My Piece of the City | The Royal Conservatory of Music

My Piece of the City

The Intent of This Program

The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) currently provides venue rental rate subsidies to non-profit arts organizations. However, even with those subsidies, Koerner Hall can be cost-prohibitive for many worthy arts organizations that do incredible work in their communities and would appreciate the opportunity to present concerts and events in Koerner Hall.

The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Performing Arts Division has established My Piece of the City program with generous support of, and in partnership with, The Daniels Corporation. My Piece of the City is intended to remove financial barriers that prohibit smaller cultural organizations and individual artists from presenting concerts and events in Koerner Hall, one of North America’s most revered concert venues.

As part of My Piece of the City program, funding is to be allocated to cover venue related expenses for eligible applicants. Application intake will start May 15, 2024 and will close August 1, 2024 for projects, events and concerts occurring between September 1, 2024 and August 31, 2025. Applications will be adjudicated by a community jury, followed by program participant selection, notification, and orientation. The successful projects will be administered by the Events team at the Performing Arts Division, Royal Conservatory of Music.

Inspired by a desire to promote inclusivity, celebrate our city’s rich diversity, and provide equitable access, My Piece of the City will provide the means to make Koerner Hall performances accessible for more cultural organizations. The program will provide full or partial financial assistance to culturally specific, ethno-cultural and equity seeking arts and non-profit groups, artist collectives, individual artists or large organizations engaging, promoting or presenting artists from these priority groups to present live concerts and events in Koerner Hall. RCM’s current rental partners are also eligible to apply if the proposed concert or event is a new initiative and meets program eligibility criteria.

Eligible Applicants
Eligible applicants should have a demonstrated portfolio of successful event and concert presentation, ticket sales and include:
- Small - and medium-sized (organizations with less than $3M budget), culturally specific, ethno-cultural arts or not-for-profit organizations.
- Culturally specific or ethno-cultural artist collectives* or artist groups or individual artists with a demonstrable successful history;
- Large arts and non-profit organizations ($3M or over) with the condition that the proposed concert or presentation engages a majority of participants or audience members from priority groups;
- Have been in operation for at least three full years and have a successful track record of presenting concerts and events, with demonstrable ticket sales to an audience of at least 500;
- Joint applications from two or more groups will also be accepted, but one organization needs to be nominated as the lead applicant.
- Applicant must be an entity that is able to execute a legally binding agreement.
*For the sake of this program, “artist collective” is defined as two or more artists or individual presenters working together under a group name, either on a single project or on an ongoing basis.
Ineligible Applicants and Activities
- Non-Canadian organizations, artists and collectives
- Recordings or livestream-only project proposals
- Fundraisers and social events
Eligible Expenses
Financial assistance will cover the following expenses in full or in part:
- Venue rental fee
- Fees for onsite or rented technical equipment
- Portion of part-time venue operating staff including Production, Front of House, Box Office, Concessions and Beverage, Artist Services, Security, Cleaning, Project Coordination, etc.
Ineligible Expenses
- Artist fees, travel expenses, per diem
- Applicant’s expenses, including administration, staff salaries and benefits, costs for creation, production, dissemination and marketing
- Insurance (the applicant must purchase, maintain and provide a Certificate of Insurance [COI] per the RCM’s venue rental contract)
Application Process and Program Participation Overview
Step One: Interested applicants should complete and submit My Piece of the City Application Form by August 1, 2024 with the following supplementary documents:
- For those who do not have financial statements, a statement of revenues and expenses from the last two completed fiscal years is acceptable. For artist collectives, project budget and actuals from two past most successful concerts or events.
- Marketing or programming materials from past successful events, including social media accounts.
- Introduction to applicant organization and the community it serves locally, including mandate, population size, partner organizations etc.
- Staff list (with short bios) for organization, including administrative, artistic and technical leadership.
- Outline of planned presentation, including genre (music, spoken word, dance, etc.), number of performers, detailed technical requirements (video, audio, dancefloor, etc.)
- Calendar/resume of past presentations, including date(s), venue(s), name of show and number of tickets sold per presentation.
Step Two: Application reviews are conducted, and successful applicants are notified by end of August.

Step Three:
- Initial Meetings with PAD team and Letter of Agreements are signed (online, in person or by email). Please note that the final date selection for the event/concert will depend on Koerner Hall’s availability.
- Planning meeting and site tour with technical and artistic team (in person or on phone/online), ongoing during planning and runup to event.
- Box Office set up and marketing planning meetings (in person or phone/online), confirmation of on-sale dates (as soon as possible).
- Delivery & review of final event details and technical plan (90 days prior to event date).
- Delivery of COI, final run of show, final details for onstage activity(ies) and backstage/dressing rooms, final site tour (30 days prior to event date).
Funding Recognition:
- Participants are required to acknowledge receipt of funding and the RCM & Daniels Corp via their usual channels, both online and in print including onsite signage and program books on day of their event.
- Recognize funding publicly through social media and a news release, as well as via speaking engagements, if requested by the funder.
Step Four: Brief final report and debrief meeting with short post-program survey, following completion of the proposed project, event, or concert.

Complete My Piece of the City Application Form here.

If this form does not meet your accessibility needs, or if you prefer a different format, we are happy to assist in the process. 

For all questions or support, please contact Lillian Brooks at [email protected]