Media Artists Creation Projects

Who can apply

1. Individual professional Ontario-based media artists/directors
2. Emerging Artist: You have completed at least one independent media work and are not currently enrolled in a formal media arts education program
3. Mid-Career & Established Artist: You have completed at least two previous media works independently
4. Mid-Career artists have a history of independent media arts practice of at least 5 years
5. Established artists have a history of independent media arts practice of at least 15 years
6. Emerging: You have completed at least one independent media work
7. Mid-Career: You have completed at least two independent media works. You have been practicing for at least five years
8. Established: You have completed at least five independent media works. You have been practicing for at least 15 years
9. Work that you initiated as the director/principal media artist. You have complete creative and editorial control and hold copyright. Student works are not considered independent
10. This arts council program is not intended to support commercial media production
11. Directors/principal media artists who: reside in Ontario; have completed the requisite number of independent works for their applicant type (emerging, mid-career or established – see Definitions); are taking their own initiative and making their own decisions about the work to be created; work with or without a producer; hold copyright over the proposed work
12. Contracts with producers or other funders must not require that the artist give up such control, even if they are arranged after confirmation of OAC support
13. Applicants must meet program and OAC eligibility criteria at the time of application and for the duration of your project
14. Collaborators (for example, co-director) named in one application cannot be the applicant or collaborator on another application submitted to this program at the same deadline
15. Applicants who have previously received a Media Artists grant in the Mid-Career & Established category cannot apply in the Emerging category
16. If you are a graduate student, you may only apply to the Mid-Career & Established category. You must provide a letter from the department head stating your proposed project is not a part of your academic program
17. The activity for which you are requesting funding: cannot start before you receive your grant results; must be completed no more than two years after you receive the grant cheque
18. You cannot apply to this deadline if you have not completed the activity for a previously awarded grant in this program and submitted a satisfactory final report
19. An individual must: be a professional artist or arts professional; be 18 years of age or older; be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, or have an application pending for permanent resident status and, if requested, be able to provide documentation to verify this; be a resident of Ontario
20. To establish residency in Ontario, you must have lived in Ontario for at least 12 consecutive months before submitting an application
21. If you are absent from Ontario on a recurring basis, such absences must not exceed four months (cumulatively) of the 12 months before the submission of your application
22. If you are absent from Ontario on a temporary, one-time basis (for a residency or contract, for example), such an absence must not exceed 12 months of the 12 months before the submission of your application
23. You must also have been in Ontario for at least 8 months of the year preceding an absence of this length
24. During this absence, you must not have applied to public funding agencies or ministries in the jurisdiction of your temporary residence
25. You are not eligible to submit an application to any OAC project program if your final report for a previous grant: is past its due date and has not been submitted; is past its due date, has been submitted and requires revisions; has been submitted but cannot be approved because of substantial or unresolved issues
26. You may only apply for one grant in any program per deadline
27. You cannot receive more than one OAC project grant for the same activity
28. You are not eligible to submit more than one project grant application at a time for the same activity
29. Individuals, and organizations that do not receive OAC operating funding, are eligible to receive up to three project grants awarded from deadlines that fall within the same calendar year, provided each grant is for a different activity

Who can't apply

• Producers
• Individuals who have only contributed to media art projects that were directed or led by someone else (for example, screenwriters)
• Secondary and undergraduate students (see note below for graduate students)
• Artists who have been awarded a grant in the Visual Artists Creation Projects program in the same year
• Artists who have applied to Visual Artists Creation Projects program in the same year and are still waiting for their results
• A series or group of works (including web series and podcasts)
• Commissioned projects and projects contracted for, or produced by a government agency, not-for-profit or private company
• Promotional projects, commercials, or public service announcements
• Educational or instructional projects
• Producer-driven projects, or “calling-card” films
• Student projects, including those done through a training centre or program (for example, Banff Centre, National Screen Institute, Canadian Film Centre)
• Television projects, (including journalistic or reporting-style documentary projects, police dramas, movies of the week, news reports, and bravoFact and bravoFactual projects)
• Pilots or proof-of-concept for television, web series, or podcasts
• Music and music albums
• Music videos or music films
• Comedy albums, specials, or podcasts
• Fashion videos
• E-books
• Commercial video or electronic games
• National Film Board of Canada co-productions (except the Filmmakers Assistance Program)
• Documentation of existing artworks, and new versions of works that have already been exhibited
• Media components of a performance or stage production
• Transfers from one format to another (for example, language versioning or subtitling)
• Projects with budgets exceeding $125,000 in the Emerging category, or $300,000 in the Mid-Career & Established category
• Projects for which you have sought or will be seeking support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada or the National Research Council
• Projects for which you will be seeking tax credits
• Websites