St. Catharines Cultural Investment Program (SCCIP)

St. Catharines Cultural Investment Program

The St. Catharines Cultural Investment Program (SCCIP) is designed to serve distinct segments of the creative sector and strengthen the overall cultural ecosystem in St. Catharines.

"A vibrant arts and culture scene is important to a livable city. St. Catharines' creative sector is a foundation for community transformation and sustainability: artists and not-for-profit arts organizations are at the heart of this sector." - Vision Statement, St. Catharines Cultural Investment Policy

City Council has approved a budget of $339,587 for SCCIP in 2019. Regular funding increases follow the Cultural Funding Task Force report to City Council on Dec. 14, 2015. Council's Standing Budget Committee doubled SCCIP funding in 2016 and increased funding again in 2017. Council continues its commitment to grow investment in the sector.

Program Descriptions

SCCIP has six program streams, each program has distinct priorities, eligibility and evaluation criteria. Ineligibility can be found in the SCCIP policy document and individual program guidelines. Please contact City staff to review your plans and to determine which program is right for you.

Members of the St. Catharines Arts and Culture Advisory Committee review all applications and make recommendations for investment to City Council. For future updates on SCCIP sign up for the Cultural Investment Newsletter.

General Eligibility

SCCIP funds are available to not-for-profit arts organizations engaged in ongoing creation, production, presentation and dissemination activities related to the performing, visual, literary and media arts. All applicants must:

be active in St. Catharines;
provide programming or services that are open to the public and publicized city-wide;
have a diversified revenue base, which can include memberships, significant earned revenue, funding from other levels of government, and support from the private sector through fund-raising activities, donations and sponsorships.

2019 Program Deadlines and Applications

The St. Catharines Cultural Investment Program (SCCIP) currently has six grant programs:

Sustaining Funding: Programs are Core, Midsized and Festival
Development Funding: Programs are Arts Development, Culture Builds Community and Culture Days Activity

Please click on the links above for application materials and guidelines.

Grants for individual artists are under review: certain projects by artists are eligible for the Culture Builds Community and Culture Days Activity programs.

Application Deadlines

March 22, 2019 - applications were accepted for the Culture Days Activity Program.
May 31, 2019 - applications were accepted for the Sustaining - Core, Sustaining - Midsized, Arts Development and Culture Builds Community programs.
October 25, 2019 - applications are due for the Sustaining - Festival, Arts Development and Culture Builds Community programs. Application forms are available on the Sustaining Funding page for the Festival program and the Development Funding page for Arts Development and Culture Builds Community programs.