Ontario Creates Industry Development Program provides support to Ontario’s established trade and event organizations to offer initiatives, events and activities with long-term impacts on growth and sustainability in the book, magazine, film, television, and interactive digital media sectors. 

Applicants must be incorporated not-for-profit Ontario or national organizations offering significant benefit to Ontario participants.

Deadlines

• April 2, 2025 5:00 PM ET
• August 7, 2025 5:00 PM ET

Applicants must begin their project planning no later than 3 months after the deadline at which they submit their application, and have a total of 12 months to complete the project.

Refer to the guidelines for more information on the best time to submit an application for your project. 

Program Streams

1. Business Development – supports business to business (B2B) industry projects and business to consumer (B2C) audience development projects that create business leads, sales and relationships.
   
   
2. Capacity Building – supports strategic projects that address challenges, opportunities or environmental changes that expand company capacity

In both the Business Development and Capacity Building streams, Ontario Creates has identified two priority areas for 2025-26:

• Professional development and strategic initiatives related to:

       -    Environmental Sustainability

       -    Accessibility

• Mentorship and training opportunities for mid-career professionals, particularly those from equity-deserving communities

Successful Industry Development Program applicants will receive funding for activities that expand skills, business capacity, market share, sales, and innovation. Activities must demonstrate the potential for measurable results for Ontario companies that create and sell content in the book, magazine, film, television, and interactive digital media sectors, and/or any combination of these sectors.

Music industry applications are administered through the Ontario Music Office. A description of the various music industry funding programs together with program guidelines and information can be found on the Ontario Creates website here.

Application Process

Applications should be submitted by the deadline prior to the start date of the proposed activity. Organizations can only include one project per application, however an organization may submit more than one application per deadline, and may submit applications at both deadlines depending on the start time of their project activities.

Late applications will not be considered for funding.

Applications must be submitted via the Ontario Creates Online Application Portal (OAP). Applications submitted by any other method will not be accepted. Please see Program Policies for details.

First-time applicants are encouraged to speak with the program consultant before applying to discuss the eligibility of both the organization and the project. To schedule a consultation call, complete our request form here. Please ensure you have read the guidelines before requesting a consultation call.

Information Session

We encourage interested applicants to attend an Information Session and read the guidelines in advance. 

Information Session - February 2025

If you are interested in attending an Ontario Creates Information Session in French, please send a request to programs2@ontariocreates.ca. Arrangements will be made to schedule an additional session on an alternate date.

If you are interested in attending an Ontario Creates Information Session and have accessibility needs, please contact us as above.

Guidelines and Documents

Applicant Affidavit

Ontario Creates Program Policies

To receive notification of upcoming deadlines and program updates, please register here with your complete contact information, including your full name, company name and telephone number, as well as the name of the program that you are interested in.

Enquiries

Enquiries regarding the Ontario Creates Industry Development Program should be directed to programs2@ontariocreates.ca