History of the Awards

Scenario Planning Tool Kit for Arts Organizations

Long-term scenario planning presents an opportunity to think beyond near-term predictions and be more imaginative about multiple possible conditions and directions. A scenario planning toolkit can help guide arts organizations as they contemplate the future.

Reimagining the Future of the Arts Webinar Series

​​​​In the wake of the pandemic and uprisings for racial justice, arts researchers and practitioners convene online to share insights and strategies to help inform the months (and years) ahead. ​​​​​​​​

CAPACOA Covid Impact Statistics

Most recent indicators from Statistics Canada: Here are a few reliable and meaningful indicators to keep track of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts sector.

Sexual Harassment Resources for Non Profits

Because one in four women in fundraising experience sexual harassment. Join us in making change.

Live Performance for the Virtual Stage

FEB 23 Live Performance for the Virtual Stage is a two hour online workshop designed to provide technical information and inspiration for creating live online entertainment using the resources you have available. The workshop is for individuals or groups who usually create art for live performance and are interested in learning how to transfer live performance to an online medium. This includes theatre makers, dancers, solo performance artists, variety artists, magicians, etc. It is also designed to cater to a wide range of budgets, technical know-how, and equipment. To register for this free session, email grants@edmontonarts.ca.

Artist Producer Resource

Welcome to the Artist Producer Resource. We've gathered all the tips, tricks, and best practices for producing live performance in Canada - from Accessibility to Volunteers - and put them here in one place.

Fundraising Trends of 2021 That May Impact Your Strategy FEB 4

If there’s anything 2020 showed us, it’s to expect the unexpected. Before last year, many professional fundraisers considered event-based fundraising like galas and marathons to be a tried-and-true method they could always rely on. 2021 will see many professional fundraisers looking for alternative fundraising models.

Introducing the New 2021 Canadian Nonprofit Sector Salary & Benefits Report JAN 28

We’re pleased to be releasing a brand new, fully updated edition of our popular Canadian Nonprofit Sector Salary & Benefits Report – the most comprehensive of its kind in the country! Set to be published in January 2021, the report will provide the latest data related to compensation and benefits packages in the Canadian nonprofit sector and will include information on the impact of COVID on nonprofit salaries.

Tycoon's Virtual Event Resource

Virtual, Hybrid, Online Events. Video Streaming, Platforms, Applications and More… It’s enough to make your head spin. In case you’re wondering what all of this means and are feeling a bit in over your head, so were we. So we put the Tycoon team to work, and started exploring all of the options out there, from an Event Planner’s perspective. Our Virtual Event Resource has been carefully developed to cut away the jargon, and get down to the nitty gritty of what we’d be looking for when planning our events.

Digital Connection is a Survival Superpower for the Arts

Colleen Dilenschneider shares new data on the positive trends that we’re seeing right now that can inform the future of our organizations. The takeaway? That everything from motivating attendance to securing member and subscriber support during COVID-19 is even more (digitally) connected.

Prepare, Plan, Perform: A New Framework for the Arts

The next six months for your organisation’s recovery are crucial. On Tuesday, 17th November at 2pm, join our team as we share a new framework looking at recovery for the arts, culture, and heritage sector. The session focuses on setting relevant, ambitious, goals across all departments so that your organisation will strengthen and strive on the way to recovery!

How to be an Inclusive Leader Webinar

On Monday, November 16, in a live, interactive HBR webinar, Frei and Morriss will share insights on how leading firms are winning by investing in diversity and prioritizing inclusion as an urgent, achievable goal. Unlike other diversity efforts that never seem to make progress, they will share how their proven approach has transformed organizations and their leaders in just a few months with measurable results.

Community Development Programs

We offer services, such as strategic planning, board governance, building leadership capabilities, fund development and grant writing, evaluation, public and stakeholder engagement, developing partnerships, and collaborative relationships that are tailored to your community groups, non-profit organizations, and volunteer teams.

Marketing Beyond Your Core Audience

How do you sell a product few people have heard of, many don’t think they need, and that costs a lot? What happens when your core audience is shrinking and lots of your content is available for free online? Where do you look for new audiences… and how would they find you?

IBPOC Digital Strategy Series

We are excited to announce Phase II of the Digital Strategy for IBPOC Artists and Arts Organizations with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. The Digital Tools Professional Development sessions will bring IBPOC artists and arts organizations together online to develop their digital tools, capacities and strategies with a focus on navigating through and preparing post COVID-19 strategies using digital tools.

3 Steps for Developing a Passionate Nonprofit Board

Your board members are the face of your nonprofit. They’re instrumental ambassadors and advocates within the community, and they ultimately pave the way for your nonprofit to thrive. In other words, keeping board members engaged is imperative to your success.

Arts & Culture Planning 2020 Comeback Sept results

Positive containment and infection reduction in the U.K. reveal more optimism for a 2020 in-person return to performances, while flaring cases in some provinces of Canada decreased optimism as described in Table 1.

Research Findings

In May 2020, Calgary Arts Development undertook a survey of arts organizations in Calgary to better understand and plan for the COVID-19 disruption to the arts, culture, and creative industries. Read the Report.

COVID Confident: Effective Forecasting

September 17, 2020 Whether your venue, tour, exhibition or attraction is already open, or if you are modelling for the future when that moment comes, you may feel that your ticketing, membership/subscription and ancillary forecasts are built on ever-shifting sands. This free webinar will explore different approaches to forecasting, help you to build confidence in your models, and effectively monitor sales trajectories.

Arts Research Monitor Vol 19 no 2 September Issue

In this issue: Insights into the potential return of audiences to cultural activities, based on recent Canadian reports. Note: There are many more Canadian reports on this topic than could be included in this issue, as well as many interesting international studies. Priority was given to the most reliable and most recent Canadian reports at the time of writing.

The September Experience Economy: Understanding consumer behaviors to pivot experiential offerings

Tuesday, September 22, 2020 10:00 AM America/Edmonton As the non-profit sector looks ahead to plan fall events and experiences, leaders in the sector need relevant, timely and actionable data to help guide their planning in our new normal.

New Series: Audiences During the Pandemic

My goal as guest editor of Lynne Conner’s ‘We the Audience’ blog for the next six months is to share and respond to what I’m seeing happening during this Coronavirus/COVID-19 crisis through the lens of the audience.

Arts Leaders Discuss New Cornerstones for Success in a COVID-19 World

On August 13, 2020, SMU DataArts, in partnership with The Wallace Foundation, released a report that suggests the cornerstones of success for arts organizations lie in the alchemy between high-quality programming standards and community relevance. While this deceptively simple statement may reflect universal intentions, executing on it, according to these organizational leaders, takes humility and an intensive investment of resources and time.

The New Experience Economy Wave 1 Results

Stone-Olafson, in collaboration with community partners, developed a long-term research investigation to evaluate how current conditions will reshape Albertans’ attitudes and behaviours towards social and group activities, across a variety of sectors. The purpose of this work is to give leaders of community sports, recreation, arts & culture, professional sports, active living, heritage, tourism or hospitality sectors relevant facts about local audiences that they will need to bring life back to our communities.

How Nonprofits Are Using the Google Ad Grant to Recover From COVID-19

Six ways our nonprofits have been using the Google Ad Grant with us to respond effectively to COVID – not only to recognize the amazing work they’re doing but also to share the learning for any organization looking to adapt to “the new normal”.

How To Plan A Virtual Gala

With the Fall fundraising season fast approaching, you and your organization may be considering switching your annual fundraising gala into a fully virtual event. Here are some steps to transitioning your gala from in-person to virtual.

The Art of Board Governance in the time of COVID-19

Jun 24, 2020 03:00 PM ET Under normal circumstances, good governance can be elusive, requiring a delicate balance of operational oversight, strategic vision and passion for the mission. In a crisis, it gets even harder. COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of the way that boards and managers make decisions. In-person board meetings are no longer possible, raising funds is harder than ever, and guidance from the government is evolving faster than we can keep up. In this session, the David & Sharon Johnston Centre for Corporate Governance Innovation will share insights that we have gathered about the unique challenges and strengths of governance in the arts sector, and how real-world boards and managers are coping with the immediate and long-term implications of the pandemic. Panelists: Vanessa Morgan, Chair, Soulpepper Theatre, Toronto, Ontario Bruce Wright, Chair, Vancouver Art Gallery Foundation, Vancouver, B.C. Irfhan Rawji, Chair, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta

Workshop: Redefining Audience Engagement

TOCG is now offering virtual workshops for cultural organizations interested in rethinking their relationships to audiences and planning for the best ways to center them in plans for reopening. In this 2-3 hour strategy session, the TOCG Team will work with your team (up to 10 people) to: -Train your organization on our audience engagement approach based on Trauma-Informed Care, a prevalent framework in medical and behavioral health settings. -Share best practices on using a trauma-informed approach to meaningfully and authentically re-engage audiences. -Help you to craft your own plan that puts your audiences at your center, and features the six guiding principles of Trauma-Informed Care, and how they may apply to your organization.

A New Normal for North American Orchestras

This thought provoking opinion piece calls on orchestras to do better in a post-COVID, post-George Floyd world

Giving it away for free - why the performing arts risks making the same mistake newspapers did

COVID-19 has exposed the true insecurity of the cultural workforce, and now we’re seeing the double-edged sword of “exposure” also extending to arts organisations.

The Long Runway to Return: The Role of Anchor Cultural Institutions

Anchor institutions are enduring, place-based organizations that play a vital role in the social and economic success of their communities. This article explores how they will figure in the road to recovery.

WorkInCulture Resource Page

A comprehensive list of resources that will be updated as we gather more information.

CI to Eye Live: How to Livestream Your Content

This livestream recording features the CI Marketing and Operations team and will give an exclusive look at Boot Camp Livestream from pre- to post-production, including a tour of the software, StreamYard (https://streamyard.com/). You’ll walk away with tips, advice, and learnings for your own livestreams. Subjects include Pre-Production, Platform Design, Speaker / Presenter Coordination and Preparation, Day Of Logistics, Marketing and Q&A.

Edmonton Screen Industries Office COVID-19 Information

COVID-19 RECOVERY AND THE EDMONTON SCREEN INDUSTRIES OFFICE The ESIO recognizes that the screen media industry faces unique challenges during this uncertain time. We believe in the resilience and adaptability of our Edmonton community and are currently modifying and updating our programs and services to better serve our stakeholders and allow them to move forward with initiatives and projects.

Calgary Chamber Powering Up Tool Kit

We have compiled the below resources to support your business through the next phase of COVID-19. As this is a phased approached, business owners need to be flexible and prepared to close if cases of COVID-19 spike in the future. Learn more about the government approach here.

Destination Canada Zoom Background Images

While you stay indoors, let us bring the great Canadian outdoors to your video calls. Download as many backgrounds as you like and enjoy the epic beauty of Canada while you stay home.

CI to Eye Live

Thursday May 13 11am MT Live conversations that fuel the future of the arts. Hosted by CI’s President, Erik Gensler, CI to Eye Live features timely conversations with leaders inside and outside of the arts. This Thursday: How to produce a Livestream.

Virtual AGM Facilitation Guide

Switching your Annual General Meeting (AGM) online? The Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) has been doing virtual AGMs for four years and compiled their best tips and tricks to help nonprofits move their AGMs online and facilitate them effectively and efficiently. The ECVO have then worked to modify the document to align with Alberta’s Society Act and other legal requirements.

AGLC FAQs for Casino Events, Raffles, and Gaming Proceeds

Information about AGLC revenues during COVID-19

Canadian Network for Arts & Learning Regional Roundtable

May 12, 2020 Navigating arts and learning through a global crisis: Lessons learned and obstacles encountered

Guidance For Arts Boards Confronting a Pandemic

How does the board’s role change in a time of crisis? Senior arts leaders and experienced board members Robin Cardozo and Helen Burstyn offer 10 Principles for Navigating through Critical Times – the first in our series of three Creative Champions webinars providing Guidance for Arts Boards Confronting a Pandemic.

TRG's Virtual Roundtable with Fred Reichheld

"What you do now—how you treat your patrons and employees—will be what everyone remembers after the COVID-19 crisis recedes.” Watch back the Virtual Roundtable with Fred Reichheld, about how during and beyond this time of crisis, arts and cultural organisations can continue to "enrich the lives of the people we touch".

Spektrix Ticket Converter

At Spektrix we feel strongly that we should all work together for the good of the arts sector. With that in mind, we’ve created a Ticket Converter tool designed to make it easier for audiences to donate, or accept refunds to account credit, with a single email click. The tool is available to all cultural organisations, regardless of the ticketing system you use - it’s free to use, and we won’t see your data.

COVID-19: Five Things Fundraisers Should Be Doing Right Now

Things that may have consumed a lot of your time are suddenly on the backburner: meetings, conferences, events, and even networking. For many fundraisers, including myself, these sort of things previously consumed large amounts of my time. So now what should we be doing?

Canada Council Survey Preliminary Findings

The survey looked at the Government of Canada’s recently announced emergency aid measures for Canadian workers and businesses and the challenges faced by the professional arts sector. The Council has prepared a preliminary report of the first quantitative results to give you a quick snapshot of the overall situation.

Core Digital Skills Webinar: Operating Digitally

So you've set up your digital platform(s) of choice, whether Office365 or Dropbox, Zoom or Skype, or all of the above. But running your organisation – teams, projects, partnerships and governance – ‘virtually’ is so much more than a technical challenge.

TRG Insights Blog

Each week TRG 30 will address the issues important to you, the arts and cultural field we serve. In the meantime, join me, your international peers, and our TRG team in the LinkedIn TRG 30 Virtual Network for real-time, daily exchange of ideas and information.

LEAN Canada - Leadership Emergency Arts Network

The LEAN Team has set up Advisers with experience in the sector in strategic decision-making, crisis management, financial analysis, board direction, relationship mediation, HR management, inspirational leadership to offer pro bono phone/zoom calls with organizations requesting some outside help/an ear/expertise.

Future Tenses Social Distancing Socials

We’re launching a biweekly series of what we’re calling Social Distancing Socials. You can join these interactive conversations via Zoom. Join us Tuesdays and Thursdays for less than an hour at 4 p.m. Eastern.

I Lost My Gig Canada

I Lost My Gig Canada, a space for creative industries and other vulnerable freelance and gig economy workers to connect and share stories in response to growing income precarity in Canada.

Capacity Interactive Boot Camp for the Arts Livestream Roundup

The livestream features presentations, Q+A interviews, and case studies from across the arts industry on leadership, marketing, fundraising, and wellness. You’ll hear from experts on how to navigate the crisis, and from peer organizations about what they’re doing to remain active in their patrons’ lives.

BBC announces Culture in Quarantine

BBC Arts announced further programming for Culture In Quarantine, a virtual festival of the arts rooted in the experience of national lockdown. The BBC mission is to increase access to the arts, at a time when the buildings that support them are closed, and to support artists and arts organisations in the process.

CPHR Alberta Webinar Series: HR Pandemic Essentials

CPHR Alberta is offering a free webinar series for Canadian HR professionals who are navigating work during the coronavirus pandemic. Our goal is to support you during these challenging times and help you manage your workplaces as effectively and empathetically as possible.

Rozsa Foundation and Agatha Starczyk: Working from Home

The most recent session of the Rozsa Executive Arts Leadership program (REAL) inadvertently aligned with the mysterious workings of the Universe, as we all gathered remotely from our homes to discuss the HR trend – now reality – of working from home with facilitator and HR adviser Agatha Starzcyk.

Mark Schaefer : 6 Steps to deal with business uncertainty in this coronavirus crisis

From Mark Schaefer, author of Marketing Rebellion: As I compose this post in March of 2020, we are in an unknowable, unprecedented situation. The world that we love will come back from the coronavirus crisis — But when? When do we go back to our lives, our jobs, our friends, our schools? And what about the economy?

CI to Eye Podcast: How Arts Organizations Can Survive A Pandemic

Brett Egan, President of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland, and Erik Gensler, President of Capacity Interactive and host of CI to Eye, discuss the seven clear steps arts leaders should consider when institutions are being put to the ultimate test. Brett also provides his guidance around fundraising, marketing, programming, and leadership during this unprecedented time. 

PACT Weekly Town Hall Meeting

PACT is convening a weekly Town Hall meeting every Thursday to discuss the effects of the pandemic on Canadian theatre, using the Zoom videoconference platform. These Town Halls are free and open to all managers, producers, and administrators in the Canadian performing arts – whether or not your company is a PACT Member.

Take Your Programming Online Webinar

Washington Performing Arts Center pivoted in three days to take their planned gala online. Topics addressed include leadership roles, revenues and expenses, livestream requirements, communications, donor stewardship and fundraising issues. Questions like ‘how can you convert a ticket or table purchase into to a donation?’ are also answered.

Momentum Resource Page

Full listing of all financial supports for people impacted by COVID-19, including those missing work due to self-isolation, those laid off or unable to work.