ORGANIZATIONS MUST

• Be a registered non-profit organization.
• Have received programming or operating funding from the Edmonton Arts Council in the past 12 months.
• Have an up-to-date profile in the Edmonton Arts Council’s online portal, SmartSimple.
• Not be in arrears with the City of Edmonton.

AN ELIGIBLE INITIATIVE MUST

• Have a defined start and end date.
• Clearly describe the anticipated change for your organization, how you will function differently after the change, and how it will be sustained.
• Describe what measures and indicators you will use to understand the effectiveness of that change.

EXAMPLES OF PROJECTS THAT MIGHT FIT WELL WITH INVENT & ADAPT FUNDING

• An Indigenous dance group seeks to establish a centralized booking service for their participating artists.
• An emerging art gallery is seeking to transition from a working volunteer board to a working board that works in tandem with a paid curator and a paid administrator.
• Due to audience feedback, a musical ensemble that has been heavily focused on Western baroque and classical music, is working to change their mission to adapt classical music from China and Korea.
• A theatre company that presents locally wants to expand its organizational capacity to undertake a province-wide tour.
• A local literary publication seeks to amplify marginalized voices and will engage in consultation with stakeholders and an independent specialist to develop policies regarding equity, diversity, inclusion and access to integrate into their editorial processes, outreach strategies and organizational culture.

WHAT IS NOT SUPPORTED

• Direct spending on capital projects or acquisitions.
• Projects that are primarily focused on artistic creation, production or presentation.
• Activity that is already supported by the City of Edmonton through other sources.
• Any expenses paid before the application deadline.

The deadline for submissions is 11:59 AM on July 1, 2025. See application specifics below.

Apply through the EAC’s online portal, SmartSimple.

Once an Invent & Adapt application has been submitted, EAC will internally review the proposal to examine: 

• The eligibility of the organization.
• The organization’s overall impact on Edmonton communities.
• The proposal’s alignment with the aims of the program. 

The submitted application and the program guidelines are the primary sources of information that a panel of subject matter experts use to evaluate the organization’s work and impact. 

Following assessment, EAC staff summarize all relevant information when presenting investment outcomes for approval. Decisions through this process are final.

Assessment will be based on what is outlined in these guidelines, as well as:

• The merit and clarity of the organization’s proposed change goals, and planned measurement of them. 
• The relevancy and anticipated impact of the proposed change on the organization’s vision and mandate.
• The feasibility of the project based on proposed plan, timeline and budget.
• The value of the organization’s continued strategic development within the context of the Edmonton arts ecosystem. 

REPORTING

Organizations that receive funding through this opportunity will be required to submit a report on the actions undertaken. Applicants will be expected to provide a thorough assessment of the outcomes of the project with respect to the goals and key performance indicators articulated in their application, as well as account for the actual spending of budgets. Reports are to be completed in the SmartSimple portal and will be available after the completion of the project, as stated in the application timeline.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)

Setting key performance indicators (KPIs) that are relevant to both your organization and the goal of your specific initiative is an important step. Make sure that your measures are within the capacity of your organization to monitor and track, can be completed in a timely and consistent manner, and directly reflect the change you want to see in your organization.

For example, if you are seeking to improve volunteer satisfaction, then measuring the number of new volunteers each month may not be relevant, but volunteer retention might be.

Here are some links that may provide useful insights in the development and monitoring of KPIs:

• Video on using KPIs in donation campaigns
• Twelve Examples of KPIs in a nonprofit context
• Choosing the right KPIs
• Track Your KPIs

more resources

DRAFT APPLICATION ASSISTANCE

The EAC offers an opportunity for organizations to have their draft application reviewed before the deadline. The review process could include: 

• Help to clarify the intentions, outcomes or goals of the initiative in relationship with the organization’s planning.
• Reviewing budgets and support materials.
• If you would like someone to review your draft application with you, please email no later than 5 business days before the application deadline. Requests for review made after this time may not be possible.

Email us for assistance at grants@​edmontonarts.​ca

The Edmonton Arts Council acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts of the Invent & Adapt program.

Information about organizations funded under this agreement will be shared with the Canada Council for auditing and results measurement purposes. The Canada Council may contact recipients of its funding directly to invite them to take part in impact measurement activities. Successful applicants are required to use a Canada Council for the Arts logo, along with the EAC logo, on their marketing materials.

SMARTSIMPLE PROFILE INFORMATION

The following information will be directly imported into your application from your organization’s profile in SmartSimple, and populate through the application in various tabs. Please ensure your organization’s profile is up-to-date and submitted before completing your application.

• Organization’s operating or event name – the name that you use publicly as an organization if different than your organization’s legal name. 
• Organization’s primary and secondary practice – the main artistic practices in which the organization has the most experience and focus. 
• Organization’s social media and/​or web links – these links are used by the assessors as additional information on your professional artistic practice. Please only include public links to information that will support your application.
• Organization’s purpose and mission – purpose of the organization as defined in your mission, mandate, goals or other strategic statements. 
• Organization’s primary and secondary mandate and objectives – goals of the organization as defined by your board, staff or operations.
• Organization’s primary and secondary activities – activities of the organization as defined by your operations.

In addition to ensuring your organizational profile is up to date, you will also need to respond to the following questions in the online application:

GENERAL

• Project title.
• Short project description.
• Project start date (must be after the application deadline).
• Project end date.
• Grant amount requested (maximum of $30,000).

MANDATE AND OBJECTIVES

• Provide further information or clarification on the organization’s mandate and objectives. 
• What is the organization’s purpose? 
• Provide a brief summary of your organization’s policies or defined goals around Indigenous participation, equity, diversity and/​or inclusion and how they are kept current and actively considered. 

ACTIVITIES AND WORK

• How does the organization define success in its work? If relevant, please describe any formal or informal ways that the organization evaluates past work and sets goals for future work*.
• Describe the activities and/​or programming that your organization has undertaken to achieve the results you’ve described in the previous question*.
• *These questions refer to the activities the organization has undertaken in the last 12 months. 

STRUCTURE AND CAPACITY

• Provide a brief description of the structure of the organization. You may wish to include information about Board, committees, staff, artists, membership and volunteers.
• If relevant, provide the names, positions, and short biographical information of key administrative leaders in the organization.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

• What strategic priority is your organization currently addressing that will be assisted by receiving this funding?
• Describe the self-assessment or other reflective process that your organization has gone through to identify the need you have outlined above (additional documentation can be uploaded as supporting material). 
• Describe the project. 
• List the artists and other experts involved in the project, and their roles.
• Describe the project’s desired impacts on the organization’s mission, mandate, activities and/​or strategic goals.
• Provide the key performance indicators that you will use to measure your organization’s progress towards its goals.
• Provide a project plan, including a clear timeline. 
• How will this project assist your organization in developing its capacity, resilience and/​or stability within the Edmonton arts ecosystem?
• Other relevant information not already shared.

PROJECT BUDGET

Provide a balanced budget table that shows: 

• Revenues — including the amount requested from this program and other anticipated or confirmed revenues to support the initiative, if applicable. 
• Expenses needed to pursue the project. 

This information will be entered directly into the online form. Use the​“notes” section of each line to identify or explain each revenue and expense. If you incorporate in-kind expenses and revenues, they should be labelled as such and must balance.

Please also upload budget supporting documents in PDF form, including but not limited to:

• Quotations from suppliers.
• Standard fee schedules. 
• Correspondence that confirms rates. 
• Confirmation of other grants or support for the initiative.

Do not upload a spreadsheet of your complete budget – this must be filled in through the table in the application form.

SUPPORTING MATERIALS

To support your application, organizations may upload up to 10 audio/​visual/​PDF files and up to 5 direct links to external websites related to your proposed project. 

• These must include samples of your artistic work, but may also be letters of support, reviews, interviews, etc. 
• For each supporting material uploaded, you are required to provide a description of the material which could include creation date, medium, location, names of artists, etc. 
• Uploaded video or audio files should total no more than 10 minutes in length, and all files should be less than 2GB in size. Uploads are preferable to links whenever possible, so that access for assessors is as simple as possible. 
• Links must be direct and public. These links should go directly to the support material specified, rather than to a landing page or home page requiring further navigation by assessors. 
• Please do not submit images as PDF files, rather directly upload images in JPEG or PNG format.