Cultural Capitals of Canada 2013 Guidelines

• Our objective, your results
• Who can apply?
• What is it?
• Deadline
• Table of Contents
• To apply for an Award
• Assessment Process
• Eligibility and Assessment Criteria
• Activities Eligible for Funding
• Expenses Eligible for Funding
• Activities Not Eligible for Funding
• Our Expected Results
• Reporting on Results
• How your results contribute to our objective
• Conditions of Funding
• Instructions for completing the Application Form

Our objective, your results

Cultural Capitals of Canada recognizes and supports Canadian communities that have a record of harnessing the many benefits of arts* and culture in community life. Its objective is to stimulate sustained community support for the arts and heritage. Designation as a Cultural Capital of Canada will enable your community to invest more in arts and culture, increase and improve your cultural services, strengthen connections with other communities through shared cultural experiences, enhance partnerships with local cultural and community organizations and other stakeholders, and advance cultural development by further integrating arts and culture in municipal planning.

Who can apply?

Canadian municipalities can apply for an award, either individually or as partners in a joint project. For the purposes of this program a municipality is defined as a town, city, regional municipality or district with a duly constituted government, including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit equivalent governments (such as Band Councils). (Boroughs and Aboriginal associations, such as Friendship Centres, are not eligible to apply.)

What is it?

Cultural Capitals of Canada Awards

Each year, Canadian municipalities compete to receive a designation under the Cultural Capitals of Canada Program. Up to three communities can receive this designation annually, which includes a contribution to support special projects that support the arts and culture sector and build a cultural legacy for the community by integrating arts and culture into overall community planning. The designated municipalities will also receive street banners.

The annual Cultural Capital of Canada designations are awarded to single municipalities or groups of municipalities that submit a proposal to build a legacy for the arts and culture.

These are divided into three categories based on population.

Level 1	total population of over 125,000	75 percent of total eligible costs up to a maximum of $2,000,000, whichever is less
Level 2	total population of 50,000–125,000	75 percent of total eligible costs up to a maximum of $750,000, whichever is less
Level 3	total population of under 50,000	75 percent of total eligible costs up to a maximum of $500,000, whichever is less

The Cultural Capital of Canada designation can be awarded to municipalities with an excellent track record of past achievements, coupled with the best and most ambitious (while still realistic) program of proposed activities for a community its size.

Municipalities must demonstrate their commitment to arts and culture through their past achievements, current and planned support, and proposal for which the award is given.

The amount of funding provided for individual awards can be of any amount as long as it does not exceed the award maximum. The municipality must also contribute funding from its own budget, and support from other funding sources must be demonstrated. Amounts contributed by the municipality must be for new or expanded activities (i.e. regular municipal budget amounts for ongoing cultural activities are not eligible under the program).

Deadline

For the 2013 awards, complete applications with all support material must be postmarked no later than June 30, 2011.

Table of Contents

• To apply for an Award
• Assessment Process
• Eligibility and Assessment Criteria
• Activities Eligible for funding
• Expenses Eligible for funding
• Activities Not Eligible for funding
• Expected Results
• Reporting on Results
• Conditions of Funding
• Instructions for completing the Application Form
• Glossary
• Application Form (includes Municipal Contribution and Timeline Template Forms) Parts A – H, K and L (PDF format, 337 KB)
• marPrtBdg11_1299245765410_eng.xlsBudget Parts I - J

Important: Please note that communities can be designated a Capital Cultural of Canada only once every five years.

To apply for an Award

Application forms are included with these guidelines. They can also be obtained by:

downloading from the Canadian Heritage web site (www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/ccc);

calling toll free 1-866-811-0055

faxing a request to 819 994-6249; or writing to:

Cultural Capitals of Canada (25-13-V)
Arts Policy Branch
Department of Canadian Heritage
25 Eddy, 13th floor
Gatineau, QC K1A 0M5

Assessment Process

All applications must be complete by the deadline date to be considered.

First the Department of Canadian Heritage will screen for eligibility. To be eligible, the applicant must comply with the points noted in the Eligibility and Assessment Criteria section.

An independent advisory committee will then evaluate the applications and make a recommendation to the Department of Canadian Heritage for the final selection of winners. Applications will be assessed against (1) the applicant's ongoing commitment to culture and cultural development (Application parts E and G: 35%) and (2) the quality, scope, and artistic merit of the proposed project for which funding is sought, and the municipality's capacity to carry out the project (Application parts F, H, I and J: 65%).

The advisory committee will be instructed to take into consideration the relative achievement and capacity of municipalities of various sizes within each population category, in combination with the depth and ambition demonstrated in the proposed activities, to determine the award finalists.

You are advised to fill out the application form carefully, provide complete and detailed responses to the questions in sections G and H, and provide a detailed and balanced budget (Parts I and J). If any question is not answered, your application may be declared ineligible. If you have difficulty answering any question, or to discuss your application in general, please contact the Program by calling 1-866-811-0055.

The assessment process takes on average 6 months to complete.

Eligibility and Assessment Criteria

Applicants must:

• affirm that they are a legally constituted Canadian municipality or equivalent: see definition - (Application part A);
• submit six (6) copies of the complete application (parts A–L) and one (1) copy of any additional support materials, postmarked by the deadline date. A complete application must also be submitted in CD format.
• confirm that the municipal contribution set out in this application represents new funding and is not made up of regular municipal funding for ongoing cultural activities. Please complete and sign the form – Municipal Contribution (part K);
• demonstrate an ongoing commitment to arts and culture - (Application parts E and G);
• propose to carry out a program of at least three types of special cultural activities during the year in which they seek designation. This must include both celebratory and legacy-building projects that support arts and culture and build a legacy for the community.

Please note: Before applying for funding under this program municipalities shall agree to act in compliance with any provincial law regarding the acceptance of funding from the federal government.

Activities Eligible for Funding

The following is a list of the types of special cultural activities that are eligible for funding:

Celebration, to spotlight the arts and culture, for example by:

• using cultural and heritage events to celebrate significant anniversaries or special occasions in the community;
• developing new or expanding existing cultural and heritage festivals and other projects that promote the community's unique heritage;
• developing reciprocal cultural exchanges with neighbouring or distant communities;
• incorporating the cultural diversity of the community, including Aboriginal, culturally diverse and official-language minority professional artists and their works;
• promoting the artistic achievements of young people and exposing local children and youth to the arts, culture, and the community's unique heritage.

Legacy-building, to integrate arts and culture into community planning, for example by:

• creating and/or expanding public art or community art programs;
• articulating a vision for cultural development and the means to achieve it through the development and implementation of cultural policies and action plans, or projects;
• developing strategies for cultural tourism, marketing, and promotion;
• identifying and implementing strategies for attracting private sector partners to support sustainable cultural development;
• developing close partnerships between municipal cultural workers and members of the arts and heritage communities;
• developing and carrying out programs for the preservation of cultural practices and traditional knowledge among Aboriginal populations;
• incorporating the diversity of the population;
• developing and implementing strategies to highlight, promote, and strengthen the capacity of Aboriginal, culturally diverse and official-language minority cultural organizations and professional artists.

Expenses Eligible for Funding

Eligible expenses are those that are incurred by the recipient to undertake eligible activities, which are directly related to the project's objectives. Expenses must be reasonable with respect to the scope of work undertaken by the project.

Eligible expenses may include:

• fees for consultants and/or contractors for event management, research, writing, editing, or translation;
• fees/costs of preparation and production of celebratory events or cultural tourism promotion;
• fees/costs for design and construction of web sites directly related to arts, culture and celebratory events;
• reasonable costs of holding meetings directly related to the project;
• reasonable travel costs directly related to the project;
• fees for the creation of public art to recognize the designation;
• fees for a project coordinator;
• fees for consultants/contractors to perform an evaluation of the project.

Activities Not Eligible for Funding

Activities that are not eligible to receive funding under this program include the following:

• capital projects (such as the construction, transformation, or renovation of permanent spaces such as performance or exhibit spaces, parks, or grounds; the restoration of artifacts, artworks, or cultural venues; and the permanent acquisition, purchase or installation of specialized equipment, such as sound systems, lighting, tents, etc.);
• the creation or growth of endowment funds or trust funds by the municipality to provide grants for cultural activities over a multi-year period;
• libraries, amateur sport, and recreational activities;
• hospitality, fireworks, and Goods and Services Tax.

Our Expected Results

The goal of the Cultural Capitals of Canada program is to stimulate strong municipal support for Canadian arts and heritage organizations in communities that value their existence.

The expected impact of Cultural Capitals of Canada will be demonstrated through:

• celebration of the designated municipalities' cultural accomplishments and commitments, leading to more arts and culture activities within the community; greater involvement of people in that community in the arts and culture,as well as increased participation of visitors; and increased community support for the arts and culture.
• increased recognition and promotion of professional artists from Aboriginal, culturally diverse and official-language minority communities, as well as young artists, leading to their increased participation in the cultural life of the community;
• the creation of a legacy for the arts and culture through attention to sustainable cultural planning, leading to better cultural policies and more investment in the arts and culture; and
• stronger relationships between local cultural organizations and municipal officials based on a recognition that arts and culture play a vital role in enhancing quality of life, and that they are important factors in fostering economic competitiveness, civic identity, pride, and citizen participation.

Our key performance indicators to assess the impact of the program:

Collected from the applications:

• Number of eligible applications
• Number and type of proposed cultural activities from eligible applications
• Number and type of new partnerships confirmed in eligible applications
• Demonstrated community support

Collected from final results reports from recipients:

• Number and type of new partnerships established or maintained
• Number and type of initiatives maintained
• Demonstrated community support

A performance indicator is a qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of a program. Quantitative performance indicators are composed of a number and a unit. Qualitative indicators are expressed in descriptive form.

Reporting on Results

All award recipients are required to present interim activity reports, as well as a final report that demonstrates both quantitative and qualitative results of projects.

In order to capture these results (outcomes), recipients must first set out expected results, establish how the results will be measured, develop performance indicators, and provide an assessment of the results obtained.

Steps to building your results story

• Step 1 What do you intend to achieve - Set out expected results of proposed activities
• Step 2 How will you measure your success - Develop key performance indicators and a data collection strategy to collect qualitative and quantitative information you need to measure the success of your activities
• Step 3 How did you do? - Using the data collected, evaluate whether you have achieved your expected results, based on the performance indicators identified. How do your results contribute to the objectives of the Program?
• Step 4 Tell us your story - Using your evaluation of results, supported with the data captured, tell us your story.

This report should include both quantitative and qualitative responses to questions such as:

• How the project has fostered/increased sustainable cultural activities within the community?
• How the project has encouraged the development of strategic partnerships and increased community support leading to an improved environment for the arts and culture at the local level?
• How the project has incited greater integration of the arts and culture into community planning?
• How the project has assisted in an increase of promotion and recognition for Aboriginal, culturally diverse, official-language minority and youth artists and audiences?

How your results contribute to our objective

Your results will be used for statistical purposes and to inform the program on its impact.

Recipients must additionally provide interim financial reports and a final certified financial report which clearly states all the Recipient's revenues and expenditures with regard to the project funded, including the sources of revenue and expenditure items. Financial statements must be specifically for the project and outline all project costs; larger municipal budgets will not be accepted. Financial reports will be signed and certified by a person duly authorized by the Recipient.

Recipients are encouraged to capitalize on their award by fully promoting their designation as a Cultural Capital of Canada.

Award recipients will be provided with more detailed guidelines regarding the interim and final reports. Failure to submit all the necessary reporting requirements in a manner satisfactory to the department will result in a redistribution of funding.

Conditions of Funding

If you are selected to receive a Cultural Capital of Canada award, funding for your project is made under a detailed contribution agreement, signed by the authorized municipal representative(s) and by the Department of Canadian Heritage.

The contribution agreement specifies reporting requirements and the related payment installments. Installment payments are advances against and/or reimbursements of eligible costs and follow Treasury Board Policy on transfer payments.

Award winners are required to acknowledge the contribution from the Department of Canadian Heritage in all printed/published materials and signage (where applicable) and to acknowledge the essential role played by public funding of the arts.

Cultural Capitals of Canada provides contributions of up to a maximum of 75% of total eligible costs or the maximum contribution for the applicable award level, whichever is less (see page 1).

The Award winner, through municipal funding, in-kind contributions, or funding received from third parties, must cover eligible project costs in excess of the amount funded by Cultural Capitals of Canada.

Municipal funding indicated in the application must represent new funding, and cannot be made up of regular funding for ongoing cultural activities and programs.

The Cultural Capitals of Canada program does not provide funding for existing cultural activities. It only provides funding for new activities, or for those expanded (supplementary) portions of existing activities. Budgets submitted by award winners, which include expanded activities, must detail only those expenditures incurred for the expanded portions of those activities.

The Department does not fund projects retroactively. Costs assumed prior to the announcement of Award winners are assumed at your own risk.

Winning communities do not automatically receive the award maximum. The project must be of sufficient quality and scope and have sufficient eligible costs to warrant funding at the maximum level.

Instructions for completing the Application Form

Your complete application should consist of:

• Parts A through L completed; sign and date the form in part C

Note that several of the questions require you to attach various documents as part of the application:

• Question 17 – A copy of the cultural policy or action plan.
• Question 19 – A copy of the page(s) of the most recent annual report showing spending on cultural activities and the total municipal budget.
• Question 25 – A one-page chart showing the names and roles of key people involved in the project and the lines of accountability.

Submit six (6) copies of the application with answers to all questions (parts A–H questions 1–28), summary and project budgets (parts I and J), both of which must be detailed and balanced, parts K and L completed, as well as one (1) copy of any additional support materials you may wish to enclose, such as brochures, pamphlets, letters of support, etc.

Please note that the amount indicated in Part D, question 10, of the detailed form must represent the actual financial contribution committed and approved by the municipality for the project.

^* See the Glossary for definitions of words in italics.

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