Prince Edward Island artists will benefit from a 40 per cent increase in juried grants from government, says Education, Early Learning and Culture Minister Doug Currie.

“I’ve enjoyed meeting with artists and learning more about their needs and I’ve been truly impressed by their creativity and their commitment to the cultural community,” said Minister Currie. “In order to better support this work, we have re-organized the artist grant funding process to ensure that as much funding as possible goes directly to Island artists.”

Funding allocated for juried grants to artists has increased by $36,000.

The Department of Education, Early Learning and Culture will manage grants to artist organizations previously allocated by the PEI Council of the Arts, including Ars Longa, Art in the Open, Fédération Culturelle, Art in the City and Petapan.

In addition, Michelle MacCallum will join the department as Arts Community Liaison Officer. Michelle is a recognized arts and culture community development leader who will also support the development of the cultural strategy for Prince Edward Island. Michelle will coordinate the juried grants to artists that were previously distributed through the PEI Council of the Arts. This will continue to be a peer-led process for grant distribution.

Details on the application process will be shared with artists in the coming weeks, and application deadlines will be extended accordingly.