By providing grants for projects, our goal is to encourage art that fosters the ideals of the Burning Man community. We encourage artists working in experimental, emerging, cross-disciplinary, and traditional categories to apply. The intention is to enable artists to display their art and add to the collective, participatory spirit in the community and at Burning Man GVIAS events.

• Grant Categories:
  • Main Grants – Up to $2000 (include new and refurbishment applications)
  • Micro/Kids Grants – Up to $150
  • Transportation – Up to $300 (Note: you can apply just for transportation if you have a project already built)

• Grant applications will be open from mid-June until the end of July.
• All applications received by end of June (July 10th 11:59pm) will be juried within days, and grants will be announced on July 13th.
• Applications received between July 11th and the end of July (July 31st midnight) will be juried at the end of July
• We will NOT accept applications after midnight July 31st 2022
• Some funds will specifically be held over to Round 2 to be awarded to micro grant applications and kids grant applications (<$150) received in that round
• Applying to be juried in the first round will increase likelihood of being awarded money for an art grant, we will not guarantee any remaining funds for the 2nd round of jurying (with the exception of Micro/kids)!!!
• All art will be required to submit proof of completion (photos of project at BITF) and receipts on or by October 14th to [email protected] (see below “How will i get paid?”).

Any individual artist, team of artists or established group (for teams of artists, please have one person submit an application for the group) may apply. Applicants must be a member of Greater Vancouver Interactive Art’s Society (GVIAS). Membership is free and can be obtained by applying through the GVIAS website at this link: https://gvias.org/gvias-membership/.

GVIAS Art Grants will cover the cost of the materials required to build your art. Your grant will NOT cover:

• Fixed assets totalling 50% or more of your total project budget (a fixed asset is an item such as a drill or speaker)
• Consumable such as food or alcohol
• Labour costs

GVIAS Transportation Grants are designed to assist artists with the cost of transportation of art to/from GVIAS events.

Your Transportation Grant will cover:

• Gas
• Rental trailer/vehicle required for transport

We normally have 3 categories for judging applications:

1. Interactivity: Does this art invite play? Does this art engage participants to interact with or directly influence it? Does this art encourage participant interaction with one another?
   
   
2. Artistic Excellence: How “Wow!” is the idea? Is it memorable? Is it an original idea? Would participants seek out this project? Does this project excite participants?
   
   
3. Delivery Plan: Is your budget clear? Is your schedule, build plan, crew size, and assembly/teardown plan sensible? Have you considered the safety and placement of your art at the event? Can you deliver the project you’re proposing in the budget and time frame stated? Please note: Delivery Plan is a very important aspect of your application. We can’t fund it if we don’t understand what you’re doing or what you’re spending money on.

Successful applicants in the Main Round must sign a contract to receive their grant. 75% of the grant amount is paid upon signing the contract. The final 25% is paid upon completion after the event.

The grants are paid out via email money transfer using the primary artists contact email.

Successful applicants in the transportation round must sign a contract to receive 100% of their grant amount upon completion, after the event.

Completion of the project includes : 

• Submit proof of completion (photo of project at BITF) and receipts no later than October 14th 2022.

• Submission of a final cost report with copies of all receipts.

Simple. Complete our application form.

If successful, you will be sent a grant contract by email, instructions on how to sign will be included.

Our deadlines are firm. If you miss a deadline to submit an application you will have to wait until grants rounds reopen to apply. If you miss a deadline for submitting a contract you will forfeit your grant. If you miss the deadline for submitting receipts you will forfeit the remainder of your grant.

If you do not fulfill the obligations agreed to in your contract, GVIAS may find you “not in compliance” and refuse you funding in the future. This includes failing to show project at the event promised, or unable to submit receipts for my grant award.

Introduced in 2020.

Artists who are not in compliance with their contracts will be handled as follows:

• Artists who receive funding but do not deliver may be deemed as not compliant at the discretion of the Grant Committee
• If you are not compliant you WILL NOT be eligible for an Art Grant in the future until:
  • Your art is present at a GVIAS event
    OR
  • You pay back the funds to GVIAS that were awarded to you