Dear colleagues in the arts community,
I am writing you today with some important updates on the Canada Council’s portal.
We know many of you are eager to submit your grant applications online. Our intention was to offer that possibility this month. We will, unfortunately, have to delay this launch due to technical issues uncovered in recent testing. We recognize the negative impact of launching a technological solution that would not respond to the needs of the users.
Let me provide you with some context and explain what we are doing to mitigate the impact of this delay for you.
About the portal
The portal is a technology solution that we have been developing to support our New Funding Model. For you as applicants, it will be the entry point to apply for grants, track your results and more. For us here at Canada Council as well as for the hundreds of peer assessors coming from the arts community, it will be the tool to assess applications.
In December 2016, we successfully opened the first phase of the portal and close to 20,000 of you have registered.
Since then, our team has been working with tremendous dedication to develop, test and deploy the functionality to enable submissions online.
Following the latest testing however, we have detected errors that could compromise the online application process. This is a risk we do not wish to take. We will therefore not be opening the portal for submissions this month as planned. The launch date for online applications is now June 5, 2017.
Interim Measures to better support you during this transition
Our team is working to ensure that wherever possible, this delay does not negatively impact those of you working to make and share art with audiences.
Importantly, we are adjusting most deadlines in the new funding model.
I invite you to consult the table with the list of new deadlines and ways to apply before June 5. Our officers are available to answer your questions.
The decision to postpone the launch of phase 2 of the portal has been a difficult one to make. However we ultimately feel it is the most responsible course of action at this time. We remain confident that the New Funding Model will provide more opportunities for artists to make and share art.
I regret any inconvenience this delay may cause and thank you again for your patience and understanding during this transition.
Simon Brault, O.C., O.Q.
CEO, Canada Council for the Arts