2% application success rate
• 741 successful applicants or 34% of all recipients received their first grant from Council
• $68M awarded across both components
• $53.2M or 78.3% of total funding was awarded to individual artists

Each of the 13,349 distinct project grant applications assessed in 2023-24 by peers was evaluated in a comparative group context where highly ranking evaluated applications received, by default, the full amount of the eligible funds requested. Therefore, almost all the 2,162 successful grant applications were awarded the total eligible amount requested.

Table 1: Application and Funding Statistics By Applicant Type

Applicant Type	Number of Applications Assessed	Number of Successful Applications	Application Success Rate	Total Requested	Total Awarded
Individual	11,546	1,765	15.3%	$354,838,672	$53,247,060
Group	1,056	196	18.6%	$37,660,611	$7,233,070
Organization	747	201	26.9%	$28,815,730	$7,532,450
Total	13,349	2,162	16.2%	$421,315,013	$68,012,580

Funding Results | By Designated Priority Groups

In alignment with the Council’s 2021-26 Strategic Plan, Art, now more than ever, we are committed to improving access to our funding to youth, official language minority communities, and historically underserved and marginalized communities including Indigenous, Black, racialized, Deaf and disability, and 2SLGBTQI+ and gender-diverse communities, women, and artists at intersections of these groups.

Since 2017, the Council has used the term “designated priority group” to refer to communities for which it has implemented measures to address the historical and ongoing barriers they face in society, improve their access to our funding, and/or respond to legislative obligations. The Council supports Indigenous, racialized (formerly referred to as culturally diverse), Deaf and disability, and official language minority communities through targeted funding and initiatives. As the Council monitors and reports on funding to these groups, we can provide a breakdown of the competition results by designated priority groups.

We recognize that there are other communities facing racism and other forms of discrimination that are not identified in our Strategic Plan, which does not invalidate their lived experience.

Read more about the Council's funding mechanisms including dedicated funds and strategic investment provisions in the Equity Policy.

Table 2: Application and Funding Statistics by Designated Priority Group

Designated Priority Group	Number of Applications Assessed	Number of Successful Applications	Application Success Rate	Total Requested	Total Awarded
Indigenous	354	98	27.7%	$12,750,574	$3,610,640
Racialized	3,721	920	24.7%	$131,834,662	$30,947,930
Deaf and/or Disability	1,798	319	17.7%	$56,906,504	$9,826,500
Anglophone Official Language Minority Communities	1,178	203	17.2%	$36,397,401	$6,485,360
Francophone Official Language Minority Communities	647	105	16.2%	$21,697,725	$3,215,150

Information on designated priority groups was obtained through the self-identification form, profile and/or Strategic Groups section of the portal. Applicants may belong to one or more of these designated priority groups.

Funding Results | By Region

The Council is aware of disparities in our funding between certain provinces and territories. This is why we are committed to working with the arts community and other funders in those regions to address the imbalances and to better serve the arts ecosystem across Canada.

Table 3: Application and Funding Statistics by Region

Region	Number of Applications Assessed	Number of Successful Applications	Application Success Rate	Total Requested	Total Awarded
Newfoundland and Labrador	172	31	18.0%	$4,881,531	$1,015,870
Prince Edward Island	36	5	13.9%	$1,052,654	$209,380
Nova Scotia	443	75	16.9%	$13,642,484	$2,324,590
New Brunswick	181	25	13.8%	$5,164,428	$754,730
Québec	4,488	733	16.3%	$133,657,665	$21,545,870
Ontario	4,121	675	16.4%	$140,408,195	$22,955,710
Manitoba	296	38	12.8%	$8,898,296	$1,108,890
Saskatchewan	146	24	16.4%	$4,186,903	$790,560
Alberta	723	132	18.3%	$23,655,477	$4,260,710
British Columbia	2,278	358	15.7%	$71,210,416	$10,767,850
Yukon Territory	32	6	18.8%	$1,107,074	$249,280
Northwest Territories	12	4	33.3%	$384,500	$134,850
Nunavut Territory	5	1	20.0%	$143,225	$24,400
Total - Canada	12,933	2,107	16.3%	$408,392,848	$66,142,690
Outside Canada	416	55	13.2%	$12,922,165	$1,869,890
Total - including Outside Canada	13,349	2,162	16.2%	$421,315,013	$68,012,580

The region “Outside Canada” refers to any geographic region other than within Canada’s ten provinces and three territories, where an eligible applicant might be based or residing at the time of undertaking their artistic project. The published program guidelines describe no specific restrictions as to where eligible grant recipients can make their artistic or literary works, nor where collaborators or partners they work with must be based geographically, or where their final works are required to be produced, presented, and/or distributed.

Funding Results | Field of practice

The Council’s granting programs are outcomes-based. For the Explore and Create program the expected outcomes are the following: artists develop their skills and enrich their knowledge; share work in a manner consistent with their artistic vision and intentions; and new artistic voices emerge.

Consequently, we expect that projects from all fields of practice support the meeting of these outcomes. This said, we are sharing the results by field of practice recognizing stakeholders’ interest in this type of data.

Results are reported based on the field of practice associated with an applicant’s profile, which was selected at the time of creating their Council profile and, therefore, in certain cases may not be indicative of the field of practice of the specific project funded in this competition. For example, a project related to music and sound funded in this competition could be captured under the visual arts or dance profile/field of practice. 

Table 4: Application and Funding Statistics by Field of Practice

Field of Practice	Number of Applications Assessed	Number of Successful Applications	Application Success Rate	Total Requested	Total Awarded
Circus Arts	96	26	27.1%	$3,089,182	$760,630
Dance	670	158	23.6%	$19,093,190	$5,031,410
Deaf and Disability Arts	160	37	23.1%	$5,524,364	$1,307,660
Digital Arts	142	22	15.5%	$5,043,279	$856,860
Inter-Arts	278	57	20.5%	$9,196,965	$2,088,280
Literature	2,124	312	14.7%	$51,481,993	$7,467,700
Media Arts	2,033	333	16.4%	$85,410,483	$13,599,290
Multidisciplinary Activities	125	33	26.4%	$5,010,852	$1,258,560
Music and Sound	3,522	419	11.9%	$114,516,878	$12,808,930
Theatre	1,289	291	22.6%	$39,922,980	$8,865,860
Visual Arts	2,910	474	16.3%	$83,024,847	$13,967,400
Total	13,349	2,162	16.2%	$421,315,013	$68,012,580

Funding Results | Peer Assessment Committees

Peer assessment committees are at the heart of the Council’s granting decision-making processes. The Council engages peer assessors to provide relevant knowledge and expertise. Peer assessors may be artists, arts workers, Knowledge Keepers, Elders, academics and individuals who bring a range of types of experience to the assessment process. Peer assessment committees represent different artistic and cultural practices and perspectives, career levels, demographics and regional awareness.  Further, peer assessors generally reflect Canada’s population by representing Indigenous and racialized communities, the Deaf and disability communities and official language minority communities.

The Council is committed to improving the peer assessment process by undertaking regular reviews, including surveys with our peers.

Read more about the decision-making process.

Table 5: Peer Assessment Statistics | Assessors by Designated Priority Group

Number of Peer Assessors	458
Designated Priority Group	Number of Distinct Assessors who self-identified in one or more designated priority groups
Indigenous	78
Racialized	223
Deaf and/or Disability	73
Anglophone Official Language Minority Communities	50
Francophone Official Language Minority Communities	62

Information on designated priority groups was obtained through the self-identification form, profile and/or Strategic Groups section of the portal. Applicants may belong to one or more of these designated priority groups.

Table 6: Peer Assessment Statistics | Assessors by Region

Region	Number of Distinct Assessors
Newfoundland and Labrador	13
Prince Edward Island	2
Nova Scotia	35
New Brunswick	19
Québec	136
Ontario	123
Manitoba	23
Saskatchewan	27
Alberta	45
British Columbia	51
Yukon Territory	6
Northwest Territories	1
Nunavut Territory	1
Outside Canada	3

Assessors may have resided in more than one region during the assessment periods.

To comply with the Official Languages Act, the Council has an obligation to ensure that peer assessors can fully participate in the assessment process using one of Canada's official languages. In practice, this means that the Council generally holds committee meetings in English only or French only.  The Council also ensures representation from the anglophone official language minority community that resides in Quebec. These two requirements increase the overall representation of peers from Quebec.

Table 7: Peer Assessment Statistics | Assessors by Field of Practice

Field of Practice	Number of Distinct Assessors
Circus Arts	8
Dance	48
Deaf and Disability Arts	15
Digital Arts	8
Indigenous Arts	63
Inter-Arts	39
Literature	91
Media Arts	90
Music and Sound	106
Theatre	72
Visual Arts	104

Assessors may have more than one validated profile belonging to multiple fields of practice.

Table 8: Peer Assessment Statistics | Assessors by Years of Professional Artistic Practice

Number of Years of Professional Artistic Practice	Number of Distinct Assessors
< 5	36
5-9	97
10-14	100
15-19	83
20-24	52
25-29	39
30+	32

Assessors self-describe this information as part of the process to validate their profile in the Council portal.

Questions?

For specific questions related to the Explore and Create results, please contact the Director of the program at regine.cadet@canadacouncil.ca

As this is the first time the Council has released competition results in this concerted way, we welcome your feedback on how the results are presented, their clarity, and their usefulness, so we can improve future releases.

Please contact the Research, Measurement and Data Analytics Section at research@canadacouncil.ca.

Funding Results | Overall List Recipients

For the full list of recipients, see Excel document below.