Want to write a grant for an art project but don’t know where to start?
Have trouble securing project funding?
Ghost River Theatre is here to help!
We are hosting our fourth annual Grant Writing Intensive in the spring of 2025. Led by writer, grant expert, and former Artistic Director of Ghost River Theatre Jason Rothery, this seven-week course will guide you step-by-step through the process of conceiving, writing, developing, and submitting an Individual Project Grant for a new or ongoing real-world artistic endeavour.
Intensive participants will conceive, draft, and develop one of two Canada Council for the Arts grant applications -- Concept to Realization, or Research & Creation -- and be able to submit their grant at the culmination of the workshop.
While the focus of this course are Canada Council funding streams, the Intensive will equip and empower artists with the knowledge and tools necessary to draft and adapt applications for various public funding organizations -- such as the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Calgary Arts Development -- and ultimately have the best chance possible to secure funding.
TOPICS COVERED WILL INCLUDE:
Introduction to Canada Council grant requirements
Grant structure and narrative
Writing and developing a project plan and artistic practice statement
Budgets and support material
Navigating Canada Council's online Portal system
Adapting grant literature for other funding opportunities
INTENSIVE PROCESS
Each participant will write and develop their own application, section by section, while providing feedback to fellow participants. Before final submission, a mock jury of professional artistic peers will offer "outside eye" insight on each application. The final session will culminate in the submission of revised applications to the Canada Council for the Arts for its 2024/2025 Explore and Create programs, as well as the Alberta Foundation for the Arts individual artists grant deadline.
Please note that while sessions are approximately three hours each week, the Intensive involves 5-10 hours of outside work per week.
DATES AND TIMES
January 21 - March 4, 2025
Tuesdays: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm MT.
LOCATION
This intensive will be taking place online via Zoom.
PRICING
Regular $350.00+GST
A deposit of $100 is payable to secure your spot.
Full payment is due December 15th, 2024.
For more information, please email rgray@ghostrivertheatre.com with the subject line “Grant Writing Intensive”
About the instructor
JASON ROTHERY is a Calgary-based writer and lapsed academic with a professional artistic career spanning twenty-five years and various Canadian cities. Jason served as resident dramaturge for Playwrights Theatre Centre (Vancouver), resident playwright at Soulpepper Theatre (Toronto), co-founder and Festival Director of the Calgary Fringe Festival, and Artistic Director of Ghost River Theatre (Calgary). He holds a BFA in Creative Writing from UBC, and an MA in Humanities from York University. Over the course of the last two decades, Jason has written over one-hundred grant applications resulting in nearly a million dollars worth of funding.
Professional productions of Jason’s theatrical work (as playwright and collaborative-creator) include: Something to do With Death, Wedgie, POLITIkO, WINDOW, The City & the City (adapted from China Miéville’s novel), and the musical (Re)Birth: EE Cummings in Song. Inside the Seed won several Jessie Richardson Awards (Vancouver), including Outstanding Original Script, and was published by Talonbooks in 2014. The City & the City enjoyed a sold-out premiere run at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, and (Re)Birth: EE Cummings in Song toured to New York City after multiple mainstage mountings.
Jason’s teaching experience includes writing, theatre, and film workshops for various age-ranges and experience levels. He twice served as co-instructor of Ghost River’s renowned National Devising Intensive, was co-instructor for the Ontario School Board’s Stepping On Stage Shakespeare program, and taught theatre creation summer camp for Storybook Theatre. Academically, Jason has designed and delivered multiple courses, guest lectures, and conference presentations on topics ranging from product placement, to Hacktivism, to video games, to Tommy Wiseau’s notorious film The Room.