The Canada Council for the Arts has grants available to fund specific portions of a festival. The grants are designed to assist festivals in programming innovative Canadian artists. The Canada Council for the Arts website lists various criteria for eligibility. Music must be the primary component of the event, it must last more than a day and it has to feature a variety of artists. The festival must have four provinces represented (including the province in which the festival takes place) and needs to have taken place at least two other times.
Music travel grants are available from the Canada Council for the Arts. The grants are designed to give Canadian musicians and bands the opportunity to make initial performances at festivals and gain exposure with a broad audience. Orchestras, choirs and music theater groups are also eligible. The grant covers the round-trip travel expenses of the musicians (but not additional fees such as equipment transport). The official website says that to be eligible the festival must feature a professional Canadian musician or group who is paid for performing there, be non-profit and primarily music-oriented, and take place at least 800 kilometers from the musician's home.
The National Endowment for the Arts gives music grants to foster creativity among American artists and make their work available to audiences throughout the country. The Grants for Arts Projects initiative is broken down into categories. These groups allow organizations to apply for grants to support artistic merit and preserve the artists' works, making art available to portions of the population that would not otherwise have access, or bring art education to youths.
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation invests in grants for functions that bring art to the community. Two separate grants are available for festivals. One is for non-profits that provide employment opportunities for musicians to perform, and another supports non-profits employing artists for education and outreach.
Early Music America, a nonprofit group, offers a grant for music festivals that is somewhat different than most. The Collegium Musicum Grant funds college and university early-music ensembles attempting to attend a specific festival. Depending on the year, this is either the Boston Early Music Festival or the Berkeley Festival.
According to the organization's website, the grant is available only to schools in the United States and Canada, the ensemble must consist primarily of enrolled students, and either the director or the school itself must belong to Early Music America. The recipient of the grant is chosen based on a recorded audition, and the grant is limited to $1,000.