démART-Mtl

Who is eligible to apply?

Incorporated non-profit arts organizations and artists’ cooperatives that pay no dividends.

Professional, culturally diverse and immigrant (newcomers or first-generation) artists or cultural workers.

What are the program objectives?

DémART–Mtl is a measure that encourages established arts organizations to host artists and cultural workers with culturally diverse backgrounds who are either new arrivals or first-generation immigrants.

This program gives organizations and cooperatives an opportunity to work with this specific culturally diverse group, whose members are often already well-established, to build a win-win relationship. The project is created in partnership with the artist or cultural worker and provides work experience in the arts community so they can develop their practice, gain an understanding of the Montréal arts scene, and actively take part in the host organization’s activities while developing their professional career.

What type of assistance is provided?

Assistance includes the artist or cultural worker’s remuneration in the form of $12,000 for 600 hours ($20 per hour).

The organization will receive a $2,000 welcome stipend to cover expenses incurred to receive new participants.

What is the duration of the support?

Internship programs

From January 6, 2025, to June 30, 2025, or from June 2, 2025, to November 28, 2025. 

Duration

The work experience totals 600 hours, either continuously or spread over six months according to a specific schedule (depending on the nature of the activities).

How are supervisors, interns and internship settings matched?

The arts organizations or artists’ cooperatives select the potential participants before filing an application. After the interns have been selected, the organizations and collectives appoint supervisors to support the participants (immigrant artists or cultural workers) and ensure the program progresses in keeping with the participants’ career objectives, skills and professional experience. They also monitor the acquisition of new skills during the work experience and carry out an assessment upon completion.

What types of projects are eligible?

• Research
• Creation-production
• Specialized or multidisciplinary dissemination
• Publication of cultural magazines
• Production of an event or festival
• A museum
• Service organization, association or alliance

What are the general eligibility criteria?

For participants (artists and cultural workers)

Status and conditions

• Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident at the time the application is submitted
• Be culturally diverse (ethnic or visible minorities)
• Be an immigrant (newcomer or first-generation)
• Be self-employed (practising an art on their own account) according to the laws concerning the status of artists and the conditions of employment in Quebec
• Reside on the Island of Montréal

Professionalism

Participants must meet the Conseil’s definition of professionalism (see Glossary for details).

For organizations

Status and conditions

• Be a non-profit organization or an artists’ cooperative that pays no dividends
• Be headquartered on the Island of Montréal
• Have a board of directors whose members are mainly Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada
• Have the principal mandate to create, produce or disseminate creative work in the arts, or to bring together or represent artists and/or cultural workers in a specific artistic discipline or multidisciplinary sector

Professionalism

• Possess a level of recognized and demonstrable competence
• Be managed by qualified individuals
• Have stable artistic leadership
• Have presented activities of a recognized artistic quality
• Bring together, represent or employ professional artists and/or cultural workers

Are there any special eligibility criteria?

The arts organizations or artists’ cooperatives select the participants (artists or cultural workers) before applying and may file additional applications in subsequent years, selecting new participants. Organizations may submit only one application per year, for a single immigrant artist or cultural worker.

The organization must not show favouritism by selecting a participant who is an immediate family member.

This work experience is granted only once and provides immigrants with a unique opportunity to develop their career in the Montréal arts scene. Two arts organizations or artists’ cooperatives may not file applications on the same date in regard to the same artist or cultural worker.

What types of projects are eligible?

There are two types of paid work experience.

Component 1. Artistic

Organizations host professional artists and involve them in artistic activities. These artists (musicians, lighting technicians, performers, artistic directors, etc.) are given the opportunity to practise their art within established companies.

Component 2. Administrative

The organizations host cultural workers who provide assistance to the various departments (general or administrative, communications, production, market development, etc.). Participants may also be project managers and develop new areas of activity under the direction of a supervisor.

When must the project be carried out?

Between January 6, 2025 and June 30, 2025 or between June 2, 2025 and November 28, 2025. 

The work experience totals 600 hours, either continuously or spread over six months according to a specific schedule (depending on the nature of the activities).

How many applications will be accepted?

Approximately 20 applications are accepted by the Conseil.

Who is ineligible to apply?

Applicants

• Organizations that do not meet the general eligibility requirements
• Individual immigrant artists or cultural workers proposing a project
• Artists’ collectives that would like to hire an intern
• Cultural magazines that publish fewer than three issues per year, are distributed free of charge or available only in electronic format
• Public or para-public organizations representing governments or municipal corporations
• Libraries
• Organizations dedicated to teaching, education and professional training

Projects

• Organizations seeking funding for activities that are already completed or underway
• Work experience offered to an artist or cultural worker who has worked with the organization on more than one project, whether paid or not
• Work experience offered to an artist or cultural worker who has already worked with an organization as part of the démART-Mtl program

Activity sectors

• Organizations working exclusively in variety arts or comedy

Applications

• Incomplete applications
• Applications received after the deadline

Ineligible applications will not be considered by the evaluation committee.

Can specific populations receive additional financial support to submit their application or complete their project (accessibility costs)?

Yes. Accessibility costs refer to costs that certain individuals, particularly those who are D/deaf and/or living with a disability, must pay to take advantage, in the same way as others do, of the services and programs offered by an institution for research, to create, produce or disseminate their art. Reimbursement of part of these costs by the Conseil des arts de Montréal may offset the financial disadvantage.

The Support Fund for Accessibility Costs is a financial assistance measure that complements the Conseil’s other programs. The deadline to apply for support for accessibility costs is the same as that for the program being applied to.

Artists, collectives or organizations that have obtained financial assistance from the Conseil to carry out a project can also file an application for accessibility cost support up to three months after the decisions related to the successful project have been sent out, provided the project is not completed before the deadline to send out decisions for accessibility cost support applications.

Support is divided into three components:

• component 1 – Financial support to submit a grant application or to apply for one of the Conseil’s initiatives
• component 2 – Financial support for accessibility costs for a project funded by the Conseil
• component 3 – Financial support for presenter organizations for accessibility costs to welcome audiences for a project funded by the Conseil

For more details, please see this additional information on the Support Fund.

Can I submit more than one application in the same year?

An arts organization or artists’ cooperative may only submit one application per year.

Who should submit the application?

The organization or cooperative’s designated representative (administration, management).

What information and documents must I include in my application?

Arts organizations and artists’ cooperatives must select their participants before submitting an application and must have defined the mandate with the individual.

To be specified: 

• participant: a brief description of the intern’s skills and professional experience in  Montréal. Inclose the prospective intern’s CV and a letter outlining the reasons they want to work with the organization
• description of the work experience: area of focus, anticipated activities, description of tasks and implementation environment
• objectives and expected results: goals, expected outcomes for the intern and expected outcomes for the organization
• calendar of activities: work stages and schedule
• budget: expenses associated with the project’s completion

How are applications evaluated?

The Conseil, with the help of peer evaluation committees in each discipline, assesses all applications on the basis of merit and awards grants according to available budgets.

However, internships offered to newly arrived immigrants by organizations whose mandate is not primarily to support cultural diversity will be given priority.

Three-step process

• The person in charge of the program, under the authority of management, receives and confirms the application’s eligibility
• The peer evaluation committee evaluates the applications and makes its recommendation
• The Board of Directors meets to make a final decision and award the grant

What are the evaluation criteria?

The evaluation committee will take into account the program objectives and the following criteria:

• quality and feasibility of the project in terms of professional development
• organization’s management capacity and hosting ability (professional qualifications of the contact persons associated with the project, openness to diversity and the benefits of the internship for the organization
• impact on the participant’s integration into the Montréal arts community

What is the response time?

All applicants will receive a reply by early December 2024 at the latest.

How will I be informed of the decision?

The representative for the organization or cooperative will receive an email invitation to view the results on the ORORA platform. No decisions will be communicated by phone.

Can I appeal the decision?

The Conseil’s decisions are final and not subject to appeal. However, Conseil staff are available to answer any questions regarding decisions. Equity, ethics and proximity are an integral part of our values, and listening and empathy will always be a priority in our customer relations. With the aim of improving the way we work, we are now providing you with a feedback form, which you can find here.  

However, all organizations, collectives and artists wishing to share their concerns with us agree not to communicate with members of the evaluation committee or the Conseil’s Board of Directors about the management or evaluation of their application, or about decisions related to their application. 

How will the artist or cultural worker taking part in the program be paid?

The amount of the grant reserved for remunerating the artist or cultural worker will be paid at the beginning of every month upon receipt of a reimbursement request for the amounts paid the previous month.

Welcome stipend for the organization

At the start of the internship, the organization will receive a lump sum of $2,000 to help pay for certain expenses incurred in hosting the intern, including technological and health expenses. The expenses may vary depending on the nature of the expected work experience.

This amount cannot be applied to expenses included in the organization’s operating budget or covered by another grant program. It can, however, be used to increase the number of work hours or the hourly wage.

Payment times may vary depending on the internal processing time of Ville de Montréal departments, which are beyond the control of the Conseil des arts de Montréal.   

Commitments

Accepting payment of the grant constitutes, for the organization, cooperative and intern, an undertaking to complete the activities covered by the grant and to comply with the accompanying conditions, which will be communicated upon selection of the application.

Completion of the proposed project

These meaningful artistic and administrative partnerships will result in relevant and transferable work experiences. The organizations must mentor their interns, provide them with learning opportunities and measure their achievements.

The organization agrees to:

• attend a preparatory meeting to be held on Thursday, December 12, 2024
• provide the expected work experience
• notify the program manager if they substantially change the nature of the experience or if it is interrupted; they may be required to reimburse the welcome stipend on a pro-rated basis for internship hours completed
• provide a suitable environment (adequate work space, including computer equipment and office, rehearsal space, workshops, etc.), depending on the nature of the internship
• contribute, if possible, to increasing the remuneration paid
• appoint one or more supervisors to set the internship objectives and progress, as well as to monitor and evaluate achievements

Compliance

The arts organization or artists’ cooperative must comply with the grant’s specific conditions of use, where applicable.

In addition, organizations, collectives, artists and their representatives agree at all times not to communicate with members of the evaluation committees or members of the Council’s Board of Directors in any matter relating to the management, evaluation or decisions related to their application.  The Conseil des arts de Montréal staff are available to answer questions about the application evaluation process and decisions.