Market Development Travel Assistance

Purpose

This program supports professional Ontario artists, arts professionals, ad hoc groups/collectives and arts organizations to travel to promote the artistic work of Ontario artists to presenters, in order to build future opportunities for the work to reach new audiences. Grants support travel to a single recognized arts marketplace/event or to meet with arts presenters.

Note: Presenters are intermediaries between artists and their potential audiences; they may include (but are not limited to):

• programmers, curators, artistic directors, gallerists
• distributors, broadcasters, publishers, booksellers

Important: If you have not received an OAC project or operating grant in the past five years and/or for further market development grant opportunities, see the Market Development Projects program.

See Program-specific definitions, below, for examples of recognized arts marketplaces.

Deadline dates

Due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, this program has been suspended until further notice.

Grant amount(s)

Important

• applicants in Northern Ontario may request supplementary funds of $500
• applicants in remote, isolated and fly-in communities in Northern Ontario may request supplementary funds of $1,000
• applicants may be awarded only one Market Development Travel grant per OAC program year (April 1 – March 31)
• you may submit one Market Development Travel Assistance application at a time
• if you have submitted one Market Development Travel Assistance application during the program year, you cannot submit another application until you have received notification that your application has not been successful
• partial grants are not awarded
• a grant in this program will count as one grant toward your three-grant limit for 2020
• changes to the funded activity are not permitted in this program; if you are unable to complete the activity as proposed, you will be required to return the grant

Eligible applicants

• professional artists and arts professionals who are Ontario residents, and that have been awarded an OAC project grant in the past five years
• ad hoc groups/collectives of at least two artists and arts professionals with a permanent physical address in Ontario, with at least 50 per cent living in Ontario at least eight months of the year; ad hoc groups/collectives must have been awarded an OAC project grant in the past five years
• incorporated not-for-profit professional arts organizations with a permanent physical address in Ontario, and that have been awarded an OAC operating grant or project grant in the past five years
• Ontario-based, Canadian-owned for-profit book or periodical publishers that are eligible for funding in OAC’s publishing programs, and that have been awarded an OAC operating grant or project grant in the past five years

Read the Guide to OAC Project Programs for more eligibility information.

Ineligible applicants

• applicants who have not been awarded an OAC operating or project grant in the past five years
• commercial dealers
• municipalities, schools, colleges and/or universities
• community and semi-professional choral organizations, semi-professional youth orchestras, community orchestras, choral training organizations/groups (see Music Definitions web page)

Note:

• Staff members of organizations or publishers are not eligible to apply as individuals if they are travelling to represent their organization. The organization or publisher must be the applicant.
• If you are identified as a participant in a project that has been supported by a Market Development Projects grant, you are not eligible to apply as an individual to Market Development Travel Assistance for the same activity.

This program funds

Grants support applicants to:

• travel to a single recognized event (showcases, art fairs, trade shows, festivals, conferences, networking events) where it is known that presenters will be in attendance, for the purpose of promoting their artistic work to presenters
• self-directed travel to meet with at least two presenters, for the purpose of promoting their artistic work to them

Travel must be at least 100 kilometres from the applicant’s permanent physical address.

Eligible expenses:

• transportation
• accommodation and per diems
• registration and booth fees
• promotional materials

This program does not fund

Ineligible activity:
Travel for the purpose of:

• research and creation/development of new artistic works
• rehearsing artistic works
• presenting only to public audiences
• networking with other artists
• professional development, apprenticeship or mentorship projects and artist residencies
• organizational development
• attending an annual general meeting of a membership-based organization
• touring and activity that has been supported through an OAC Touring Projects grant
• participating in competitions

Presenters travelling for purpose of:

• ineligible activity listed above
• booking artists
• promoting their own events

Ineligible expenses:

• artistic and production costs
• venue or studio rental
• fees to artists, arts administrators and technicians
• expenses attributed to home-based overhead, such as rent, etc.
• capital expenses including purchase of equipment

Activity timing

The activity for which you are requesting funding:

• cannot start earlier than eight weeks after you submit your application
• must be completed no more than one year after you receive the grant results

Final report requirements

If you receive a grant you must submit a final report upon completion of the project. See Terms and Conditions — receipt of OAC project grant funds for more information on reporting obligations. Complete and submit the report in Nova.

Note: OAC may contact you after the submission of your final report to gather additional information on the long-term impact of the grant.

Final reports for this program require grant recipients to provide:

• description of how the project contributed to the development of the market for your work regionally, nationally and/or internationally. Include information on presenters reached, and prospective and confirmed engagements that were a result of the travel.
• documentation and/or an explanation of how you acknowledged or will acknowledge OAC support for your project.
• This should include samples of OAC logo recognition on any promotional or other materials produced in conjunction with the project, such as publications, brochures, posters, invitations, websites, or videos/films. This could also include a description of verbal acknowledgement at public events or the intention to include OAC acknowledgement in associated future activities/materials.

To apply

Complete and submit an application in Nova, OAC’s online grant application system.

Before applying, you must:

• read the Guide to OAC Project Programs
• create or update your profile in Nova

Your application includes:

• basic information about the project
• your answers to application questions
• support documents:
• applicant’s résumé/bio or organization history
• for travel to a recognized event: letter of invitation, proof of registration or information on how to register for the event
• for self-directed travel: letters indicating confirmed meetings with at least two arts presenters

Complete instructions and requirements are in the application in Nova.

For help creating a profile or submitting an application in Nova, see the Nova User Guide.

Applications to this program are internally evaluated by OAC granting officers, a process which allows granting decisions to be made much faster than in most other OAC programs.

Applications are evaluated based on the program’s purpose and priorities, including the degree of impact that the activity is likely to have on the development of the applicant’s market for their artistic work. The following evaluation criteria are used:

• the significance of the presenter(s) within the applicable artistic field(s)
• the level of interaction with presenters (e.g. confirmed invitations to showcase work directly to presenters and confirmed meetings with presenters)
• the relevance of the opportunity in the context of the applicant’s career stage, practice and goals
• the number of times the applicant has travelled to the event/location
• OAC priority group applicants

Program-specific definitions

Market development: promoting artistic work to presenters, in order to expand the work’s geographic and/or demographic reach and build new audiences.

Arts professionals: arts administrators, community animators, curators, programmers, and arts educators who are engaged in creating, producing, promoting, performing, presenting, distributing and/or programming artistic work.

Northern Ontario: includes the Far North, Northwest, and Northeast regions of the province. This includes the Manitoulin, Parry Sound and Nipissing districts and all regions north of these districts.

Remote, isolated and fly-in communities: Northern Ontario communities that have infrequent flights, have no roads leading in or out, or have restricted road access.

Arts marketplace: event that connects artists with presenters, rather than the general public, in order to build future opportunities for their work to reach new audiences. These may include:

• showcases, festivals
• fairs, biennales
• conferences, trade shows
• powwows

The following are examples of recognized market development events (but not a comprehensive list):

• Art fairs, biennales and trade shows: Armory Show, Art Athina, Art Toronto, Art Basel, Art Basel Miami, Art Dubai, Biennale de Bamako, Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Dak’Art: African Contemporary Art Biennale, Foire d’art alternatif du Sudbury, Frieze Art Fair, Handwerk & Design (Munich), Havana Biennale, Indian Trader’s Market at Gathering of Nations (Albuquerque), Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto, International Design Show Toronto, Johannesburg Biennale, Santa Fe Indian Market, Sao Paulo Biennale, Schmuck International Jewellery Fair, SOFA Chicago, Supermarket (Stockholm)
• Book fairs: Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Book Expo America, Art Toronto, Frankfurt Book Fair, Guadalajara International Book Fair, London Book Fair, Salon du livre de Toronto, Salon du livre du Grand Sudbury, Salon international du livre de Québec, Toronto Comic Arts Fair, Comic Arts Brooklyn
• Conferences: Canadian Art Education Association, Conference for Community Arts Education (US), Performing the World, Pulse Ontario Dance
• Media arts festivals: ImagineNative, Toronto International Film Festival, Hot Docs (Toronto), Berlinale, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, IndieCade (International Festival of Independent Games), International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Sundance Film Festival, Sunny Side of the Doc (La Rochelle)
• Performing arts or multidisciplinary festivals: Avignon Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Manito Ahbee Festival (Winnipeg), PuSh Festival, Riddu Riddu Festival (Norway), sākihiwē festival (Manitoba), Unlimited Festival (London)
• Performing arts marketplaces: Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP/NYC), Australia Performing Arts Market (APAM), Chamber Music America (CMA), CINARS Biennale (International Exchange for the Performing Arts), Contact Ontarois, Internationale Tanzmesse NRW, IPAY, Ontario Contact, PAMS (Performing Arts Market in Seoul), Rencontres Internationales (Festival TransAmériques), Stage 49 at Gathering of Nations (Albuquerque), Tokyo Performing Arts Market (TPAM), World Music Expo (WOMEX)