In order to be considered for I HeART Main Street prizes, participating BIAs are expected to engage a minimum of two (2) artists in paid opportunities, but are encouraged to engage more in activating their main streets. To help realize your creative visions, STEPS is able to connect participating BIAs with our diverse and talented artist network.

BIAs who engage artists from the STEPS Artist Roster or a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) identified artist of their choosing may be eligible for artist fee subsidies of up to $1000!

STEPS will support BIAs in visually capturing their activations and facilitating interviews with hired documentarians. STEPS will also provide promotional tools to raise awareness about BIA projects for cross-promotion and storytelling, including social media templates, sizzle reels and visuals. STEPS will also utilize digital platforms (social media, website, newsletter, video, mobile and web applications) to allow communities to safely explore the best of what your BIA has to offer.

STEPS will be providing prizes to recognize participating BIAs who demonstrate ingenuity, creativity and a commitment to community engagement. Prizes will be awarded by a committee composed of local cultural and business leaders and will include a combination of monetary and in-kind support to realize future main street placemaking initiatives.

That’s great! What you see listed in the I HeART Main Street guidelines are just some possibilities. We look forward to hearing your ideas and brainstorming how they can be realized. While not all project ideas will fit the limited budget and scope of this program, STEPS provides year-round services for BIAs, municipalities, property owners and community groups to enhance public spaces in their communities. Visit our suite of Creative Placemaking services and Main Street Recovery services available.

Project deadlines will be shared with BIAs and artists participating in the respective program rounds.

Yes, the activations that each BIA hosts will be unique to the personality of that BIA. The artists in our network are incredibly diverse in their style, and many can produce creative works that respond to your unique needs, aesthetic and themes.

BIAs are welcome to engage whomever they wish in I HeART Main Street activations. STEPS is committed to providing equitably paid opportunities for diverse emerging artists. To make it easy for BIAs to do this, we are offering up to $1000 in artist fee subsidies for BIAs who engage artists from the STEPS Artist Roster or local BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) artists not on the STEPS roster.

The program has a short turnaround time, and not every artist will be available to respond to BIA requests. If there is a particular artist you are interested in collaborating with, we encourage you to name them in your I HeART Main Street application.

I HeART Main Street is not a funding program, but STEPS is providing support that can help reduce the cost of realizing your placemaking ideas.

I HeART Main Street is focused mainly on short-term, low-budget solutions. Our team is able to help you develop an appropriate budget for a placemaking idea. Before applying, it’s important that you have an idea of how much funds you can invest in streetscaping. This will help us suggest ideas that are within your budget.

Artist fees should reflect the scope of work that an artist has been engaged for. We can help you calculate an appropriate artist fee for your proposed activities. To do this, we refer to CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens) rates as guidelines for minimum fees. Your BIA may be eligible for artist fee subsidies up to $1000, which STEPS will pay directly to participating artists. The BIA will be responsible for any additional fees required to realize your proposed project.

Budgets for each project will look different. Production costs could include printing of vinyl wraps/sidewalk decals, paint for murals and street furniture ornamentation, or the installation of street banners. While STEPS may be able to help participating BIAs access discounts through our supplier network, production costs will be paid by the BIA directly to vendors.

Main streets have experienced a lot of change – both physically and how people are interacting in them. It is important that we continue to follow public health guidelines designed to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19. I HeART Main Street is focused on supporting COVID-19 safe creativity. Our staff will encourage you to think about ways to engage your community while respecting dynamic public health guidelines.

If you would like to publicly display the artwork beyond the length of the I HeART Main Street or incorporate it into any BIA marketing materials, it’s important to share your vision for its use at the start of the project with both STEPS and collaborating artists, as the usage may impact design considerations or how the artwork is documented. STEPS can help you develop a contract between participating BIAs and artists that grants permissions or limitations on the artwork’s use.

While STEPS will make best efforts to include all interested BIAs in the I HeART Main Street, due to limited resources there are only a set number of spots available. We want to ensure that the support we are providing will be useful in achieving both the BIAs goals and our charitable mandate. If we receive applications from more BIAs than we can support, we will support the BIAs for whom we can have the most impact. If a BIA submits ideas that seem outside of the scope of I HeART Main Street but STEPS can support in other ways, we will follow up to discuss this with you.

If this is the first time you are undertaking a project of this nature and your ideas are still in development, that’s okay! We encourage you to still submit an application and if we’re unable to support your BIA through this I HeART Main Street round, we may still be able to help you advance your activation ideas through other opportunities.

We understand that many BIAs are run by very limited staff or volunteers who may be apprehensive about applying to I HeART Main Street due to a lack of capacity to fully participate. If you are a local business owner, non-profit or property owner who feels your main street would benefit from participating in I HeART Main Street, and is equipped to participate on behalf of your local BIA, we encourage you to apply, but please let your local BIA representative know you are applying.

When you are completing the application form, there is a place to provide “Additional information about your BIA.” We ask that you use this space to describe your relationship to the BIA, why you are registering on their behalf, and whether BIA staff are supportive of the registration.

At this time in order to ensure you have the local support and resources needed to successfully participate in the program, I HeART Main Street is focused on working with BIAs. That being said, STEPS frequently collaborates with businesses, property owners and community groups outside of this program. View our suite of Creative Placemaking, Main Street Recovery and Public Art Management services to see some of the ways we collaborate with others, and reach out if you are interested in exploring a partnership.

If your local municipality has not yet established a BIA but you would like to bring public art to your community, please contact us so we can better understand your needs.

The number of prizes and their categories will be announced as soon as possible. Prizes to support future creative placemaking initiatives by winning BIAs will include artist fee subsidies and in-kind production support.

If your BIA is located adjacent to another BIA, you may prefer to apply together to collaboratively develop activations. Please indicate this clearly on the form and outline what you have in mind, as well as which organization is providing what resources, as well as who will be the point of contact for program participation. Artist fee subsidies would be determined by the amount of artists you engage.

Yes, STEPS is especially interested in supporting Northern and rural communities! We strongly encourage BIAs from these communities to identify artists to collaborate with from their regions.

No, installations do not need to be permanent. It is up to the BIAs how long they would like them to last.

o apply for I HeART Main Street, please submit the application form (if a link is not available, this means applications are closed for the current program round).

While we are not looking for BIAs to have detailed plans for their proposed activations, you should have some ideas that have been developed in consideration for your local community needs and opportunities, as well as identified resources to ensure their success.

At the end of the program, what happens to the artwork depends on the agreement the BIA and the artists have, and will have to be negotiated during the contracting process.