City of Kingston Arts Fund Review
The City of Kingston Arts Fund (CKAF) was first established by the City in 2007 and since then, $9.4 million dollars have been provided to arts organizations, collectives and artists through operating and project grants. CKAF is administered by Kingston Arts Council at arm's length from the City and has provided a way for the City to invest in arts and arts organizations. The fund has been essential in developing Kingston’s arts and culture industry for which it is recognized.
To ensure the CKAF continues to support Kingston arts organizations, projects, artists and the public, the City is undertaking a review of the granting program. It is expected the CKAF Review will consider the program mandate, objectives, outputs, and reporting and evaluation mechanisms, and consider other potential changes such as an expansion beyond the current focus on operating and project grants and/or streamlining existing CKAF grant streams.
To support this project, the City has hired Saffy, a consulting firm made up of strategists working at the intersections of city-building, culture, design and research. As part of the review, Saffy and the City introduced an adapted civic lottery to create a CKAF community advisory group that reflects the demographic and diverse population of Kingston, with a focus on participants who represent equity-deserving, historically marginalized and vulnerable groups. The group members will function as project champions as part of the overall project team, and will help to ensure community participation in the CKAF Review. An honorarium of $400 will be provided to each project champion in the community advisory group.
Learn more about the City of Kingston Arts Fund review.
Get involved!
The call for the adapted civic lottery has now closed and the project champions will be announced on June 6. Additional engagement opportunities will also be announced then including a survey, pop-up events coordinated by the project champions and an open house. The City will also be initiating one-on-one interviews and community focus groups as part of the next phase of engagement.