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CIRAA Groundbreaker Grant Program Overview
CIRAA encourages independent artists to play live and expand their circuits. CD sales are no longer the driving force for your career. Performing in front of an audience is. CIRAA’s The New Indie episode on Playing Live Basics speaks to how critical playing live is in building and sustaining your career as an artist.
Even more essential to developing as an artist and building a fan-base is playing new venues and new cities – breaking new ground. CIRAA understands that this is often financially challenging, and that every little bit of funding helps in getting your show on the road.
The CIRAA Groundbreaker Grant, therefore, is our first attempt at rewarding hard-working artists like you who are getting out there and building your audience.
Each month, CIRAA members will be eligible to receive a $100 micro-grant for each gig that they have played during the past calendar month, with a maximum of $1,200 in Groundbreaker Grants per artist per year. CIRAA members will only have to fill out a simple online application form providing details of each gig, and they are then entered into the group of members from which twenty winners will be selected in a lottery draw every month. The lottery draw will be held at 4 pm on the next business day after the 15th of each month.
In November 2011, we added a secondary prize system, which contains fifty $20 rental coupons courtesy of Long & McQuade. This will be a monthly offering from L&M for one full year. Members who have entered a valid submission into the Groundbreaker Grant application pool are eligible to win one secondary prize per month. Winning a secondary prize does not count towards the cash grant limit of 12 Groundbreaker Grants per calendar year. Secondary prize winners will be selected immediately following the selection of the 15 Groundbreaker Grant cash prizes.
Click here to see a sample of our very simple application form.
See below for the simple rules and regulations for this program.
If you have any questions on the program, contact CIRAA Member Services at memberservices@ciraa.ca.
Micro-Grant, Micro-Application, Micro-Rules
- Only registered CIRAA members may apply. Membership to CIRAA is free and easy. Join at www.ciraa.com/register.php.
- Applicants must meet the definition of an emerging artist as defined by the CRTC (ie. artists that have achieved a Top 40 radio single at commercial radio are not eligible).
- Artists who have previously received financial assistance from the Radio Starmaker Fund are not eligible.
- Fifteen (15) $100 micro-grants are awarded monthly to artists who have played a live show during the previous month.
- Artists that receive a Groundbreaker Grant may no longer apply for gigs played in that venue.
- Only gigs that are open to the public are eligible.
- Gigs that take place at a private residence are not eligible. (* While CIRAA supports the concept of house concerts, verifying the validity of such gigs is difficult, and therefore CIRAA must exclude them from consideration at this time.)
- Only gigs played within North America are eligible.
- Artists must perform a minimum of *60% original music at gigs (* Jazz and Classical genres are exempt from this rule).
- Applications must be submitted on behalf of the act; i.e. the solo artist or band performing the gig. Grants will not be awarded to side players or guest musicians.
- Artists can receive up to $1,200 in Groundbreaker Grants per year (twelve micro grants of $100 each).
- The submission period for applications is from the 1st to the 10th of each month.
- During the submission period, artists may only apply for gigs played during the previous calendar month. Artists may submit a separate application for each eligible gig played during the previous calendar month and may receive more than one Groundbreaker Grant in one month.
- Grant winners will be selected in a lottery draw. The names of the artists drawn in the lottery selection will be announced through social media, starting on Twitter (www.twitter.com/theciraa), at 4 pm on the 15th of each month (or the following business day if the 15th falls on a weekend). The full list of grant winners each month will also be made available to CIRAA members through their Account page.
- CIRAA reserves the right to verify the information that has been supplied about the gig, including from third parties.
- CIRAA may cancel any membership should we determine that false information was provided and reserves the right to decline submissions that do not meet the submission requirements.
(or to Sign up for a free membership so that you will be eligible to apply).
