Today, Mississauga City Council approved $4.7 million in grant funding to support various community and cultural groups, including live music presenters in Mississauga.

As a nod to the City’s 50^th anniversary, this year’s Culture Projects Grant theme is Celebrate 50. This theme is designed to help arts and culture groups celebrate Mississauga’s rich and diverse communities through their unique cultural practices. It encourages projects that share underrepresented stories and histories related to Mississauga, including those that emphasize Indigenous worldviews, creative and artistic methods and presentation practices.

2024 also marks the second year of the Live Music Grant pilot program, which supports for-profit concert presenters as a part of the City’s Music Strategy.

Community Grant Program

The Community Grant program assists Mississauga-based, not-for-profit community groups by providing multi-year, annual operating and project grants to improve the quality of life for residents. The grant program aligns with the strategic priorities of the Culture, Recreation, Parks and Forestry and Environment divisions.

Approved grants:

*Indicates multi-year funding

• Active Adult Centre Mississauga: $9,990
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Peel Inc.: $10,000
• Blooming Boulevards: $10,000
• Citizens for the Advancement of Community Development: $10,000
• Cruisers Sports for the Physically Disabled: $10,000
• Ecosource: $109,863*
• Erin Mills Youth Centre: $58,000*
• Global 180 Student Communications Inc.: $9,950
• Joshua Creek Church/Heart Comonos: $6,500
• Malton Black Development Association: $10,000
• MIAG Centre for Diverse Women & Families: $10,000
• Mississauga Girls Softball Association, Inc.: $7,500
• Mississauga Seniors Club Inc.: $6,000
• Mississauga Sports Council: $120,500*
• Mississauga Youth Action Committee: $2,990
• Ontario Schools Cricket Association: $10,000
• Our Place Peel: $10,000
• Pak Pioneers Community Organization of Canada: $9,950
• Port Credit Lawn Bowling Club: $10,000
• Safe City Mississauga: $224,127*
• Senior Tamils Society of Peel: $10,000
• Lady Ballers Camp: $6,000
• The Dam: $80,000*
• The Erin Mills Farmers Market: $10,000
• The Riverwood Conservancy: $369,859*
• Volunteer MBC: $40,000*

Arts and Culture Grant Program

Grant funding for this program supports emerging and established, not-for-profit, professional and community-based arts, culture, and heritage organizations in Mississauga. The grant supports the development of exemplary arts and culture programs and services that improve participation, knowledge, understanding and an appreciation of arts, culture and heritage for residents of Mississauga.

Approved grants:

*Indicates multi-year funding

• Art Gallery of Mississauga: $350,000*
• Arts on the Credit Mississauga: $15,000
• Canadian Arabic Orchestra: $100,000
• Chamber Music Society Mississauga: $100,000
• Crane Creations Theatre Company: $100,000
• CreativeHub 1352: $75,000
• Eagle Spirits of the Great Waters: $19,999
• Fashion Circuit Series: $17,000
• Frog in Hand: $100,000
• Heritage Mississauga: $297,000*
• Hispanic Canadian Arts and Culture Association: $19,500
• Meadowvale Music Theatre: $10,000
• Mississauga Arts Council: $360,000*
• Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble: $2,975
• Mississauga Children’s Choir: $39,000
• Mississauga Chinese Arts Organization: $22,500
• Mississauga Choral Society: $62,000
• Mississauga Festival Choir: $36,000
• Mississauga Festival Youth Choir: $18,250
• Mississauga Music: $19,999
• Mississauga Potters Guild: $19,500
• Mississauga Theatre Alliance: $10,000
• NeoVoce Philharmonic Choir: $5,000
• Orchestras Mississauga: $200,000*
• Sampradaya Dance Creations: $160,000*
• Sawitri Theatre Group: $108,000
• Streetsville Historical Society: $4,800
• Theatre Unlimited: $19,999
• Visual Arts Mississauga: $225,000*
• Youth Troopers for Global Awareness: $35,000

Cultural Festivals and Celebrations Grants

The Cultural Festivals and Celebrations grant program provides funding to offset expenses associated with providing a clean and safe venue for the presentation of arts, heritage and cultural festivals and celebrations to residents and visitors. This grant supports a range of events that reflect the City’s many cultural traditions.

Approved grants:

*Indicates multi-year funding

• Bollywood Monster Mashup: $120,000*
• Carassauga Festival: $120,000*
• International Film Festival of South Asia Toronto: $15,000
• Mississauga Italfest: $45,000
• Malton Celebrates Canada Day: $24,000
• Mississauga Latin Festival: $19,500
• Mississauga Polish Days: $19,999
• Mosaic Festival: $105,000
• Muslimfest: $50,000
• Paint the Town Red: $105,000
• Philippine Festival Mississauga: $19,999
• Southside Shuffle Blues and Jazz Festival: $120,000*
• Streetsville Bread and Honey Festival: $100,000
• Streetsville Christmas in the Village: $15,000
• Mississauga World Music Festival: $15,000
• Portugalo Fest: $9,750

Culture Project Grants

The 2024 Culture Projects Grant program aims to support arts and culture initiatives highlighting the City’s 50th anniversary. With the focus this year on “Celebrate 50”, the theme helps arts and culture groups celebrate and recognize the origins, transformations and potential of the City’s rich and diverse communities through their unique cultural practices and encourages projects that share underrepresented stories and histories related to Mississauga.

Approved grants:

• Blackwood Gallery: $5,000
• Canadian Arabic Orchestra: $5,000
• Frog in Hand: $5,000
• Mississauga Music: $5,000
• Kaleidoscope Chinese Performing Arts Society: $5,000
• Crane Creations Theatre Company: $5,000
• Arts on the Credit: $3,500
• MonstrARTity Creative Community: $5,000
• SAWITRI Theatre Group: $5,000
• Streetsville BIA: $2,500
• NeoVoce Philharmonic Choir: $5,000

Live Music Grant Pilot Program

The Live Music Grant Pilot Program is a two-year pilot intended to increase the number and frequency of live music events in Mississauga. 2024 marks the second year of the program. The grant will provide $45,000 per year for a maximum of $90,000 in total funding over the two years. This grant stream is the first City Culture Grant open to for-profit businesses with the potential to increase tourism and cultural growth.

Approved grants:

• BluPrint/Bluprint Concert 2024: $2,500
• Celestial Music Ras Penco & Friends in Concert: $2,000
• Friends in Arts/Friends in Arts live concerts: $2,500
• Aim Nation/History of our Music: $2,500
• Majd Sekker Sextet band/From Upherate to the Credit: $1,000
• Headway Music/2024 Open Mic Series at Cuchulainn’s: $2,500
• The Academy The Hustle Mississauga Edition: $2,500
• Let’s Make Good Productions/Arlene & The People EP Release: $2,500
• Sounds from Damascus/Sounds from Damascus DNA: $2,500
• 40oz Heroes/RIVER MOUTH II: $2,500
• The Savoy Band/Two Nights of Dancing and Live Jazz Music: $2,500
• Deep Ganguly/MYBANSURI MUSICAL EVENTS: $2,250
• antiskeptic entertainment/illScarlett returns to Mississauga!: $2,500
• Ebony Ivy Corp OOH LA LA Showcase: $750

For more information about the City’s grant programs, visit the webpage.

About the City’s 50^th anniversary

In 2024, the City of Mississauga celebrates its 50^th anniversary. This anniversary marks the City of Mississauga’s incorporation in 1974. A part of the Treaty and Traditional Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Huron-Wendat and Wyandot Nations, Mississauga is one of Canada’s largest and most diverse cities.