BC Arts Council Visual Artists Grants 2026: New Media and Digital Art Projects — 25 November
BC Arts Council is currently accepting submissions to Individual Arts Grants: Visual Artists for projects led by British Columbia professional artists and independent critics or curators. The programme supports artistic creation across visual and contemporary craft practices and can consider investigations into visual and media arts and museum practice. Digital creators should check whether their proposal fits the visual-arts rather than the commercially oriented game or screen-production category.
DEADLINE — Online submissions close on Wednesday 25 November 2026 at 11:59 pm Pacific time. NEW APPLICANTS must register and create their BC Arts Council profile by Wednesday 18 November 2026. The agency warns that registration requests arriving during the final five-business-day processing period will not be handled in time for this intake.
ELIGIBLE APPLICANT TYPES — The published applicant type is INDIVIDUALS. A professional artist may apply for their own new work, while an eligible person may apply on behalf of a collaboration in which at least two artists share creative control. Independent curators and critics can propose projects that advance their own practice. The provincial grant's detailed applicant requirements and British Columbia professional status must be read in the 2026 guidelines.
WHAT SORT OF CREATION? — The organiser describes grants supporting the creation of new visual art. Digital installation, experimental visual practice, project-based visual research and artist-led media-based inquiry may be relevant where assessed within the arts discipline. It is not a blanket development subsidy for publishing a commercial video game or filming a standard commissioned advertisement.
AMOUNT AND EXPENSES — The programme's public page does not state a single maximum grant amount in the summary. The current guideline and individual budget template determine allowable project costs, work periods, applicant income conditions and award ceilings. Applicants should not infer a maximum from unrelated BC Arts Council operating grants.
PREPARATION — Assemble an artist's statement or proposal, meaningful portfolio samples, planned artistic outcomes, realistic fee and materials budgets, a production timeline, collaborators and relevant exhibition/presentation opportunities. Visual works incorporating copyrighted audio, performers, photography or Indigenous cultural materials need an appropriate permissions and cultural-ownership plan.
REGISTRATION AND APPLICATION — Applicants complete the Grant Management System profile, review the current programme guidelines, application checklist and application preview, then submit the full proposal by the deadline. The BC Arts Council provides separate application assistance and accessibility support to eligible practitioners, which should be requested early.
ABOUT BC ARTS COUNCIL — The BC Arts Council is the provincial public arts-funding agency for British Columbia. It supports artists, community practitioners, curators, organisations and other arts disciplines through a range of assessed schemes; the 2026 Visual Artists programme page includes the eligibility framework and links to programme staff.
OFFICIAL SOURCE — https://www.bcartscouncil.ca/program/visual-artists-crafts-artists-critics-curators/ . Verified 22 October 2026. The application checklist and programme guidelines govern actual eligibility and the amount a particular visual-media art proposal can seek.