April 14, 2016 – The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, today announced that important changes will be made to the way business is done in the department with respect to grants and contributions.
- To ensure efficiency, the vast majority of funding decisions under $75,000 have been delegated to the Department’s senior managers. Most program funding under $75,000 is delivered by regional executives. This will bring applicants closer to the decision makers and allow applications to be dealt with an average of two months sooner.
- For many clients, the period between the decision to award funding and the time when the recipient receives the funds will be greatly reduced. Payments will now be made by bank transfer and no longer by cheque.
- To reduce uncertainty about funding renewal, the Department intends to increase the number of multi-year agreements with its beneficiaries. Some grants and contributions may be spread out over two, three or even four years, according to needs and risks.
- In the interest of transparency, the Department of Canadian Heritage will from now on communicate proactively about funding it provides. This affects not just funding above $25,000, but all funding.
- To simplify and speed up the processing of the 8,000 applications it receives yearly, the Department is setting up an online application processing system, which is now available for three programs.
CAPACOA was very pleased to be invited to attend the Minister’s media event, and to have the opportunity to provide the Minister and the media a briefing about performing arts presentation.
“We are pleased with these improved service standards. Faster turnaround and predictable multi-year funding will allow better planning and will encourage innovation by arts organizations.”
—Frédéric Julien, Director of Research and Development at the Canadian Arts Presenting Association (CAPACOA) and Co-Chair of the Canadian Arts Coalition
We encourage organizations who receive Canadian Heritage funding to connect frequently with their program officer and to endeavour to deliver accurate and timely reports. This will contribute significantly to ongoing performance measurement in the sector, and to building a strong track records as clients of the department.
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