Excellence

Excellence ensures that our cultural community can fulfill its potential. Our commitment, through initiatives outlined below, to a strong holistic approach and recognizing that strategic partnerships with the private and nonprofit sector will lead to our cultural professionals and cultural organizations flourishing.
Alberta Arts Awards The Alberta Foundation for the Arts offers three award programs - the Marion Nicholl Visual Arts Award, the Grant MacEwan Literary Arts Award, and the Tommy Banks Performing Arts Award - designed to recognize artistic excellence in the visual, literary, and performing arts in Alberta.
Alberta Main Street Program The Alberta Main Street Program is a strategy for conserving heritage resources in historic commercial districts, reclaiming these areas as vibrant communities and centres of commercial activity.

Alberta Major Performing Arts Companies This program supports the annual operating expenses of Alberta's ten largest performing arts companies in a manner consistent with a philosophy of artistic excellence, good governance and financial sustainability.
Collections and Preservation Collections are the foundation of research, exhibitions, publications and educational programs. Specimens from the collections are included in exhibits and educational programs and on the Internet, and are accessible to all Albertans and people from around the world.
Cultural Relations Supports artists and organizations in any arts discipline that will officially represent Alberta at a national or international level, and artists from outside Alberta who are participating in an official artistic exchange.
Curatorial, Conservation and Collections Management This program oversees and coordinates activities around the acquisition, care and tracking of objects in the Crown's collection that are the responsibility of the Historic Sites and Museums Branch.

Designated Arts Organizations Provides operating funds to designated arts organizations that are deemed unique by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
Grant MacEwan Awards For the best books by Alberta authors published by a professional publishing house in the previous copyright year.
Heritage Conservation Advisory Service This program is responsible for providing advice on the proper conservation of historic places, the review and approval of proposed alterations to provincially and municipally designated historic places, and support for Alberta Historical Resources Foundation grant programs.
Historic Restoration and Construction Program This program is responsible for preserving, stabilizing, restoring and/or reconstructing the inventory of Crown-owned heritage buildings and structures that are the responsibility of the Ministry (Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, Rutherford House, Father Lacombe Chapel, Victoria Settlement, Fort George/Buckingham House, Brooks Aqueduct, Leitch Collieries, Historic Dunvegan, Turner Valley Gas Plant, Bitumount).
Individual Projects-Dance, Film & Video, Multidiciplinary, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, Writing Supports the artistic development of individual Alberta artists or an ensemble of artists who are working together by providing a grant for a specific project.
Palaeontological Resource Management This program protects and preserves Alberta's in-situ palaeontological resources from damage and destruction due to development pressures and unlawful collecting. This results in more fossils being available for scientific research and display at the museum and other palaeontological programs throughout the province.
Post Secondary Institutions Supports artists and organizations in any arts discipline that will officially represent Alberta at a national or international level, and artists from outside Alberta who are participating in an official artistic exchange.
Post Secondary Institutions Assists post secondary institutions or their affiliated organizations which are not funded by Alberta Learning with projects and programs having community impact and artistic merit.
Professional Performing Arts Companies Supports creating and producing performing arts activity by assisting mid-sized professional performing arts companies with annual operating expenses.
Research Provides academic-quality analysis on heritage matters for the public and other government departments. Provides the intellectual foundation for long-term documentation and conservation of Alberta's diverse heritage.
Research Palaeontological research is the basis for our understanding of the prehistory of our province. Information is provided about Alberta’s fossil resources, which is used in exhibits and education programs, and in evaluating the significance of the resources. This also contributes to the bank of knowledge about palaeontology and prehistory worldwide.
Support to Provincial Heritage Organizations The Alberta Historical Resources Foundation provides funding to five provincial heritage organizations that provide a range of funding, educational, and advisory programs, enabling Albertans to participate fully in the documentation, preservation, presentation and enjoyment of their heritage.
Queen's Golden Jubilee Scholarships for the Performing and Visual Arts Presented to young Albertans (1 each from the visual and performing arts) who demonstrate extraordinary talent and potential along with clear educational goals and objectives.