Manitoba Arts Council

Manitoba Arts Council

Conseil des arts du Manitoba
Council overview
Formed	1965
Type	Crown corporation
Headquarters	525 – 93 Lombard Ave, Winnipeg, MB R3B 3B1
Annual budget	$10.2 m CAD (2020)
Council executives	Roberta Christianson, Chair Randy Joynt, Executive Director
Parent department	Manitoba Sport, Culture and Heritage
Key document	The Arts Council Act
Website	artscouncil.mb.ca/

The Manitoba Arts Council (MAC; French: Conseil des arts du Manitoba) is a provincial crown corporation whose purpose is to promote the arts.^[1][2] The Council awards grants to professional artists and arts organizations in Manitoba in all art forms; it also provides related creative activity such as arts education.^[1]

The Council was founded in 1965 with the passage of An Act to Establish The Manitoba Arts Council and incorporated in 1967. (It now operates under the terms of The Arts Council Act.)^[3] Remaining at arm’s-length from the Government of Manitoba, it is funded by the Manitoba Sport, Culture and Heritage and reports annually to the Provincial Legislature through the Minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage in its annual report.^[1][4]

Governance

Today, the Council operates under the terms of The Arts Council Act,^[3] which was amended in 2017.^[5] Remaining at arm’s-length from the Government of Manitoba, it is funded by the Manitoba Sport, Culture and Heritage and reports annually to the Provincial Legislature through the Minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage in its annual report.^[1][4]

The Manitoba Arts Council consists of 9 board members who are appointed for a term by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council. The Executive Director is hired by the Council to carry out its policies and oversee operations.^[6]

Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction

The Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction is a CA$30,000 prize awarded annually to an artist or arts professional for "artistic excellence and contribution to the development of the arts in Manitoba."^[5]: 12

Recipients are selected by a multidisciplinary panel from nominations submitted by the community. The award process is administered and funded by the Council.^[7]

Year	Name[7]	Field
2002	Leslee Silverman	theatre
2003	Robert Kroetsch	literary arts
2004	Grant Guy	performance and media arts
2005	Guy Maddin	film
2006	Aganetha Dyck[8]	visual arts
2007	Robert Turner[9]	music
2008	Roland Mahé[10]	theatre
2009	William Eakin (artist)[11]	visual arts
2012	J. Roger Léveillé[12]	literary arts
2014	Robert Archambeau[13]	visual arts
2016	Diana Thorneycroft[14]	visual arts
2018	Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan[15]	performance arts
2020	Alan Greyeyes[16]	music
2022	Daina Warren[17]	visual arts
2023	Di Brandt[18]	literary arts
2024	Jennine Krauchi[19]	beadwork

Prizes in the Arts

Four $10,000 Prizes in the Arts^[20] were awarded every two years, opposite of the Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction, recognizing artists or groups working in Manitoba in four categories:

• The Connecting Creative Communities Prize
• The Emerging Excellence Prize
• The Indigenous Full Circle Prize
• The Rural Recognition Prize

Recipients were selected by a multidisciplinary panel from nominations submitted by the community. The award process was administered and funded by the Council.^[7] The Prizes in the Arts were discontinued in 2022.^[21]

Year	Connecting Creative Communities	Emerging Excellence	Indigenous Full Circle	Rural Recognition
2019	Theatre Projects Manitoba[22]	Helga Jakobson[23]	Marie-Josée Dandeneau[24]	Flin Flon Arts Council[25]
2021	ArtsJunktion mb Inc.[26]	melannie monoceros[27]	Lana Sinclair[28]	Donna Besel[29]

Operations and grants

In the 2019/20 fiscal year, the Council funded 525 arts organizations and artistic projects, which made for a total of CA$8.3 million.^[5][30]

The following is the number of MAC-funded projects by region, per 10,000 population:^[5]: 7

• Northern Manitoba (NorMan), 4.5
• Parkland, 2.6
• Interlake, 3.2
• Westman, 2.6
• Central Plains, 2.9
• Pembina Valley, 2.8
• Eastman, 1.6
• Winnipeg, 3.0

The Council's "Indigenous 360" funding stream offers three granting programs that support professional Indigenous artists, arts/cultural professionals, Knowledge Keepers, art groups, and organizations from Manitoba.^[5] In the fall of 2018, the Council began collecting information on the background and identity of individual applicants—this includes Indigenous, visible minorities, females, non-binary, and Francophone applicants, as well as applicants who live with a disability or mental illness or who are deaf.^[30]: 2

Organizations and activities funded by MAC in 2019/2020^[5]^: 9^[30]

Recipient	City/town	Awarded amount (CA$)
Aboriginal Music Manitoba Inc.	Winnipeg	$15,000
aceartinc.	Winnipeg	$89,180
Arbeiter Ring Publishing Ltd. (ARP Books)	Winnipeg	$24,500
Art City Inc.	Winnipeg	$15,000
Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba	Brandon	$185,000
Art Holm	Winnipeg	$6,000
Arts Manitoba Publications Inc (Border Crossings)	Winnipeg	$99,470
Arts West Council Inc.	Brandon	$3,000
ArtsJunktion	Winnipeg	$14,792
At Bay Press	Winnipeg	$15,000
Association of Manitoba Book Publishers	Winnipeg	$48,000
Bedside Press	Narol	$6,250
Brandon Chamber Players	Brandon	$20,580
Camerata Nova	Winnipeg	$15,000
Cancercare Manitoba Foundation Inc.	Winnipeg	$10,000
Canzona Inc.	Winnipeg	$12,500
Cluster: New Music + Integrated Arts Inc.	Winnipeg	$5,302
Company Link	Winnipeg	$11,000
Contemporary Verse 2	Winnipeg	$34,500
Eckhardt-Gramatte National Music Competition	Brandon	$9,000
Fernwood Publishing	Winnipeg	$4,055
Flin Flon Arts Council	Flin Flon	$7,500
Gallery 1C03 (University of Winnipeg)	Winnipeg	$8,700
Gimli Film Festival	Gimli	$20,000 + $5,000
Goldrock Press	Norway House	$7,500 + $7,500
Graffiti Art Programming Inc.	Winnipeg	$10,000
Great Plains Publications	Winnipeg	$32,500
GroundSwell, Inc.	Winnipeg	$45,080
Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre	Winnipeg	$15,000
Herizons Magazine	Winnipeg	$6,000
Home Routes/Chemin Chez Nous	Winnipeg	$10,000 + $7,500
Interlake Art Board	Winnipeg	$7,382
Jazz Winnipeg	Winnipeg	$10,000
J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing	Winnipeg	$36,700
La Maison des artistes visuels inc.	Winnipeg	$13,250
Les Éditions du Blé Saint-Boniface	Winnipeg	$26,250
Manito Ahbee Festival Inc.	Winnipeg	$15,000
Manitoba African Film Festival Inc.	Winnipeg	$15,000
Manitoba Arts Network	Winnipeg	$12,500
Manitoba Association of Playwrights Inc.	Winnipeg	$53,900
Manitoba Band Association	Winnipeg	$6,000
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra Inc.	Winnipeg	$8,000 + $20,000 + $112,000
Manitoba Choral Association	Winnipeg	$1,500
Manitoba Opera	Winnipeg	$220,000 + $150,000*
Manitoba Printmakers Association Inc. / Martha Street Studio	Winnipeg	$55,000
Manitoba Theatre for Young People	Winnipeg	$56,250 + $245,000
Manitoba Underground Opera	Winnipeg	$15,000 + $15,000
Mentoring Artists for Women's Art (MAWA)	Winnipeg	$73,000
Misericordia Health Centre	Winnipeg	$10,200
NAfro Dance Productions	Winnipeg	$25,000
Northern Juried Art Show 2019	Thompson	$12,125
NorVA Centre	Flin Flon	$7,572
One Trunk Theatre	Winnipeg	$20,000
PLATFORM centre for Photographic Digital Arts	Winnipeg	$58,000
Plug-In Inc. (Plug In Institute of Contemporary Arts)	Winnipeg	$166,600
Polycoro Inc.	Winnipeg	$15,000
Prairie Comics Festival	Winnipeg	$8,840
Prairie Debut Inc.	Portage la Prairie	$5,000
Prairie Fire Press Inc.	Winnipeg	$73,720
Prairie Theatre Exchange Inc.	Winnipeg	$33,750 + $355,000
Q DANCE	Winnipeg	$15,000
Rainbow Stage	Winnipeg	$15,000
Rosamunde Summer Music Academy	Winnipeg	$3,000
Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre Inc.	Winnipeg	$37,500 + $686,000 + $150,000*
Royal Winnipeg Ballet School	Winnipeg	$744,800
Royal Winnipeg Ballet School Professional Division	Winnipeg	$10,000 + $130,000
Sarasvati Dramatic Theatre Productions and Repertory Inc	Winnipeg	$15,000 + $15,000
Sawdon Dance	Winnipeg	$14,600
School of Contemporary Dancers Inc.	Winnipeg	$32,500
Shakespeare in the Ruins	Winnipeg	$9,000 + $56,050
Sick + Twisted Theatre	Winnipeg	$10,000
Signature Editions	Winnipeg	$35,000
SOUNDYARD	Winnipeg	$5,880
Spence Neighbourhood Association Inc.	Winnipeg	$15,000
Theatre by the River Inc.	Winnipeg	$7,000
Théâtre Cercle Molière Winnipeg	Winnipeg	$175,000
Theatre Projects Manitoba	Winnipeg	$40,000 + $51,500
Turnstone Press Ltd.	Winnipeg	$35,000
University of Manitoba Press	Winnipeg	$34,500
Urban Shaman Inc.	Winnipeg	$65,000
Video Pool Media Arts Centre	Winnipeg	$95,060
Window Winnipeg	Winnipeg	$7,850
Winnipeg Aboriginal Film and Video Festival	Winnipeg	$15,000
Winnipeg Chamber Music Society	Winnipeg	$17,000
Winnipeg Film Group	Winnipeg	$95,000
Winnipeg International Writers Festival	Winnipeg	$8,000
Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra	Winnipeg	$8,000 + $18,000
Winnipeg Jewish Theatre	Winnipeg	$35,000
The Winnipeg Singers	Winnipeg	$29,400
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra	Winnipeg	$56,250 + $735,000 + $125,000*
Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers $112,250	Winnipeg
Young Lungs Dance Exchange	Winnipeg	$15,000
zone41 theatre, inc.	Winnipeg	$15,000

*Special operating grant disbursed on behalf of Manitoba Sports, Culture, and Heritage.

References

1. "About Us". Manitoba Arts Council. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
2. "Manitoba Arts Council: Focus Forward, Strategic Plan 2012-2016". Government of Manitoba. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
3. The Arts Council Act
4. "Manitoba Arts Council". Archives of Manitoba. Government of Manitoba. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
5. "MAC Annual Report 2019-2020." 2020 October. Retrieved 2021 June 2.
6. "Governance". Manitoba Arts Council. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
7. "Past Recipients". Manitoba Arts Council. Government of Manitoba. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
8. "Southern Manitoba Woman Picks Up 2 Significant Awards". Steinbach Online. Golden West Broadcasting. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
9. Walker, Morley (1 March 2008). "Composer Turner named artist of distinction". Winnipeg Free Press.
10. Walker, Morley (6 February 2009). "Cercle Molière boss wins prestigious arts council prize". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
11. Fuller, Simon. "He's an artist of real distinction". Canstar Community News: The Lance. Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
12. "Writer Roger Léveillé honoured with Manitoba Arts Council Award of Distinction". CBC Manitoba. CBC Radio Canada. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
13. "Robert Archambeau has been awarded the Manitoba Arts Council's Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction". Winnipeg Art Gallery. Winnipeg Art Gallery. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
14. "An Interview with Diana Thorneycroft". National Gallery of Canada Magazine. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
15. "2018 Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction Recipients Announced". Manitoba Arts Council. Manitoba Arts Council. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
16. "Alan Greyeyes | 2020 Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction". Manitoba Arts Council. Manitoba Arts Council. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
17. "Daina Warren | 2022 Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction". Manitoba Arts Council. 2022-06-23. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
18. vhoussin (2023-05-09). "Di Brandt | 2023 Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction". Manitoba Arts Council. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
19. vhoussin (2024-05-09). "Jennine Krauchi | 2024 Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction". Manitoba Arts Council. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
20. "Recognize – Prizes". Manitoba Arts Council. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
21. vhoussin (2022-12-01). "What's New at MAC | December 2022". Manitoba Arts Council. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
22. "Theatre Projects Manitoba, 2019 Connecting Creative Communities Prize". Manitoba Arts Council. 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
23. "Helga Jakobson, 2019 Emerging Excellence Prize". Manitoba Arts Council. 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
24. "Marie-Josée Dandeneau, 2019 Indigenous Full Circle Prize". Manitoba Arts Council. 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
25. "Flin Flon Arts Council, 2019 Rural Recognition Prize". Manitoba Arts Council. 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
26. "ArtsJunktion, 2021 Connecting Creative Communities Prize". Manitoba Arts Council. 2021-05-25. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
27. "melannie monoceros, 2021 Emerging Excellence Prize". Manitoba Arts Council. 2021-05-25. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
28. "Lana Sinclair, 2021 Indigenous Full Circle". Manitoba Arts Council. 2021-05-25. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
29. "Donna Besel, 2021 Rural Recognition Prize". Manitoba Arts Council. 2021-05-25. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
30. https://artscouncil.mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Grants-listing-2019-20-EN.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}

External links

• Official website
• The Arts Council Act