Literary Organizations Projects
This program supports the professional presentation, and promotion of written and oral Canadian literatures in Ontario, and the development of professional, ongoing arts and literary publishing capacity in the province.
Offered by Ontario Arts Council (OAC)
Amount
Festivals and fairs, performance series, development initiatives, literary book publishing and arts magazine publishing: maximum $12,000 each; grants awarded may be smaller than the amount requested
Quick eligibility check
Who can apply
Literary festival, performance series, and sector development categories are open to:
- Ontario-based ad hoc groups and collectives
- Ontario-based not-for-profit arts organizations
Literary book and magazine publishing categories are open to:
- not-for-profit arts organizations, as well as eligible for-profit book and magazine publishers, with a permanent physical address in Ontario, that
- publish primarily in English;
- are free to make their own editorial decisions and sign contracts in their own name; and
- pay contributors’ fees or royalties and issue contributors’ contracts (note: all applicants must already be paying contributors)
- Publishers that are established on a for-profit basis, either as sole proprietorships or as incorporated organizations, must be Canadian-owned and -controlled (see Program-specific definitions below) with the head office (at least 50 per cent of employees and editorial, management and financial control) in Ontario.
If the applicant has previously received three or more grants from this program, it must have published no fewer than two eligible books or arts magazine issues in the 12 months prior to the program deadline, unless that publisher is an online magazine that has posted arts content regularly for the last 12 months.
Read the Guide to OAC Project Programs for more eligibility information.
Important: Applicants must meet program and OAC eligibility criteria at the time of application and for the duration of your project.
The activities for which you are requesting funding:
- cannot start before the deadline
- cannot finish before you receive your grant results
- must be completed no more than two years after you receive the grant
Not eligible:
Ineligible applicants
libraries, schools, or post-secondary institutions (a library or school can be the venue but not the applicant, publisher, or organizing host
municipalities, colleges and universities, including magazines predominantly written or run by students, publishers whose publications are primarily prepared by students within the context of academic courses or training sessions, and publishers that are organizationally and editorially controlled by a university, college, or municipality
publishers that devote the majority of their publishing program to works by writers and artists who have governance, ownership, employment, or volunteer relationships with the applicant
publishers that primarily publish ineligible books, or publish an ineligible magazine (see Program-specific definitions below
publishers that require contributors to pay fees or commit to purchasing completed publications
organizations that receive an OAC operating grant through one of the following programs
Publishing Organizations: Operating
Ontario Arts Operating Fund (Literary Organizations category
publishers that are imprints, divisions, subsidiaries or parent companies of other applicants to this program, or of organizations that receive one of the OAC operating grants named above
organizations that receive another OAC operating grant, except organizations mandated to serve one or more OAC’s priority groups
amateur, pre-professional or student productions or projects
About the funding
- Festivals and fairs: maximum $12,000
- Performance series: maximum $12,000
- Development initiatives: maximum $12,000
- Literary book publishing: maximum $12,000
Show all funding details
- Arts magazine publishing: maximum $12,000
Important
: Due to the number of applications received and the limited funds available, grants awarded may be smaller than the amount requested.
- artists’ fees, production costs, marketing, promotion, audience development and administration costs of literary festivals and event series
- presenter, facilitator, and consultant fees, production costs, marketing, promotion, audience development and administration costs of sector development initiatives
- editorial, production, circulation, marketing and promotion costs of publishing eligible books or magazines in English (see Program-specific definitions below; funding for Ontario-based, French-language publishers is available through OAC’s Édition francophone – fonctionnement program), and sales, distribution, and administrative costs if directly related to an eligible publication
- purchase of small-scale equipment, software, electronics and similar materials required to carry out the project
- childcare and other dependant care fees enabling individuals to take part in the project (this does not include regular, ongoing expenses)
- expenses related to making the project accessible to audience members and project participants (other than the applicant) who are Deaf or have a disability
- Note: Applicants to this program who identify as Deaf or as having a disability may apply for supplementary funds for their own accessibility expenses through Accessibility Fund: Project Support.
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