March 1, 2024 deadline
General Expert Panel comments
Comments made by the panel during the assessment of applications 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.
General comments
- Please be sure that your description clearly outlines how you plan to do your project because vague descriptions make it difficult for the panel to understand what your goals and intentions are.
- Be very specific about your intentions and/or the story you are trying to tell and avoid using jargon.
- Please be as succinct as possible and keep the description simple and direct to avoid your text becoming overly dense, redundant, or confusing.
- Please reach out to AFA staff for feedback on your draft well before deadline if you require assistance.
- Including a timeline or schedule of activity is a valuable component of your project description. This helps the panel better understand how and when you plan to undertake your activities.
- Be sure to allow yourself ample time to complete your project so the panel has confidence that you can complete activities as proposed.
- Demonstrate clear anticipated outcomes, or end goals, as this addresses potential impacts the project may have on you, your artistic practice and/or broader career goals.
- If you are undertaking an activity that is a clear departure from your usual practice, be sure to address what supports you will have in place to help you with with your transition, learning, and development. Examples include mentors, courses, workshops, collaborations, etc..
- 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 merit. Not all recommended projects can be supported. The panel encourages applicants to reapply in the future and to reach out to AFA consultants for feedback prior to next submission.
Budget:
- Budgets should be sufficiently detailed to give the panel all the information they need to evaluate the potential of a project.
- Budgets demonstrating 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.
- 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. For example, if the only revenue received is the AFA grant, can you still do the project as proposed, or can you modify it to fit a smaller budget if you do not recieve the full funding?
Support material:
- Do not provide streaming or website links. The panel will not do additional research on applicants due to volume of applications.
- Have as many images representing your work as you can, up to the maximum allowable, as this helps the panel assess your project.
- Support materials are most helpful when they are reflective of the artist’s intent, activity, and/or practice relative to the project.
- Only provide support materials in the accepted formats. Do not assume the panel has a specific platform or software outside of the formats outlined in the guidelines.
- Provide enough images or work samples for a clear sense of your work. If images do not reflect the proposed project, provide a context.
- Inspiration images can be used to help illustrate your ideas but the bulk of samples should be of your work. Including maquettes to help visualize your idea is also beneficial when relevant.
- Showing examples of installation views are helpful, especially for multi-dimensional works. If you include installation shots, please also include images showing elements or individual pieces on their own.
- For images, ideally have one image per page. By adding multiple images 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 need help with preparing or providing support material items (images, video, etc.).