Grants to Aboriginal Peoples: Writers and Storytellers
The Canada Council for the Arts is committed to equity and inclusion, and welcomes applications from diverse Aboriginal, cultural and regional communities, including people with disabilities.
Deadline
1 May
If this date falls on a weekend or statutory holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.
Please refer to the Program Guidelines for detailed information.
Program Description
The Grants to Aboriginal Peoples program has three components:
- Writers and Storytellers
- Writers Residencies
- Publishers.
The Writers Residencies and the Publishers components have separate guidelines and forms.
The Writers and Storytellers component is divided in two categories.
1) Creative Writing Grants provide support to emerging and mid-career Aboriginal writers and storytellers. Grants support the creation, in English or French, of new literary works including novels, short stories, poetry, children’s and young adults’ literature, graphic novels and literary non-fiction.
2) The Aboriginal Languages Grants category provides support to emerging and mid-career Aboriginal writers, storytellers and collectives. Grants support work on oral or written literary projects that are in an Aboriginal language or are bilingual (Aboriginal language and English, or an Aboriginal language and French).
Eligible Applicants
Writers and storytellers must be First Nations, Métis or Inuit people. Collectives must be Aboriginal-controlled (in other words, Aboriginal people must make up a majority of the leadership of the collective).
To apply to the Canada Council for the Arts, you must be a Canadian citizen or have permanent resident status, as defined by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. You do not need to be living in Canada when you apply.
This program accepts collaborative projects, and writers or storytellers may work with professional artists from disciplines other than writing.
Writers
For this component, emerging writers are those who have not yet had a book professionally published, but show a dedication to writing and have a substantial body of literary written work.
Mid-career writers are those who have had a maximum of one book published professionally. Writers who have had more than one book published professionally may apply to the Aboriginal Languages Grants category or to the Canada Council’s Grants for Professional Writers program.
Storytellers
Emerging storytellers are those who show a commitment to storytelling. They must also have the recognition, in writing, of two established storytellers, their peers and/or from members of their artistic community.
Mid-career storytellers are those who have a minimum of five years’ experience in storytelling.
Grant Amount
1) Creative Writing Grants
- Emerging writers or storytellers: a maximum of $5,000
- Mid-career writers or storytellers: a maximum of $10,000
2) Aboriginal Languages Grants
- Emerging writers or storytellers: a maximum of $5,000
- Mid-career writers or storytellers: a maximum of $10,000
- Collectives: a maximum of $20,000
Further Information
Suzanne Keeptwo
Program Officer
Writing and Publishing Section
Canada Council for the Arts
P.O. Box 1047, 350 Albert Street
Ottawa ON K1P 5V8
Telephone: 1-800-263-5588 (toll-free) or 613-566-4414, ext. 5482
TTY: 1-866-585-5559
Fax: 613-566-4410
March 2013