Ministère Des Municipalités, De La Culture Et De L Habitation

CORE SUPPORT PROGRAM “A” PAGE 1 of 5

PRODUCTION / PRESENTATION ARTS ORGANIZATION - GUIDELINES

CORE A

Production Presentation

Guidelines

Tourism, Heritage and Culture

Core Support ProgramComponent “A”

Production / Presentation Organizations

2016-17 / 2017-18 / 2018-19

Multi-year Program Guidelines

Application Deadline: April 15, 2016

Goal

In New Brunswick, arts organizations are essential to the creation, production, distribution and promotion of works of art, cultural events, festivals and cultural products. As outlined in the Cultural Policy for New Brunswick, arts organizationsencourage innovation, creation, production, presentation and support for creative activity.

Objective

In support of New Brunswick’s RenewedCultural Policy, the Operational Grant program achieves the following:

• Strengthens arts organizations in their capacity to produce creative work and to deliver cultural programming across the province;
• Ensures that cultural programming and services are delivered appropriately, efficiently and effectively to New Brunswickers.

Program Structure

The Operational Grant Program “A” Component supportsprograms and operations of medium and largeProduction/Presentation-based Arts Organizations that produce creative work and deliver cultural programmingto New Brunswick communities. This program provides core support based in part on the organization’s annual scope of activities and/or budget size and in response to its assessment by a panel of peers against the criteria.

Organizations must contact the Program Officer to determine if they are eligible under this program.

The evaluation process will focus on the merit of the applications, and rewards organizations whose mandates, activities, history with the program, and/or levels of growth well position them to respond to the Cultural Policy of New Brunswick. Applicants will be assessed along three main pillars which are:

1. Organizational health;
2. Quality of programs and artistic leadership; and
3. Audience development and outreach.

The Production/Presentation-based Arts “A”Component multi-year program supports professional arts organizations that create, produce, exhibit or present work by professional artists, and that employ qualified staff to administer arts and culture programming, namely:

• Production: professional performing arts organizations
• Visual Arts organizations
• Presentation: professional visual and media arts organizations.

Applicant Eligibility

First-time applicants:

• All new applicants must contact the program officer at least ONEmonthbefore the application deadline.
• First time organizationsmust have received at leasttwo yearsof funding from other programs of the Department.

Organizations applying under this program must demonstrate that they:

• are an incorporated, non-profit professional arts organization with a mandate to create, produce and/or present the work of professional artists;
• have an active board of directors, established governance structures, and annual financial statements that are independently reviewed;
• operate year round, except for presenting organizations which may have regular seasonal programs.
• support the work of New Brunswick artists, and pay artist and professional fees in keeping with established guidelines.

• are not in violation of the Act under which they are incorporated;
• employqualified professionals in designated roles or tasks (i.e. project or program director or coordinator, artistic director, etc.).

The Department makes the final decision with respect to granting a new applicant access to the program.

Ineligible

• 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 (jury), 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 have 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

Following pre-assessment by the Arts and Cultural Initiatives Branch, applications are reviewed by an independent application assessment panel. Panellists conduct an individual scoring of each application, then meet as a group to discuss and evaluate the applications.

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 as practicing artists, creators, interpreters, arts administrators, directors, arts critics, arts educators, or other arts professionals. Panel members are selected to ensure fair representation of expertise, knowledge of the arts sector, regional diversity, language and culture.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation is based on 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 quality of its programs and audience development. The criteria are elaborated in the Application Requirements (Parts 2 – 4).

Grant Requirements

• Organizations must complete the program Application Requirements (Parts 1 – 4) and include all required addenda.
• Organizations must be registered on the NB Cultural Facilities Inventory, as appropriate. For more information,visit
• 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.

Sample Evaluation Grid:

Grant modifications and allocations

At the outset of the evaluation process, organizations start at 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 against the criteria, as 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 if:

• The organization has not met minimum standard requirements for the program.
• The organization has failed to demonstrate significant improvement in problem areas identified by previous panels that have resulted in grant cuts of 10% or more for two of the previous three years. In this case, an organization will receive notice that it may be removed from the program. The organization may apply for project support.

Notification of Results

Organizations will be notified of the results within two months following the application deadline.

Changes in Grant Allocations

Core Support grants are multi-year grants that provide annual support for programs and operations. Organizations may beremoved from multi-year funding, or receive a reduction or discontinuation of funding at the discretion of the Department, based on DTHC staff recommendation. Such circumstances might include the destabilization of the organization for any reason, ora serious interruption of the organization’s programs. A reduction in the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture budget may also result in grant reductions or cancellations of funding in the middle of a multi-year cycle.

Annual Reporting Requirements

To receive subsequent annual grant allocations within the multi-year cycle, organizations are required provide a grant report each year. The Department may withhold grant payments pending receipt and approval of the grant report. The annual report is to include the following:

• A cover letter that summarizes the report;
• Completed financial and statistical reports for the current year on the CADAC website (see Application Form for details).
• An updated program listing (Addenda #2) for the subsequent year(s) of the multi-year cycle;
• Abrief report (2 pages) describingmajor accomplishments of the current yearand a short narrative describing challenges or opportunities in the current or upcoming years.

The annual deadline date to receive reports isApril 15th 2017, and April 15th 2018.

• Financial reconciliation CADAC
• CADAC’s role is to ensure that last year’s actual financial figures are the same in CADAC and in the organization’s financial report or audited statements.
• 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.
• Grantscan be withheld until the applicant completes all changes required by CADAC.

Additional Information

• The Department must be notified immediately of any significant 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.

Electronic ApplicationsProcess

• Applications submitted by mail must be postmarked on or prior to April 15th.
• Applications and all required supporting material must be sent electronicallyby:
• Email to (multiple emails if required) or
• CD, DVD, flash drive submitted to the mailing address at the bottom of the page.
• Applications and submissions of supplementary information received after the deadline will NOT be accepted.
• Applications must be limited only to the components outlined in Parts 1 – 4 of the application.
• Application components must be labelled as directed in Parts 1 – 4 of the application.

Note: The government’s email system has a limit of 9-10MB for any attachments. Anything larger will not be delivered. Our email system will automatically send you an acknowledgement of receipt but that should not be interpreted as all of the information/attachments having been received. When in doubt, please contact our Administrative Assistant at (506) 453-2555.

Contact Information

For questions or assistance, please contact Program Officers, Rebekah Chassé at(506) 453-5372, or Caroline Walker at (506) 444-5303, .

Arts and Cultural Industries Branch

Dept. of Tourism, Heritage and Culture