« As a partner of the Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages 2013-2018: Education, Immigration, Communities, the Canada Council for the Arts will distribute a total of $2.75 million under a market access strategy for artists and arts organizations belonging to official language minority communities.

The Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages 2013-2018: Education, Immigration, Communities is a commitment by the Government of Canada to ensure the linguistic vitality of both French and English throughout Canada, empower official language minority communities, and promote the importance and benefits of two official languages for our national identity.

Who is eligible to receive these new funds?
Professional artists and arts organizations in official language minority communities – in other words, Anglophones in Quebec who have chosen English as their language of communication or Francophones outside Quebec who have chosen French as their language of communication.

How can I apply for a grant?
If you are interested, you should submit an application to the Canada Council’s existing grant programs by their respective deadlines. In the process, it will be important for you to complete the voluntary self-identification form that can be found at the end of the grant application form to indicate that you belong to an official language minority community. All the applications will then be evaluated by a peer assessment committee following the usual procedure. Thanks to the Roadmap, the Council will be in a better position to support more projects.

For more information on the Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages 2013-2018: Education, Immigration, Communities, please visit http://pch.gc.ca/slo-ols/strat-eng.cfm.

-posted with permission from the Canada Council for the Arts
from March 2014 press release