Starting in September 2019 and continuing for the next four years, BC Francophone schools can take advantage of small grants of about $1,500 per school each year to carry out projects that offer cultural and artistic activities for children and young people.

School parents’ associations (APÉs) can get involved in these projects, which must be set up by cultural or community organizations, including APÉs, in collaboration with schools that are part of the Conseil scolaire francophone de la C.-B. (CSF).

This new program comes from Canadian Heritage. The initiative stems from the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018-2023: Investing in Our Future, which will provide funding of $7.5 million over four years, starting with the 2019/20 school year. The program’s goal is to increase the cultural and artistic activities offered in schools in linguistic minority communities across the country (700 schools in the Canadian Francophonie and 300 schools in Quebec English-speaking communities).

The Fédération culturelle canadienne-française (FCCF), which includes the Conseil culturel et artistique francophone de la C.-B. as a member, has been mandated by Canadian Heritage to be the third party responsible for the implementation and delivery of the program in Francophone schools.

The FCCF will administer the program, receive project applications, and distribute grants to the communities with successful applications. The activities funded must meet the objectives of the Community Cultural Action Fund, as well as the requirements of the provincial arts education curriculum, and the aspirations of the communities’ visions.

The official launch of this initiative will take place in summer 2019. School parents’ associations and cultural and community groups can then put together partnerships with schools, and file their project applications as early as the beginning of the 2019/20 school year.

The program provides for one grant per school per year, and applications for funding must be submitted by a cultural or community organization, such as a school parents’ association. Neither the schools themselves nor school boards can apply for or receive funds. .

In collaboration with the FCCF, the Fédération des parents francophones de C.-B. will send out information about the grant program to the network of parents’ associations in BC as soon as it is available.

The Fédération des parents will also help its member associations, if requested, to develop projects and follow the steps necessary to obtain the funding to carry out their cultural and artistic initiatives.

For more information, please contact Carole Myre at the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française, at 1-800-267-2005 or cmyre@fccf.ca.