Film, television and video game creatives and organizations that support them have a variety of needs, both planned and emerging throughout the year. Whether it’s a last minute invitation to a film festival, an upcoming workshop, or the need for new equipment or professional services to support their business. The Community Development Grant provides a flexible and responsive program to advance business and individual professional needs. The aim of the program is to help remove barriers to growth of local individuals and businesses.

This program has four eligible categories:

Event Attendance: Funding to assist with attending festivals and markets to promote a project
Training Initiatives: Funding to assist industry organizations offer training programs (such as hosting a workshop or panel)
Professional Development: Funding to assist individuals with training and development
Incorporation: Funding to assist with start-up costs of new screen media companies

Program Highlights

Funding is available up to $2,500 per application
Funding is provided to support individuals, businesses and organizations to support development of themselves or for the community
Funding could cover things such as travel, registration, hardware or software, speaker fees, or venue rentals
Intake is ongoing and applications will be assessed on a first come, first serve basis

Eligibility

This program is open to individuals or screen media organizations based in the Edmonton region.

Applicants must be in good standing with the ESIO and the City of Edmonton.

Attending a festival, event, or market to promote a project
Individual training initiatives which increase the skill level, exposure, and experience of individuals (eg. attending a conference, course or workshop)
Group training initiatives which are open for Edmonton creators to attend either virtually or in person (in the Edmonton region)
Incorporation of a new film and television or video game company
Funding may not go directly into the production of a film, television, or video game project
Initiatives that contain propaganda; elements of serious or gratuitous sexual violence or exploitation; obscene, indecent or pornographic content within the meaning of the Criminal Code; or elements which are libelous or in any other way unlawful, are ineligible.

75% of registration fees, transportation, accommodations for attending a festival or market or professional development opportunities
Per diem at a maximum of 60 local currency per day per attendee for out of town events
75% of costs for promotional materials that will be used at festival, event or market
75% of required course material costs
Training initiative costs, including marketing materials, contracted services, equipment and materials, travel, hospitality, and venue rental
50% of start-up costs for new businesses (incorporation fees, business license fee, professional services)

Application Information

Applicants must submit a separate application form for each activity. Applicants may not recieve more than $5,000 total from this program in one year.

Applications must be submitted prior to the start date of the activity.

Application Requirements
Information required for the application form:

Applicant contact information (company, phone, address, etc.)
Business Activity Type
Business Description (1000 character max)
Diversity and Inclusion (1000 characters max)
Activity
- Type
- Title
- Description (1500 character max)
- Timeline
- Related project(s)
- Outcomes (1000 character max)
- Impact to individual/company/organization (1500 character max)
- Impact to ecosystem (1500 character max)
Financials
- Activity Expenses (Description, Amount, Source)

The following general criteria will be used to assess funding requests:

Alignment to one or more ESIO Objectives
Application quality
Impact on applicant
Impact on local economy/ecosystem
Available funding

Other criteria may also be considered.

Process

Applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
All applications will first be reviewed for eligibility and completeness.
If additional information is required, staff will reach out to the applicant.
Once an application is completed and deemed eligible, it will then be assessed based on the criteria above.
Funding decisions will be made based on the available funding.
Applicants will be notified within 14 days of a completed application of the status.

Based on a variety of factors, including the number of high-quality applications, the ESIO may provide partial funding.

Funding is approved based on the specific activity submitted and is not transferable to another activity. If you are unable to complete the original activity, your agreement will be cancelled and funding revoked. You must submit a new application for any new activity.

Detailed recognition and reporting requirements can be found in the participant toolkit.
Reporting deadlines will vary based on the activities completed and will be indicated in the funding agreement provided.

Applicants with overdue final reporting for this program will not be eligible for future ESIO funding until the reporting is submitted.