Following extensive consultations with artists across the country, the Canada Council for the Arts has approved a new program that changes the way grants are awarded to visual artists. The new program will, for the first time, provide two-year grants to allow Canadian visual artists to develop their art and careers. In recognition that the current landscape for visual artists is vastly different from when its existing grants program was developed in 1960s, the Council decided to revise the existing program to enable artists to respond to the challenges and opportunities that exist today. The new, more flexible program will allow artists to choose what kind of support they most need at different moments during their career. 'The most important thing that we learned during the consultations is that artists want the Council to continue to support independent research and creation, regardless of whether an exhibition has been confirmed,' said François Lachapelle, head of the Canada Council’s Visual Arts section. 'Important revisions were made to the original proposal following feedback from the community.' 'When the program was first established, the focus was largely on supporting creation because we needed to develop a Canadian visual arts identity. Today, a growing number of Canadian artists have developed international careers. The new program is both more flexible and more targeted to assisting artists at important moments in their creation, research, production or career development.' The new program of Assistance to Professional Visual Artists will have two main components: Project Grants that provide support on a project basis, and Long-Term Grants, that provide support over a two-year period. For further information, CLICK HERE.