City of Toronto Indigenous Arts & Culture Partnerships Fund

The Indigenous Arts and Culture Partnerships Fund supports partnerships and collaborations that create new opportunities and visibility for Indigenous-led arts and culture. The fund aims to spark new relationships between Indigenous artists, arts and culture leaders and professionals, and potential partners at both the grassroots and institutional levels.

Toronto has been an important site for gathering, trading and celebration for Indigenous people for thousands of years. It is the treaty territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit and its land and waters have been stewarded by the Haudenosaunee, the Huron Wendat and the Anishinaabe. Toronto continues to be home to many diverse Indigenous peoples, whose artistic and creative contributions are vital to the fabric of the city. The City of Toronto recognizes the rich Indigenous history of this land, and our responsibility in fostering strong relations between the municipality and the First Nations, Inuit and Métis people who call Toronto home.

Goals

1. Leverage partnerships to create new economic opportunities, audiences and markets for Indigenous-led arts and culture projects;
2. Encourage institutional access and exchange for Indigenous artists and Indigenous arts and culture leaders and professionals;
3. Foster opportunities for new relationships, ideas, dialogue and exchange around Indigenous arts and culture, which includes both traditional and contemporary forms of expression;
4. Support opportunities for Indigenous placemaking, creative entrepreneurship, and uses of new technologies and approaches in the arts and culture realm.

The Fund supports projects or activities including but not limited to:

• Residencies, including but not limited to technical or skills-based professional development, artistic exchange, research-based, Elder-in-Residence;
• Audience outreach and market development;
• Networking, knowledge sharing, gathering and exchange to promote Indigenous arts and culture;
• Development of creative entrepreneurship opportunities for Indigenous arts and culture;
• Research and development in institutional archives for a larger project, working in collaboration with the institution to exchange knowledge about their archival material: New economic and collaborative opportunities for Indigenous people created through arts and culture presentations.