The Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) released the 2023-2024 results for its Explore and Create program, which funds “the creation and dissemination of innovative, dynamic and diverse art,” in June. The low success rate for applications, at 16.2%, remains. Is this the new norm?
Last year, the CAC awarded 2,162 scholarships for 13,349 applications. A total of $68 million.
For Quebec applications, the success rate is practically identical, with 733 scholarships for 4,488 applications.
By quickly releasing these results, the CAC’s new director, Michelle Chawla, appears to be following through on her promise to “ensure that the Council continues to demonstrate greater transparency,” as she indicated in a letter to the arts community on June 13.
Earlier in April, the CAC released the results of the first competition of 2023-2024. The success rate of 16.6% had shaken the artistic circles, accustomed to more positive responses. In 2022-2023, the acceptance percentage was at its lowest at 36%.
Between 2017 and 2023, the CAC saw the number of applications submitted to the Explore and Create program triple. This explosion in the number of applications, coupled with the end of pandemic aid and the cuts imposed on its own structure, may explain why the CAC is no longer able to achieve such good results.
The 13,349 grant applications submitted to the CAC this year were all evaluated by peers from various cultural and artistic backgrounds. The scores they give to each application are very important in its evaluation.
The CAC charges $12 to review a file. Reading the form and supporting material, such as book excerpts or listening to previous works, is estimated at 30 minutes by the Council. A peer may have to review a hundred applications.
Quebec specificity
In the artistic community, there is a widespread idea that CAC grants are certainly more difficult to obtain, but bring in more money than their equivalent at the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).
Indeed. The average scholarship at the CAC in 2023-2024 for Explore and Create is $31,458. A little more than the average scholarship in equivalent CALQ programs, at $14,846 for the same period, according to recent analyses by the Duty.
However, Quebec artists are asking for more money from the federal Arts Council. The average request was $29,781 from the CAC, while for the same period, it was $19,458 from the CALQ. It should be remembered that the CALQ remains the most generous provincial arts council in Canada.
And the CAC typically gives artists a sum very close to what they ask for, around 0.33%. The maximum amount for a CAC grant is $25,000 per year. It can go up to two years, for a total of $50,000.
At CALQ, the average request reaches $19,458 and the average scholarship awarded is $14,846. A difference of 31.07%. The maximum amount of a scholarship is $50,000.
In addition, the acceptance rate has more than doubled, with a success rate of 33.9%. Thus, 1,851 scholarships were awarded out of 6,239 applications, still in 2023-2024.
Quebec applications to the CAC represent 33.62% of the total for the entire country. A success rate almost identical for the province compared to the rest of Canada.