KAMLOOPS ARTS COUNCIL

Grants & Scholarships

The Kamloops Arts Council is all about supporting the arts community. With that in mind, we offer grants and scholarships to local artists, arts groups and arts students. Funds are subject to availability.

The Grant Intake Period for 2023

The grant intake for 2023 is closed. The next grant intake for 2024 will open in early 2024 and close on May 31st, 2024.

If you have questions or are having challenges filling out the applications for grants or scholarships, or prefer to apply verbally, don’t hesitate to contact our Executive Director, Tanya Nielsen.

Kamloops Arts Council Grant

Due May 31 annually.

The Kamloops Arts Council is devoted to the development and enhancement of the arts in the Kamloops area. We support all artists and art organizations and promote cooperation among them, government and business. The Kamloops Arts Council works to advocate the arts in all its forms, and to inform and provide support for arts organizations and individual artists, including professional and emerging artists.

Click here for the KAC Grant  Application Form

Julia Appley-Mitra Scholarship

Due May 31 annually.

Up to two scholarships of $500 each may be awarded to graduating area high school students (grade 12) going on to post-secondary studies in the arts. Click here for the Julia Appley-Mitra Scholarship Application Form

2023 scholarship recipients:

  • Noah Lara – (Filmmaking/Photography)

2021 scholarship recipients:

  • Xavier Marican – (Music)
  • Maeve Calhoun – (University of Victoria)

2020 scholarship recipients:

  • Shael O’Brien – (Thompson Rivers University)
  • Avery Stainton – (Emily Carr University)

2019 scholarship recipients:

  • Cara Nicol – (University of Toronto)
  • Aden Jameel Aziz – (Vancouver Film School)

2018 scholarship recipients:

  • Sophia Doolan (visual arts)
  • Christina Allen (visual arts)

2017 scholarship recipients:

  • Kathleen Pilatzke (visual arts, University of Lethbridge)
  • Lukas Vanderlip (theatre, Thompson Rivers University)

Kristina Benson Art Scholarship

Due May 31 annually.

The Kristina Benson Art Scholarship was created to honour emerging artists pursuing post-secondary education in the visual arts and design fields. The scholarship will be awarded to a current or prospective student demonstrating eagerness, determination to succeed in their field and a passion to intuitively create! 1 (one) scholarship of $250 may be awarded each year.

2023 scholarship recipient:

  • Javiera Diaz (TRU Visual Arts Program)

2021 scholarship recipient:

  • Lucy Faraone (Bachelor of Fine Arts at TRU)

2019 scholarship recipient:

  • Catherine Archibald (Bachelor of Fine Arts at TRU)

2018 scholarship recipient:

  • Sophia Doolan (visual arts)

Stories & Testimonials

“This opened my eyes to a whole new world of artistic possibilities. I studied concepts of drawing and have purchased several books to support my continued study in this area.”
Elaine Burns, “Drawing the Landscape”

“Thank you for your supportive vision in awarding me $400.00 toward my Professional Development. As an Artist devoted to my practice I had sought to broaden my personal investigations of clay and further explore the historic artistic legacy of the Anasazi. All of my hopes, dreams, and expectations of being able to gather new skills and information to be put toward transformative self empowering creations and community artistic use, was not only met, but surpassed…the uniquely passionate delivery of skilled instructions by authentic pottery replicator Cherylene Caver, was infectious, as she shared her personal insights into the fascinating mysteries of the Ancestral Puebloan peoples and culture…what a gift!!” 
—Leslie Bolin, sculptor

“The Kamloops Arts Council’s generous grant will go a long way to help me attend and offset the costs of the Sarah Pike workshop in Medicine Hat. I look forward to learning some great techniques and can hardly wait to share them with the arts community…thank you for this great opportunity.”
—Karen Clark, potter

“We are very grateful for this injection of funding as it allows us to start doing some recording, filming, and creating. It also gives us the confidence to move forward with other grant applications, so thank you for the opportunity to apply for this local grant…Thank You!”
—Christina Zaenker, “Crossbow”

“Thank you for helping to realize the goals of local artists like ourselves. It is enormously helpful… your grant of $500 allowed us to make the foundational recordings for our coming EP.”
—Neil Burnett & Christina Zaenker, “Crossbow”

“Thank you so much! We are so eager to continue developing this piece and the support of the KAC is immensely appreciated.”
—Randi Edmundson, “The Dorothy Project”
(A play about a family’s experience with dementia, developed in consultation with the Alzheimer’s Society of BC)

“The Online Masterclass was fantastic. The information was helpful from a practical standpoint and creatively fulfilling as well. I made a number of notes related to the Kamloops Film Festival that should have a positive impact on the future.”
—Dušan Magdolen, Kamloops Film Society

Recent KAC Grant Recipients:

  • Wendy Wessen – $700 towards materials to produce “as wise as nature’s wings”
  • Ashya Cross – $350 towards Emily Carr Professional Development
  • Carly Schmidt – $700 towards supply purchase for programming during COVID isolation
  • Mike Kehler – $700 towards purchase of Glowforge Machine
  • Mike Alexander – $700 for Offset Supply Expenses
  • Mike Weddell – $700 towards producing “CONNECTIONS: The Art of Storytelling”
  • Mike Alexander – $500 for Offset Expenses
  • Barb Klie – $225 for Foundations Workshop
  • Linda Scarfo – $225 for Foundations Workshop
  • Cjay Boisclair $1000 for offset expenses
  • Emily Dundas Oke – $400 for International Residency in Lithuania
  • Gail Clark – $200 for Encaustic Burn Exploration workshop
  • Wyatt Purcha – $400 for TRU Actor’s Workshop Theatre, Conflicte
  • Patricia House – $500 for Federation of Canadian Artists 2018 Plein Air Retreat
  • Juli Harland – $500 for attendance at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference, October 2018
  • Kamloops Society for the Written Arts – $750 for KWSA Speakers Series
  • Daniel Ondang – $500 for production of Agneéis & Mallaidh’s Radioactive Journey
  • Eileen Funk – $125 for art workshop with Debbie Milner-Lively
  • Melissa Thomas – $500 for training with Academy Duello
  • Leah Bojey – $225 for Mastering Acrylics workshop with David Langevin
  • Randi Edmundson – $500 for the Dorothy Project
  • Leslie Bolin – $400 for ancestral Puebloan pottery replication workshop
  • Karen Clark – $400 for pottery workshop at Medalta
  • Shirley Ellen Dodding – $290 for attendance at Word on the Lake writers’ festival
  • Karen Rubkiewicz – $400 for plein air workshop with James Middleton
  • Linda Scarfo – $250 for painting workshop with Michael O’Toole
  • Wendy Weseen – $400 for poetry workshop with Jan Zwicky
  • Chimera Theatre – $500 for Hydra Theatre Festival
  • Crossbow – $500 for first EP project
  • Madison Olds – $1000 for Bees & the Bare Bones – Development
  • Ana Bayona – $1000 for Dream House at TRU
  • Bailey Finley – $1000 towards the Kamloops Music Collective’s Festival 2021
  • Kendell Gunderson – $750 towards art residency at the Kamloops Printmaking Society
  • ArtZone Sun Peaks Arts Society – $750 towards CREATE! Arts Festival in Sun Peaks
  • TNSC Federation of Canadian Artists – $750 towards TNSC Fall Show and Passion for Painting.

Contact Us Today!

Visit Us

7 Seymour Street West (at 1st)
Kamloops, BC V2C 1E4

Hours

Tuesday to Saturday,

10am - 12pm & 1 - 4pm

The Kamloops Arts Council office and KAC Main Gallery are located in the city-owned Old Courthouse Cultural Centre at 7 Seymour Street West. We share this wonderful century-old building with the Courthouse Gallery Cooperative and Theatre BC (Mainstage).

Visit us, our gallery and the rest of the amazing arts groups that are housed under one roof!

Please note: Kamloops Arts Council does not handle bookings for rentals of the Old Courthouse.  For information on rentals, please contact City of Kamloops Arts, Facility Booking, at [email protected] or (250) 828-3707.

KAC is situated on the traditional and unceded lands of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc within the ne Secwepemcúl’ecw

We acknowledge the financial support of our Core Supporters: The City of Kamloops and BC Arts Council