Posted by Toronto Sketchfest
The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is proud to continue our partnership with the Pat & Tony Adams Freedom Fund for the Arts to deliver project funding to sketch comedy projects. The 2025 deadline to apply is June 30, 2025.
The Sketch Comedy Project Fund will award funds of up to $2,000 to comedy ensembles who are embarking on a project that represents the “next step” in their comedy career. Projects could include hiring a director or designer for a live show, embarking on a tour, showcasing at a festival, creating a promotional video or web series pilot… anything really, as long as you can justify why this is an important next step in the development of your comedy career.
At least two projects will be funded each year. Funds will be delivered in increments of $500, to a maximum amount of $2000. The amount awarded through The Sketch Comedy Project Fund can represent 100% of the expenses related to a project, but projects with other sources of revenues are welcome and encouraged.
Criteria:
- The application must come from an existing sketch troupe or a collection of comedians who want to collaborate for the project.
- The majority of the project participants must be Canadian citizens, or have permanent resident status.
- The applicants must be actively creating and performing sketch comedy in Toronto.
- The applicants must be able to justify why this project is important to their sketch comedy career – why this? why now?
- Both emerging and established comedians are encouraged to apply.
The Fund will not support tuition fees for training centres or accredited schools, nor will it support projects that benefit only a single comedian. Stand up projects, improv projects, and one-person shows are not eligible. Productions of plays/scripts are only eligible if the applicant can describe how the piece will be developed by an ensemble in the sketch comedy tradition. Traditional theatre productions of a comedic script are not eligible.
NEW IN 2025 – The Sketch Comedy Project Fund is limiting eligibility to exclude the creation phase (ideation, writing, script development etc.) for projects intended for the stage. Creation phase projects being developed for live performance are referred to The Ontario Arts Council’s Grants for Theatre Creators program, where The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is an official Recommender Organization.
All Sketch Comedy Project Fund submissions are adjudicated by the staff of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. Projects submitted by artists who self-identify as Indigenous, Black, or Person of Colour, LGBTQ2S+, or D/deaf, Mad and Disabled are prioritized. A short list of recommendations is then presented to the chairperson of the Pat and Tony Adams Freedom Fund for the Arts who selects the final recipients.
Deadline: June 30, 2025