Canada Council for the Arts Program Officers Michael Peterson and Marty Ballentyne hosted information sessions for local artists to apply to national funding and grants on July 14 and 15.
In the evening session on July 14 at 7p.m. at the EA Rawlinson Centre, attendants learned about how to set up an artist profile in the new portal on the Canada Council for the Arts website. Ballentyne and Peterson also talked about the process of submitting an application, and several different types of artistic funding that is currently available.
“We want to see artists succeed, we want to see people apply, we want to see people take advantage of the resources that we have,” said Ballentyne, who works as the Program Officer for the Explore and Create Program at the Canada Council for the Arts.
Ballentyne has roots in northern Saskatchewan, from Sandy Bay, Peter Ballantyne First Nation. He has a personal background in music, and with experience working with indigenous knowledge keepers in film and television.
Michael Peterson comes from Saskatoon Saskatchewan, with plenty experience in visual arts, including owning his own screenprinting studio.
“We know a lot about the communities that we come from, and we know about underserved communities within where we come from,” said Ballentyne.
Canada Council for the Arts, or CCA, looks at trends in data of where funding is being dispersed across the country, and by population, Saskatchewan currently has lower applications than other provinces.
“When you have less people applying from an area like Saskatchewan, you’re going to have less people getting grants. We look at Saskatchewan as a priority area within Council, and it’s an area that we want to try and provide support to so that we can drive those numbers up,” Ballentyne explained.
CCA makes an effort to reach artists across the country, as well as provide equitable funding across the provinces. Ballentyne said there are many different factors as to why an area may have lower numbers. Some other provinces that may have higher or lower applications at any given time are Alberta, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
“Because we are both Saskatchewan guys, we know that, for example, Prince Albert has lots that’s going on, but we don’t see those numbers in terms of applications,” said Ballentyne.
Ballentyne explained that the biggest factor the Council has seen for the application numbers to be lower in Saskatchewan is simply a lack of awareness of the funding available.
“They don’t know what the Canada Council does, so that’s why this work is so important,” explained Ballentyne.
On this itinerary, Ballentyne and Peterson have travelled to Meadow Lake, Beauval, Saskatoon, La Ronge, Prince Albert, and Batoche.
Ballentyne further explained that CCA has not seen one application from Beauval in 10 years.
“The fact that we’re from Saskatchewan means that we have the opportunity to advocate for coming to communities like PA, Meadow Lake, La Ronge, Beauval and Batoche this week because we want to reach indigenous people, but also people in the communities from this area,” said Ballentyne.
Ballentyne also mentioned that in comparison to the mainstream, Indigenous applications are lower, and overall underserved. He is hoping that indigenous nations may hear about the CCA from these sessions, and that Council is very receptive to requests for ongoing sessions, mostly online, if there is interest shown by leadership.
Ballentyne said is hoping the work they have done throughout the province during their trip can be compared to planting seeds for further projects in Saskatchewan.
“When Michael and I go back to Ottawa, a lot of the work we do is follow up to things like outreach. This is by no means the end, it’s really the beginning,” said Ballentyne.
“We continue to hope that people will apply from Saskatchewan because we want to see success from Saskatchewan. We want to see artists get supported, but we can’t offer that support if they don’t apply.”
Both Program Officers expressed that they are reachable on an ongoing basis through their emails, especially if an artist who is thinking about applying with the CCA was not able to make it to one of the information sessions.
Marty Ballentyne can be reached at marty.ballentyne@canadacouncil.ca and Michael
Peterson can be reached at michael.peterson@canadacouncil.ca
Anyone can view the funding programs and various grants for artists through the Canada Council website at CanadaCouncil.ca.
“I love talking to artists because I know that’s an important step towards applying,” shared Ballentyne.
“Michael and I are only two of dozens of program officers at Council, and everybody is very, very passionate and very supportive of artists because that’s what we’re here for.”
