all Heritage grants
The Heritage Vitality Program provides unique funding and support for community-led projects that revitalize B.C. First Nations cultural heritage.
The Heritage Vitality Program supports the safeguarding, transmission and revitalization of B.C. First Nations cultures and heritage.
The Heritage Vitality Program recognizes that:
Cultural heritage includes all the cultural elements that make us who we are. It shapes our personal and community identities. It includes many different and meaningful elements from the past and the present.
You can imagine cultural heritage as a beaded piece of art. Each bead represents a different cultural element. Combined using skills passed down through generations, the individual beads form a beautiful image that expresses the cultural identity of the community or Nation. Each community and Nation uses and combines different cultural elements to create their unique and precious heritage.
To support the diversity of B.C. First Nations cultural heritage projects, The Heritage Vitality Program offers three different funding streams – Cultural Practices, Heritage Stewardship and Braided Infrastructure. Each stream has its own objective and funding amount ranging from $20,000–$100,000. Organizations can submit one application per funding stream.
A note for returning applicants:
Information for all Heritage Program grants are now included in this single Heritage Vitality Program webpage and funding guide. To reduce administrative burden and help applicants find the best grant that fits their intended project, we’ve streamlined funding opportunities by combining several grants.
- Cultural Practices and Braided Knowledge have combined under Cultural Practices and the total amount for Cultural Practices is increased to $20,000-$50,000 from last year’s $10,000-$25,000.
- Braided Infrastructure and Arts Infrastructure – Community Arts Spaces, formerly offered within the Arts Program, are combined under Braided Infrastructure, and the total grant amount for Braided Infrastructure has increased to $100,000 from last year’s $70,000.
Funding Streams
In this section, you will find details for each Heritage Vitality Program funding stream including their unique description and objectives. There is one application guideline for information about how to apply and individual applications for each stream are found on the FPCC Grant Portal. Please review the guidelines before starting your application.
Cultural Practices – $20,000–$50,000
Cultural Practices supports B.C. First Nations’ projects that focus on planning, carrying out and documenting community-based cultural practices and events. These may include cultural practices that have been continuously carried out over generations, as well as “sleeping” practices that a community intends to reawaken.
Beginning with the 2027-28 intake, Cultural Practices combines funding previously offered through both the Cultural Practices and Braided Knowledge grants. As a result, the program now supports projects that safeguard and revitalize cultural practices as well as projects that reflect the interconnected and holistic nature of B.C. First Nations arts, languages, cultures and heritage. By combining these two key approaches, Cultural Practices continues to support projects that affirm identities, foster a sense of belonging, and celebrate the roles, relationships and responsibilities within communities.
All Cultural Practices projects must include a mentorship component that supports the transfer of cultural knowledge and practical skills from Elders, Knowledge Keepers and other mentors to youth and other community members. Mentors may include fluent speakers, artists, and more.
Project examples include:
- Annual, seasonal and celestial activities and events
- Celebrations honouring children, youth or others who hold important roles within their communities
- Events that bring community members together to affirm and strengthen relationships, cultural identities and responsibilities
- Knowledge gathering and transfer, including documenting cultural practices and events
- Reawakening of cultural places and the traditions associated with them, and other culturally important practices that are held by communities
- Projects that link public art, storytelling and cultural teachings
- A place name project that incorporates language, cultural heritage information, storytelling and art
- Projects that demonstrate the relationship between stories, songs, place names, cultural heritage sites and landscapes
- Projects that develop tools and materials that will help safeguard B.C. First Nations languages, arts and cultural heritage
For inquiries related to Cultural Practices, please email: cpg@fpcc.ca
Heritage Stewardship – Up to $75,000
Heritage Stewardship supports B.C. First Nations’ projects that focus on long-term stewardship and revitalization of their culture and heritage through mobilization, documentation and organization of knowledge. It supports four priority areas that represent different stewardship approaches: Sense of Place, Climate Change, Oral Histories and Protocols, and Digitization and Archiving.
An outcome of Heritage Stewardship projects will include developing resources that future generations can use in stewarding their heritage, such as oral history recordings, digitized materials, catalogues, maps, coordinates, trails, lists, monitoring systems, guides, management or conservation plans, protocols, trainings, etc.
Project examples include:
Climate Change
- Documenting and assessing the impacts of climate change on culturally significant places, landscapes, species, food sources, cultural activities, etc.
- Developing management plans and mitigation strategies for cultural places and impacted sites
Digitization and Archiving
- Creating an inventory of cultural heritage materials to digitize or cataloguing heritage records
- Documenting and sharing cultural heritage through new technologies
Oral Histories and Protocols
- Researching or holding focus groups to document and articulate Indigenous legal orders, protocols and knowledge systems
- Recording, translating and/or transcribing oral histories
Sense of Place
- Documenting knowledge systems, the land and waters
- Research to understand and caretake a site
- Mentorship and training related to cultural landscapes and activities
For inquiries related to Heritage Stewardship, please email: hsp@fpcc.ca
Braided Infrastructure – Up to $100,000
Braided Infrastructure is led by the FPCC Heritage and Arts Programs. Braided Infrastructure supports B.C. First Nations’ efforts to develop infrastructure projects that braid together arts, culture, heritage, and the values and teachings as understood through B.C. First Nations languages. Braided Infrastructure funds a broad range of infrastructure projects that conserve, repair or develop B.C. First Nations’ cultural heritage, and arts infrastructure.
Project examples include:
- Historical and cultural places, archives and cultural heritage collections that are of collective value to B.C. First Nations
- Construction or renovation of a permanent designated space to connect heritage and art activities, such as weaving, drawing, painting, regalia making and other creative expressions
- Physical infrastructure such as buildings, trails, and structures that support public and community access to the:
- Stories of historic places and the places themselves
- Transmission of community memory and traditional practices, crafts and trades
- Cultural materials that support telling stories of historic sites and the transmission of community memory and traditional practices, arts and trades
- Art, music and cultural materials and forms
For inquiries related to Braided Infrastructure, please email: bip@fpcc.ca
Eligibility
- Recognized First Nations governments, bands or tribal councils located in B.C.
- B.C. First Nations–led museums, cultural spaces, not-for-profit societies registered in B.C., in good standing and governed by B.C. First Nations individuals with at least 65% of directors identifying as members of one of the 204 recognized B.C. First Nations.
- Urban and off-reserve B.C. First Nations organizations governed by B.C. First Nations individuals with at least 65% of directors identifying as members of one of the 204 recognized B.C. First Nations.
- B.C. First Nations schools and adult education centres operating on First Nations lands in B.C.; schools serving one community must apply through their Nation or Band Office.
If you have any questions about your eligibility, please contact heritage@fpcc.ca.
FPCC requires at least 65% of an organization’s board members/directors to include individuals from B.C. First Nation as they are the rightful stewards of their cultural heritage and are best equipped to lead the important work of protecting, sharing and revitalizing B.C. First Nations Heritage on their lands.
Additional heritage funding may be accessed through Heritage BC, Department of Canadian Heritage, Vancouver Foundation, Telus Foundation and the Mastercard Foundation.
If you have questions about registering your organization as a society, please see this resource with information on how to form a society in B.C. (Please note: This document is for reference only, FPCC is not able to provide advice on setting up a society.)
How to Apply
Applications are completed on FPCC’s Grant Portal which functions best when used on a laptop or desktop computer. For applicants that require assistance with technology, we recommend having a friend, family member or someone they trust to assist them with completing and submitting the application.
Each Heritage Vitality Program funding stream (Cultural Practices, Heritage Stewardship and Braided Infrastructure) has its own unique application on the FPCC Grant Portal.
Prior to applying, please read the two sets of guidelines below. One is specific to the Heritage Vitality program, and the other is general for all FPCC applications. The guidelines are optimized for accessibility purposes. If you are unsure if your community or heritage organization is eligible or have questions about accessing heritage funding, please contact us at heritage@fpcc.ca.
Applications may be submitted until 4:30 p.m. PCT November 25, 2026
Recorded Information Video – coming soon!
Watch the recorded information videos created to support applicants. One provides an overview of the Heritage Vitality Program and the other provides tips for completing an application.
For more information and guidance on completing your Heritage Vitality Program application, you can watch our video Tips for Completing an Application.
Please help raise awareness about this opportunity by sharing our poster. – Coming Soon!
Funder Acknowledgement
Cultural Practices is funded by the First Peoples’ Cultural Foundation through a Canada-British Columbia bilateral agreement as part of the National Action Plan to End Gender Based Violence.
Heritage Stewardship is funded by the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation through the Province of British Columbia.
Braided Infrastructure is funded by the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation through the Province of British Columbia, and through a donation from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies.
Additional Resources
Tools and Resources
We are here to support!
Program staff are available to support you with your application. Contact the program staff listed in the table below, at least two weeks before the application deadline, if you would like assistance with your grant application.
If you have any questions about the application process, please reach out to the Heritage program staff no later than November 12, 2026. This includes eligibility, if you would like to discuss project planning, and/or if you need support in completing your application.
| Funding Stream | Grant Lead | Support For | |
| Heritage Stewardship | hsp@fpcc.ca | Nathalie Picard | Heritage Stewardship specific questions and application review requests |
| Cultural Practices | cpg@fpcc.ca | Elsie Joe | Cultural Practices specific questions and application review requests |
| Braided Infrastructure | bip@fpcc.ca | Heritage Staff | Braided Infrastructure specific questions and application review requests |
| Heritage Program | heritage@fpcc.ca | Peter Underwood | General Inquiries, including organization eligibility and to see which grant your project fits best under. |
Funding Process
We are here to ensure that the funding application process is as easy as possible and offer a convenient online portal so applicants can more easily apply for programs and submit reports. For additional information please visit the Funding Process page.
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Program Contact
Heritage Team
Our program staff are here to support you through the application process. If you have any questions or need support, please contact us at the email below.