The Canada Council for the Arts, commonly called the Canada Council, was introduced by Parliament in 1957. It is a Crown corporation which funds Canadian artists and encourages the production of art in Canada. The current chair of the Canada Council is renowned ballerina Karen Kain.
The Canada Council is an arms-length agency that reports to Parliament through the Department of Canadian Heritage. Its annual appropriation from Parliament is supplemented by endowment income, donations, and bequests. Its main duty is alloting grants to Canadian artists based on the merits of their applications. The council also judges many of Canada's top arts awards, including the Governor General's Awards.
The council has six main divisions, each of these coordinates grant giving to a different area of the arts.
These are complemented by three groups that work with all the sections:
- aboriginal art, to foster First Peoples art in all media
- equity officer, to encouraged diversity in arts funding
- Inter-Arts, to deal with proposals that combine or transcend traditional artistic disciplines
The Canada Council also supervises the Art Bank and the Public Lending Right Commission.
The Canada Council for the Arts also operates a Musical Instrument Bank. Established in 1985, the Instrument Bank has acquired many valuable stringed instruments that are loaned to mostly Canadian musicians, often as a result of juried competitions.
Each year the council receives some 16,000 grant requests, these are veted by panels of artists set up by each division of the council. The council gives grants to about 6000 artists each year. The total budget for the council is ~130 million dollars (2003).
Chairs of the Canada Council
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