Building Communities through Arts and Heritage
On November 4, 2025, the government announced an investment totaling $21 million over three years, starting in 2026–2027, to the Department of Canadian Heritage for the Building Communities through Arts and Heritage (BCAH) program. This investment will provide an additional $7 million per year to strengthen community engagement, community identity, and access to arts and heritage for Canadians in local communities across the country. The funding renews the $7 million enhancement first provided through Budget 2019 and subsequently continued through the Fall Economic Statement 2020, Budget 2021, and Budget 2023, helping maintain program funding levels and support community economic resilience.
The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program was created to help you celebrate your community – both its past and its present. This program increases opportunities for local artists; local artisans; local heritage performers or specialists; and local First Nations, Inuit, and Métis cultural carriers to be involved in their community through festivals, events and projects. It also allows local groups to commemorate their local history and heritage.
The Building Communities through Arts and Heritage program offers funding through three separate components.
Local Festivals
The Local Festivals component provides funding to local groups for recurring festivals that present the work of local artists, local artisans, local heritage performers, and local cultural carriers.
Read more about who can apply for funding through the Local Festivals component.
Community Anniversaries
The Community Anniversaries component provides funding to local groups for non–recurring local anniversary commemoration events, with or without a minor capital project. Eligible events and capital projects are those that commemorate the 100th anniversary or greater, in increments of 25 years, of a significant local historical event or personality.
Eligible commemorative items and capital projects such as community art projects, restoration of objects, community history books, statues and murals can be funded up to a maximum $25,000.
Read more about who can apply for funding through the Community Anniversaries component.
Legacy Fund
The Legacy Fund component provides funding for community-initiated capital projects that restore, renovate, or transform an existing building or exterior space (such as a statue, community hall, monument, garden or work of art) intended for community use.
Eligible capital projects are those that commemorate the 100th anniversary or greater, in increments of 25 years, of a significant local historical event or personality.
Read more about who can apply for funding through the Legacy Fund component.
For further information on other funding opportunities, please visit: Funding - Culture, history and sport.