The Government of Canada is investing $530,000 in three Ottawa arts and festival organizations through the Canada Arts Presentation Fund. Folk Canada will receive $100,000, the Ottawa Children’s Festival will receive $130,000, and the Ottawa Jazz Festival will receive $300,000 over two years, Ottawa Centre MP Yasir Naqvi announced on Jan. 15, 2026.
How the money is divided
The largest share, $300,000, goes to the Ottawa Jazz Festival, spread over two years to support its annual ten-day celebration of musical creativity and diversity. The multi-year structure is the detail that matters most for that organization: funding confirmed across two editions is easier to plan around than a single-year grant.
The Ottawa Children’s Festival will receive $130,000 to present its multi-day festival for children. The festival has been presenting live performing arts for children since 1985, bringing theatre, dance and music from around the world to schools, families and community groups.
Folk Canada will receive $100,000. The organization is the country’s largest devoted to the folk, roots and traditional music community, and the money will support its conference, a festival retreat, peer sessions and year-round professional development seminars for presenters and organizers.
In percentage terms, the jazz festival accounts for about 57 per cent of the total announced on Thursday, the children’s festival for about 25 per cent and Folk Canada for about 19 per cent.
What the recipients say the funding does
Naqvi made the announcement on behalf of Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages. Miller said in the release: “Festivals bring people together to celebrate creativity and strengthen our cultural identity.”
Naqvi pointed to the local effect, saying culture is experienced in towns, neighbourhoods and public spaces, and that the funding will help the festivals keep bringing people together in the Ottawa region.
The recipients each described the federal fund as structural support rather than a one-off boost. Folk Canada executive director Rosalyn Dennett said the investment strengthens the organization’s capacity to work with folk festivals and presenters across the country. Ottawa Children’s Festival artistic producer Catherine O’Grady called Canadian Heritage a foundational partner that makes it possible to present professional work to tens of thousands of children, educators and families. Ottawa Jazz Festival executive director Petr Cancura said the multi-year investment provides stability and helps the festival present Canadian and international artists while remaining accessible.
The fund behind the announcement
The Canada Arts Presentation Fund provides financial assistance to organizations that professionally present arts festivals or performing arts series, and to organizations that support those presenters. It is one of the main federal channels through which festival funding reaches communities rather than individual artists.
The Ottawa announcement is a small slice of a much larger program. Each year, the fund supports approximately 800 professional arts festivals and performing arts series, along with other presentation activities, in more than 270 cities and communities across Canada.
Thursday’s announcement also sat inside a wider budget commitment. The government pointed to Budget 2025, which set out investments over three years for arts and culture, including $46.5 million for the Canada Arts Presentation Fund. Against that national envelope, the $530,000 for three Ottawa organizations shows how the program is delivered: modest, named grants to specific presenters, announced locally, and aimed at keeping established festivals and presenter networks running rather than launching new ones.
