Call for projects to support the cultural offering in the educational pathway

This call for projects aims to increase and diversify the range of cultural activities for young people from early childhood to college. For preschool, elementary and secondary students, activities must take place outside of class hours, either in daycare or after-school. As for college activities, they can take place during class hours.

Goals

This call for projects aims to increase and diversify the range of cultural activities for young people from early childhood to college. For preschool, elementary and secondary students, activities must take place outside of class hours, either in daycare or after-school. As for college activities, they can take place during class hours.

 requirements of artistic work and to develop their creativity" (article 1.4 of the current Interdepartmental Culture-Education  Memorandum of Understanding

This interministerial agreement recognized that "the fields of collaboration between culture and education are expanding and making it possible to take into account the new possibilities offered by the diversity of places, opportunities and practices" (article 3.1 of the Protocol). Thus, "[i]n school environments, these new possibilities are reflected, among other things, by a greater place given to extracurricular activities as well as to school-based childcare services" (article 3.2 of the Protocol).

In addition, the Educational  Success Policy 

launched in June 2017 highlights in particular the value of the contribution that cultural partners are able to make in terms of developing 21st century skills and  converging efforts for success. This policy thus recognizes that cultural and intercultural activities represent an important dimension of the educational pathway.

Launched in June 2018, Quebec's cultural policy Partout, la culture recognizes the value of the cross-contribution of the cultural, educational and social sectors. Thus, measure 8 of the 2018-2023 Government Action Plan for Culture  (PDF 589 KB) , renewed for the period 2023-2028, aims in particular to amplify the relationship between culture and education by concluding a new culture-education-family alliance and by improving the offer of cultural activities in the educational pathway, from preschool to postsecondary.

Consequently, the Ministry wishes to support the deployment of a cultural offering for young people in early childhood, preschool, primary, secondary and college. More specifically, the purpose of this call for projects is to increase the offering of cultural activities for young people outside of school hours and to increase student participation in this type of activity.

Goals

Four specific objectives are pursued:

• provide young people with the opportunity to discover, develop or deepen their interest in cultural activities in their educational journey;
• support artists who wish to offer activities to targeted clienteles;
• support professional organizations that wish to offer activities to targeted clienteles;
  • A professional organization must be a legally constituted non-profit legal person with its head office in Quebec that carries out professional artistic or communication activities. Its board of directors must be composed of a majority of directors who are Canadian citizens ordinarily resident in Quebec or permanent residents within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act who ordinarily reside in Quebec. Any group of individuals constituting a non-profit legal person that offers cultural activities for the purposes of educational success is also eligible.
• increase and diversify the cultural offering for students outside of class hours.

Applicant Eligibility

General conditions

The program is aimed at:

• professional artists, including writers, and organizations registered in the Culture-Education  Directory

• professional cultural organizations and professional organizations in the communications sector, as well as national cultural leisure organizations which receive operating assistance from the Ministry;
• public libraries (i.e. municipal libraries and association libraries independent of the municipal administrative structure, recognised as public and supported by the municipalities whose populations they serve);
• higher education schools for art training supported by the Operating Assistance for Art Training Organizations (PAFOFA) program or belonging to the network of schools of the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec;
• Indigenous organizations or committees with the mission or mandate to contribute to the cultural development of young people in their community. These organizations or committees must correspond to one of the following categories:
  • indigenous public authority;
  • Aboriginal organization, society or community group;
  • indigenous cultural, educational or recreational organization or center.

Professional organizations not listed in the Culture-Education Directory, but working with youth clients for more than 2 years, are also eligible (in this case, supporting documents must be provided when submitting the project) if they work in the following cultural disciplines:

• performing arts
  • such as dance, music, song, theatre and circus,
• multidisciplinary arts,
• digital arts,
• visual arts,
• cinema and video,
• media and multimedia,
• arts and crafts,
• literature,
• new artistic practices.
  • New artistic practices bring together artistic practices that are interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, or do not fit into any of the traditional disciplines. They are generally characterized by their ability to go beyond the experiments and innovations that currently define these disciplines, as well as by their ability to disrupt established ideas about what art is and to open up new terrains for the arts, professional artists, and their relationships with audiences, communities, and the general public. New artistic practices explore aspects other than those that traditionally govern the production of works of art (form, technique, aesthetics) and include politically engaged art, collaborations between science and art, public and community art, rituals, to name a few examples.

To be eligible, any artist or professional organization must have respected, where applicable, its commitments to the Ministry when awarding a previous grant.

Exclusions

For-profit organizations, such as businesses and private companies, are not eligible, regardless of their sector of activity.

Project eligibility

Specific conditions

To be eligible, a project must:

• be intended for young people in early childhood, preschool, primary, secondary or college and their chaperones, where applicable;
• be offered as part of the activities of a daycare service (including pedagogical days) OR be offered as part of extracurricular activities;
• be carried out in partnership with one of the following establishments:
  • early childhood center,
  • coordinating office for family educational care,
  • subsidized daycare,
  • indigenous educational institution,
  • public or private educational establishment approved by the Ministry of Education, whether French-speaking or English-speaking,
  • Quebec college establishment.
• have a link with the educational path, without the obligation of being structured around educational objectives to be achieved, as in the case of formal education;
• take place during the 2024-2025 school year and may be continued or repeated in 2025-2026, if the partner establishment so wishes (the activity may be one-off or extend over several weeks).

Exclusions

• Projects that have already received financial assistance from the Ministry of Culture and Communications, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education or the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec;
• Cultural outings and projects taking place mainly outside the walls of the establishment;
• Projects whose main objective is the creation of educational materials, such as a kit or video capsules;
• Projects that do not involve active student participation or direct interaction with the artist or cultural organization (real-time virtual interaction may be considered direct interaction).

Submission of the application

The application for financial assistance is normally produced online using a form accessible in the 

 online service and automatically forwarded to the regional office of the Ministry responsible for processing it.

It must be submitted on the dates determined by the Ministry, i.e. during the call for projects which takes place from August 19 to October 7, 2024.

The applicant must provide, in the form or attached documents , the following information for the assessment of his application:

• a description of the project, including the target clientele and the number of possible or conceivable registrations with a minimum or maximum threshold, where applicable;
• the necessary conditions for implementation (premises, supervision, equipment, financial participation of the establishment, etc.);
• an agreement signed by the management of the establishment and detailing its commitment. It must specify the conditions of its participation in the project and the resources it is able to devote to it (premises, supervision, equipment, financing or other). In the event that a project involves several partners, for example several schools in the same school service center, each of them must endorse the project and detail its commitment. Any special regulations of the establishment and any constraints relating to the implementation of the project must be specified when the project is submitted;
• the dates of the project, which must take place during the 2024-2025 school year and which may be continued or repeated in 2025-2026, if the partner establishment so wishes;
• the amount of the contribution that will be requested from parents for their child's participation or from middle school students, where applicable. To promote access to cultural activities for young people, the financial contribution that may be requested from parents or middle school students must be minimal and agreed with the establishment when the project is submitted. This contribution must not increase during the project, but it may be revised downwards if other partners provide financial support;
• in the case of an organization, a presentation of the team planned to carry out the project, highlighting its experience and skills with a youth clientele; and, in the case of an organization not registered in the Culture-Education Directory, 2 letters of reference or appreciation regarding projects previously carried out with this same clientele;
• the balanced and detailed budget of the project;
• for an organization, its most recent financial statements as well as the resolution adopted by its competent authorities on the request for financial assistance and the agent;
• the duly signed Financial Assistance Conditions document  (PDF 462 KB) ;
• any other relevant information to support the application.

During the analysis of the project, the applicant must provide the Ministry, within the required time limits, with the information and additional documents that the Ministry requests.

Please note that any institution may require a criminal record certificate from any person who will be in direct contact with students. It is not necessary to attach such a certificate to the application, but it must be provided to the institution, if applicable.

To be submitted for evaluation, the file must be complete and based on accurate data. Otherwise, it will be up to the applicant to correct or complete them within the time limit granted by the Ministry.

Only the project that successfully passes the applicant and project eligibility analysis stage, as well as the relevance, quality and impact analysis stage, may be awarded financial assistance. The Ministry reserves the right to distribute the overall budget envelope fairly, according to the objectives of the call for projects to support the cultural offering in all regions, according to the artistic disciplines and target clienteles.

Application assessment

The assessment of the application is carried out by the Ministry. The Ministry may, if necessary, call on external expertise.

An application is evaluated based on:

• the relevance of the project , revealed by:
  • the alignment of the project with the expertise of the artist or the mission of the requesting organization and the demonstration of its know-how to a young clientele;
  • the innovative nature of the project compared to what is already offered to young people by their establishment;
  • the suitability of the project with the target age groups;
  • the alignment of the project with the objectives, priorities and school orientations, particularly in terms of educational success;
  • the project implementation schedule, which must take place during the 2024-2025 school year and which may be continued or repeated in 2025-2026, if the partner establishment so wishes (the activity may be one-off or extend over several weeks).
• the quality of the project , revealed by:
  • the clear and precise description of the cultural activities envisaged;
  • the experience and skill of the artist or production team;
  • the realism of budget forecasts, financial planning and implementation schedule;
  • the institution's commitment.
• the foreseeable repercussions of the project , revealed by:
  • the number of participants targeted;
  • the effects on young people and the establishment;
  • the effects on the influence of culture and communications. They can be measured in particular by the scope of the project (local, regional, national or international), the dissemination and promotion of the project, the transfer of expertise or technology, the development of a sector or discipline, etc.

Allocation of financial aid

The program provides financial assistance of up to 75 % of eligible expenses related to the completion of the project that meets the financial assistance criteria, up to a maximum of $50,000 per project, regardless of the number of establishments targeted by the same project.

The accumulation of assistance granted by the Ministry and that obtained by other government sources (federal, provincial, regional and municipal) must not exceed 90 % of the total cost of the project.

The Ministry pays, upon confirmation of financial assistance, a first tranche of its grant representing at least 50% and at most 80% of the announced amount. The remainder is paid according to the terms set out in the payment schedule, sent after the announcement letter.

Financial assistance may, in all cases, be revised depending on the available credits.

The applicant's contribution to the realization of his project must be equivalent to at least 10 % of the total budget of the project, including at least 5 % in cash for an organization. It must be accounted for and must be part of the budget presentation. This contribution may include the goods and services that will be provided, accompanied by an estimate of their market value.

Only expenses directly related to the implementation of the project are eligible. These may include:

• labor costs (including benefits);
• costs of purchasing or producing materials for students or their parents (for example, an explanatory brochure, books, educational materials or perishable materials);
• promotional costs, particularly with parents, or relating to the dissemination of the results of the activity (in particular costs relating to an exhibition of the young people's works);
• travel expenses in accordance with the scales in force in the Quebec government (for those responsible for the activity and for the transport of equipment, if applicable);
• rental costs for premises or equipment up to 20 % of the amount of the grant (any excess must be justified, with supporting documents);
• administration costs, up to 5 % of the total eligible expenses listed above;
• contingency costs (unforeseen events linked, for example, to an increase in the costs of materials required for the activity or transport costs), up to 10 % of the total eligible expenses listed above.

Exclusions

Not eligible:

• expenses relating to a cultural outing;
• expenses relating to an activity already supported under another program or measure of the Ministry of Culture and Communications, a program or measure of the Ministry of Education (including the Culture in Schools  program ), the Ministry of Higher Education or the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec;

• expenses relating to the financing of a debt, the repayment of loans or the financing of a project already carried out;
• capital expenditures related to the acquisition of land or buildings;
• the recurring operating expenses of an organization;
• costs relating to the subcontracting of part of the project or the preparation and management of the project by a third party or agent;
• legal fees and costs relating to criminal record searches;
• the cost of purchasing equipment, such as stage equipment, computer equipment, musical instruments, lecterns or cameras;
• expenditure incurred before the project was officially accepted by the Ministry.

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