Visual Arts & New Media Individual Project Funding Expert Panel comments

March 2, 2026 Submissions
General Expert Panel comments

Comments made by the panel during its assessment of applications submitted to the March 2, 2026 deadline are outlined below. Please note that these comments provide a summary of the panel's assessment and do not necessarily relate to every application submitted to this deadline. The panel does not provide individual comments.

Project Description

  • Please be sure that your description clearly outlines how you plan to do the project, because descriptions lacking in detail make it difficult for the Expert Panel to understand what your goals and intentions are. 
  • Project descriptions that shared why a theme, idea, or concept were important to your project helped the panel understand its personal significance as well as broader goals and intentions. 
  • Projects that had a timeline or schedule of activity did better than those that did not, as this helped the Expert Panel to better understand how and when activities take place.
  • If applying to residencies or programs, please include an alternate program and contingency plan if you have not yet been accepted.
  • If your work is land-based or focused, it is important to also consider Indigenous perspectives and (where relevant) histories. 
  • Sharing anticipated outcomes or hoped for goals strengthened applications, as these showed potential impacts on your artistic practice and/or broader career goals. For example, research or artistic production projects also include potential outcomes beyond the project, such as applying for future exhibits, or other opportunities.
  • If you are undertaking an activity that is a clear departure from your usual practice, be sure to address what you will have in place to help you with your transition, learning, and development. Examples include mentors, courses, workshops, collaborations, or sketches related to changes in media, etc. 
  • When relevant to your project or practice, knowledge sharing or other means of giving back to community are also seen as important elements. Be sure to provide support letters or confirmations for these when possible, or reasoning if these are not included. 
  • The panel was impressed with the diversity of projects and the quality of activities in the province.
  • An unsuccessful grant request did not necessarily mean your project was without artistic merit. Not all strong projects could be supported. The panel encourages applicants to reapply in the future, and to reach out to AFA consultants for feedback prior to next submission.
     

Budgets: 

  • Budgets should be sufficiently detailed to allow the panel to evaluate the potential of a project. Budgets demonstrating that expenses were researched did better than those without support materials. Include quotes or invoices (where relevant), and/or budget notes stating which websites and other sources were used.
  • Avoid “double dipping” - claiming both subsistence and artist fees for yourself. Only claim subsistence for your project length, which can be up to $3,000 per month, inclusive (not per project owner). 
  • Ensure that your subsistence costs are within eligible categories as shown in AFA guidelines (rent/mortgage, child/dependent care, groceries, local transport). Utilities and insurance, debt, or capital costs such as vehicle maintenance or condo fees, are ineligible and will be removed from the budget. 
  • Do not include organization costs as expenses or in-kind costs in your budget. These are not eligible, as AFA cannot supplement organization expenses through individual grant programs. This includes an organization’s catalogue costs and exhibition fees to yourself. 
  • It is strongly encouraged to pay honoraria or fees to models, contractors or contributors.
  • When you have pending revenue in your budget (in addition to the AFA grant you are asking for), the application is strengthened if a contingency plan is provided. If the only revenue is the AFA grant, can you still do the project as proposed, or can you modify it to fit a smaller budget?
     

Support material:

  • Please provide support files as per the guidelines on the website. Do not provide streaming or website links. The panel does not have time to do additional research due to volume of applications. 
  • Please provide enough images or work samples to provide a clear sense of your work. If images do not reflect the proposed project, provide a context.
  • For images, ideally have one image per page. By adding multiple images to a page, or design elements, your artwork may be more difficult to see clearly. 
  • Please reach out to the AFA staff in advance of a deadline if you wish to have feedback or want help with preparing support material items (images, video, etc.).
  • Support materials are most helpful when they are reflective of the artist’s intent, activity and/or practice related to the project being applied for. If your project does not yet have examples of a new style, media or theme, sketches, maquettes, models or other visuals can be very helpful.
  • If files are too large to be uploaded to GATE, they can be emailed to AFA at the address shown in the guidelines (i.e., video or audio files). Please reach out to AFA staff if you need help with your attachments.