Alberta Ethnocultural Grant: What It Is, What You Can Claim, and Our Take

Each season pairs Kalaakaar with 3 new communities. Season 1 (2027-28) is First Nations, African and Arab.

Each concert lands in that community's own heritage month or day: November, February (Black History Month), April (Arab Heritage Month).

3-4 musicians on stage, never 16-20. The money goes into rehearsal time and a genuinely co-created piece.

Explain and play: every piece is introduced (how it's composed, written down and lived in its community) and then performed, with Q&A at the end. About 1 hour 45 minutes, no intermission.

About 100 seats: close enough to ask questions, full enough to feel alive.

Subsidized $10-20 tickets (the rules don't require free admission), with free seats held for the partner community and newcomers. Music students (U of A, MacEwan, Concordia) get a student price, but it stays a public event, not an academic one.

Every fee is pegged to a published Canadian rate (union scale, the composers' league, CARFAC). See the budget.

Each session is filmed (Tiny Desk style) so the conversation reaches far beyond the room, and each season builds toward the next.

Built with the partner from day one, following protocol, with an Elder honorarium and protocol gifts (both eligible costs).

Who to approach: The Juno-recognised singer Sharmila knows (name to come from Sahir). Fallback leads: Sherryl Sewepagaham (Cree, co-founder of the Juno-nominated Edmonton trio Asani) and Stephen Wood (Northern Cree). U of A First Peoples' House can introduce a drum group.

West African music meets raga and tala. Open question: drumming and dance (Robert Kpogo's team) or a melodic griot tradition (kora), which pairs more naturally with sitar.

Who to approach: Drumming: Robert Kpogo (U of A West African Music Ensemble, Wajjo African Drummers). Kora: no kora player found living in Alberta. The best fit is Zal Sissokho (Senegalese griot, Montreal-based, Felix award), who already tours Alberta (Calgary, Mar 2026, with Alliance Francaise). Sharmila is asking Michael Frishkopf about local Malian or Senegalese artists.

Arabic maqam meets raga: two modal systems built on melody and improvisation, so the overlap is easy for an audience to hear.

Who to approach: Dr. Michael Frishkopf, director of the U of A Middle Eastern and North African Music Ensemble, who can also connect Edmonton Arab musicians.

Required: Signed digitally by an authorized Kalaakaar director.

How we will produce it: Chui drafts every answer from the Winning application tab (summary, outcomes, work plan, risks). Sharmila edits it so it sounds like Kalaakaar, then one director enters it in the portal and signs. Target: draft by Oct 26.

Required: Every line justified. Admin no more than 15%. No GST or equipment purchases.

How we will produce it: Copy the $45,000 budget table into the template line by line, each with one sentence of justification (for example, '4 musicians x 4 rehearsals at $300 + 1 concert at $500, per published local rates'). Add U of A instrument loans and volunteer hours as in-kind support, and note the 2-pairing fallback at about $30,000.

Required: Chosen from the form's list, plus our own measures.

How we will produce it: Tick both Stream 1 outcomes in the form, then add our own measures: attendance, share of the audience from outside the South Asian community, survey results, works created, video views, partners returning. All targets are already on the Winning application tab.

Required: Audited or unaudited.

How we will produce it: Kalaakaar's treasurer produces a one-page unaudited statement for the last fiscal year (income, expenses, bank balance at year end), and two directors sign and date it. Chui can format it from the bank statements if they're shared.

Required: The bank letter or void cheque must be dated within 3 months, not handwritten, and match the form exactly.

How we will produce it: Download the Application for Electronic Payment form from the portal and fill it in from the bank's direct-deposit letter (most banks print one on request, online or in branch). Check the legal name, address and account number match character for character.

Required: From each partner, showing the project is viable.

How we will produce it: Chui drafts a one-page letter template (who the partner is, what they'll co-create, the concert month, their commitment). Each partner edits it to their own words and signs it. Collect them by Oct 19.

Required: From people who know Kalaakaar's work.

How we will produce it: Ask the U of A Department of Music (the chair, Scott Smallwood, or Michael Frishkopf) and one community body, such as the Edmonton Arts Council or the Council of India Societies of Edmonton. Send them a ready-made paragraph so it's a 5-minute job.

Required: Read Schedule C (the reporting requirements). Any change of scope, or moving more than 15% between budget categories, needs written approval before it happens.

How we will produce it: One director reads and signs it. Chui summarizes Schedule C into a one-page checklist, and that checklist becomes the project's rulebook.

Required: The GoA logo on posters, the website, social posts and event signage, plus a mention in announcements and media releases.

How we will produce it: Design one poster template and one social template with the logo built in, and reuse them for all 3 concerts. Each concert's MC script includes a one-line thank-you to the Government of Alberta.

Required: 3 free concerts, 3 co-composed works, filmed conversations, and a hands-on session at every show.

How we will produce it: Run each pairing on the same 3-month template (conversation, then rehearsals, then premiere) with a shared calendar. A volunteer films the conversations on a phone with a lapel mic, and the venue's sound tech records the concert.

Required: Proof the outcomes happened, for the final report.

How we will produce it: Build one QR-code survey (3 questions plus an optional 'which community do you identify with') and print it on every program and table card. Door volunteers count attendance with a clicker. Everything goes into one shared sheet the same night.

Required: A receipt for every dollar. Unspent money goes back.

How we will produce it: Pay everything from the society account (never personal cards). Photograph each receipt into a shared folder named by budget line. The treasurer reconciles monthly against the budget, so overspending shows up early.

Required: Filed in the portal within 60 days of the end date, so by Jul 30, 2028. Miss it and the whole grant must be repaid.

How we will produce it: Chui compiles it from the shared sheet and receipts folder: outcomes against targets, spending against budget, photos and quotes. Sharmila reviews it, and it's filed by mid-July to leave a buffer.

Required: Answer any questions from program staff, and help with compliance checks.

How we will produce it: Keep the agreement, receipts, survey data and promotional samples together in one 'Ethnocultural Grant 2027' folder, so any request can be answered the same day.

Kalaakaar's legal name, mailing address, physical address and contact info. The person who creates it becomes the admin, so it should be a director with authority. They need an email assigned to them personally (e.g. sharmila@...), not a shared inbox like info@. Set this up first, because the application questions only appear after signing in.

Create account → · Grant portal →

Every question is mandatory. You pick one stream (Stream 1) and choose outcome measures from the form's list, and can add your own. An authorized representative signs it digitally inside the portal. Incomplete applications are not accepted.

Upload it as an Excel file, not a PDF or scan. No signature needed. It has two sections: 'Salaries and wages' (staff positions, plus CPP/EI and benefits) and 'Activities and overhead' (contracted musicians, venue, sound, promotion and so on). Each line has columns for total cost, other funding or in-kind, amount requested, and a written explanation. Keep a copy, because the final report fills in an 'Actual amount' column.

Download template →

Audited or unaudited. The government's sample has two parts: a Statement of Financial Position (balance sheet: cash, receivables, payables, net assets) and a Statement of Operations (income statement: revenue and expense lines, surplus). Each shows the current and previous fiscal year side by side. At about 1.5 years old, Kalaakaar shows whatever full years it has.

View the official sample →

Part 1: payee is an organization. Part 2A: bank name and branch address. Part 3: payment type EFT. Signed and dated by the account holder's authorized signer, with their title. The name must match the bank document exactly. Typed or font signatures are rejected: use pen, stylus, a scanned wet signature, or Adobe Sign/DocuSign. Any crossed-out or altered information gets it rejected automatically.

Open form →

One of: a personalized void cheque, an online-banking void cheque, an online-banking direct-deposit form, or a letter on bank letterhead (a letter needs a bank officer's signature). Everything must be pre-printed by the bank, because anything handwritten is rejected. The grant requires it to be issued within 3 months of submission, which is stricter than the payment form's own 1-year rule. The address and account number must match the payment form.

One from each partnering organization or artist, demonstrating the project is viable: who they are, what they'll co-create, and their commitment.

Letters or emails speaking to Kalaakaar's knowledge and experience with this kind of project.

Kalaakaar pairs with four Edmonton groups from other traditions (for example Ukrainian bandura, Filipino rondalla, Metis fiddle, Chinese guzheng), and each pair spends two months finding shared ground and co-writing one piece. Every pairing ends in a free public concert where both groups explain their musical systems before playing together.

Eight free, family-friendly concert-demos at Edmonton Public Library branches across the city, each explaining raga (melody) and tala (rhythm) in plain English. Every session ends with the audience clapping a tala and trying tabla and sitar themselves.

A free 12-week beginner program in Indian voice and tabla for adults who are not South Asian, with instruments loaned and no experience needed. It ends in a public recital where the new students perform alongside Kalaakaar's own artists.

Tabla players meet Indigenous hand drummers, West African djembe and Japanese taiko groups in a series of open workshops to compare how each culture counts and feels rhythm. The groups build a joint percussion piece that premieres at a free community showcase.

Five free concert-lectures in towns that rarely see Indian classical music, such as Camrose, Red Deer, Lacombe, Wetaskiwin and Grande Prairie, hosted in local halls and libraries. Each stop includes a hands-on segment and a local opening act, so the night belongs to both communities.

Newcomer youth from many countries (Syrian, Ukrainian, Filipino, Nigerian, Indian and others) meet weekly with Kalaakaar mentors to teach each other a song from home. They perform the result together on a public stage, and it is recorded so they can share it with their families.

Interactive concerts in eight seniors' residences and multicultural seniors' centres, with short talks on how each raga belongs to a time of day or season. Residents from every background are invited to share a song from their own childhood in response.

A two-day free outdoor showcase in Churchill Square built around the idea that Indian ragas are tied to times of day, with a morning raga, an afternoon raga and an evening raga each explained live. Guest artists from other traditions play their own 'time of day' music in between, so the audience hears how cultures mark time through sound.

A three-night series showing how classical ragas run underneath Bollywood film songs and today's sampled hip-hop and electronic music, with live demonstrations and local producers from other communities. It is designed to pull in young audiences who would never buy a ticket to a classical concert.

A free Diwali-season concert open to everyone, where each piece comes with a short story about the festival and its music, and neighbouring communities perform their own festival-of-lights music (Hanukkah, Loy Krathong, Christmas carols). The theme is that many cultures mark the darkest part of the year with light and song.

The U of A Indian Music Ensemble and the department's other world music ensembles spend a year building cross-tradition pieces with Kalaakaar and community musicians from other cultures. The year ends in a free public concert at Convocation Hall where each tradition explains itself before the shared performance.

A free, non-credit community workshop that runs alongside the ensemble each term, so any Edmontonian can learn sitar, tabla or voice next to U of A students without paying tuition. Community participants and students then give a joint public recital each April.

A season of six free, livestreamed concert-lectures where an Indian classical artist is paired with a master of another tradition (Persian, Chinese, Indigenous, Arabic, Celtic) and they explain their music to each other on stage. Kalaakaar co-curates and brings the community audience, and the university brings the scholarship.

The ensemble takes its end-of-term performances off campus to community centres, libraries and faith spaces of other cultures across Edmonton. Each stop is a performance plus a short demonstration with a question-and-answer session.

Monthly open jam-and-learn evenings for international and newcomer students from every background, run during International Week and through the year by ensemble members and Kalaakaar artists. Participants teach each other songs from home and play a closing community concert together.

A year-long exchange between the ensemble and an Indigenous drum and song group, built with the partner from day one, comparing how each tradition passes music from teacher to student by ear. It ends in a jointly led public gathering that follows the Indigenous partner's protocol (honoraria and protocol gifts are eligible costs).

U of A jazz students and the Indian Music Ensemble explore improvisation, the thing both traditions share, in a series of open rehearsals. It ends in two public showcases at an Edmonton jazz venue.

The U of A and Kalaakaar run a hands-on 'learn a raga in 20 minutes' stage across the three days of the Edmonton Heritage Festival, where hundreds of thousands of people from every background walk past. It reaches a far bigger and more mixed audience than any concert hall could.

Edmonton musicians from immigrant families of many backgrounds share, on stage, the songs their families brought to Alberta and the stories behind them, alongside Indian classical pieces and their own migration stories. A small documentary film of the series becomes an open teaching resource (as a by-product, not a research study).

Ensemble students and Kalaakaar artists visit 20 Alberta classrooms with a 45-minute interactive show and a free teacher guide linked to the music curriculum. Schools can't apply themselves but can host, so the university carries the grant and Kalaakaar carries the artistry.