See you in 2025 for our 20th anniversary

Project Fund

A vintage TV broadcasting a distorted image of a series of stones across water, and a swallow mid-flight with the words SKETCH COMEDY PROJECT FUND.

Pat & Tony Adams Freedom Fund for the Arts

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is proud to continue our partnership with the Pat & Tony Adams Freedom Fund for the Arts to deliver project funding to sketch comedy projects. The 2024 deadline to apply is June 30, 2024.

The Sketch Comedy Project Fund will award grants of up to $2,000 to comedy ensembles who are embarking on a project that represents the “next step” in their comedy career. Projects could include hiring a director or designer for a live show, embarking on a tour, showcasing at a festival, creating a promotional video or web series pilot… anything really, as long as you can justify why this is an important next step in the development of your comedy career.

At least two projects will be funded each year. Grants will be delivered in increments of $500, to a maximum amount of $2000. The amount awarded through The Sketch Comedy Project Fund can represent 100% of the expenses related to a project, but projects with other sources of revenues are welcome and encouraged.

Criteria:

  • The application must come from an existing sketch troupe or a collection of comedians who want to collaborate for the project.
  • The majority of the project participants must be Canadian citizens, or have permanent resident status.
  • The applicants must be actively creating and performing sketch comedy in Toronto.
  • The applicants must be able to justify why this project is important to their sketch comedy career – why this? why now?
  • Both emerging and established comedians are encouraged to apply.

The Fund will not support tuition fees for training centres or accredited schools, nor will it support projects that benefit only a single comedian. Stand up projects, improv projects, and one-person shows are not eligible. Productions of plays/scripts are only eligible if the applicant can describe how the piece will be developed by an ensemble in the sketch comedy tradition. Traditional theatre productions of a comedic script are not eligible.

All Sketch Comedy Project Fund submissions are adjudicated by the staff of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. Projects submitted by artists who self-identify as Indigenous, Black, or Person of Colour, LGBTQ2S+, or D/deaf, Mad and Disabled are prioritized. A short list of recommendations is then presented to the chairperson of the Pat and Tony Adams Freedom Fund for the Arts who selects the final recipients.

The short list of submissions are chosen based on the submitted projects meeting the following elements:  

  • Meeting the Criteria and Eligibility
  • Feasibility (the submission clearly defined the Project Impact)
  • Timeline (the project could be completed within the next 12-18 months)
  • Budget (the project budget included artist fees, and was consistent with the scope of the project)

Previous recipients of the Sketch Comedy Project Fund are eligible to receive funding, with track record with the fund taken into consideration (I.E. was the previous project completed, did recipients report on their previous project etc).

2025 SKETCH COMEDY PROJECT FUND

The 2024 Sketch Comedy Project Fund closed in June of 2024. The next intake of the Sketch Comedy Project Fund will open in March of 2025. If you’ve got an ensemble-based comedy project that represents the next step in your collective careers, consider making an application

 

About Pat & Tony Adams

Pat and Tony Adams shared a deep love for the arts. In particular, they were devoted fans of jazz music, theatre, improv and comedy, and had great respect and affection for those who dedicated their lives to pursuing these passions professionally.

The Pat & Tony Adams Freedom Fund for the Arts continues their tradition of encouraging such artists, giving them the opportunity to develop their skills and share their talents with audiences everywhere.

 

2024 Recipients

  • Bitty-Bat at Edinburgh Fringe 2024 – funding to support Emily Jeffers with her solo clown show tour to Edinburgh Fringe with the goal of increasing visibility with bigger venues internationally.
  • Noodles – A Short Film – funding to support Shohana Sharmin and Yes, Let’s! Media on the adaptation of a successful solo sketch into a short film with the goal of submission to festivals.
  • TRSH PNDA: A Christmas/Holiday Special – funding to support a new sketch collaboration of new and experienced sketch comedians as they build on their momentum as a new collective and present a production of their work.
  • Sex T-Rex’s New Gothic/Teen Show Incubator – funding to support an established and award-winning Toronto troupe in the incubation process of their next project, with the goal of focused and dedicated time for artistic development.

2023 Recipients

  • Wench World Productions  – funding to support support a femme/queer-led digital sketch collective to create more hilarious sketch films with the goal to have at least 80% of their cast and crew filled by femme identifying artists.
  • Yaas & Vyle – funding to support comedy duo Hillary Yaas & Selena Vyle, two hilarious drag queens, in their mission to launch a new annual holiday drag comedy show featuring sketch, music, drag acts and more!
  • West 2 West – funding to support an online, short-form sketch series – a new digital platform for the duo’s absurd and cartoonish comedic style featuring wacky animation, film noir vibes, heart-pounding adventure and some hilarious slapstick comedy.

2022 Recipients

  • A Filmed Sketch Revue – funding to support five troupes (Cheap Wine, His Shorts My Pants, Stupid Hot, Banana Room, and High Taste Buds) coming together to create A Filmed Sketch Revue
  • Black Smith – funding to support a digital sketch comedy series by Emeka Agada and Lewis G
  • Don Valley Girls: Digital Series – funding to support a two sketch proof-of-concept shoot
  • A Perfect Bowl of Pho – funding to support the translation of the text to Vietnamese, to use as surtitles on future performances of the existing English-language script

2021 Recipients

  • Life Mosh by High Heel Bikini – funding to support the production of a sketch web series
  • Manor House by Cookie Biscuits – funding to support the production of a digital series
  • Tommi Lupone’s 11 O’clock Numbers! by Tom Hearn – funding to support the production of a musical theatre comedy album / retrospective *Due to unforeseen circumstances Tommi Lupone’s 11 O’clock Numbers! did not go into production in 2022. The awarded funds were then diverted to the Gay Garbage summer tour 2022 in five provinces.
  • French Anglais: Escape Deux Sudbury by Joel Edmiston, Conrad Osei, Ben Stager and Sam Burns – funding to support the production of a quasi-sequel to the short film French Anglais: Birthday

2020 Recipients

  • Untitled Black Sketch Project – funding to form Canada’s first Black sketch troupe and develop a monthly show celebrating the comedy community’s Black artists

2019 Recipients

  • Hackett & Landgon – funding to produce a live sketch comedy album
  • The Don Valley Girls – funding to produce a live sketch revue
  • Not Oasis – funding to support the development of a television pilot pitch package
  • Lady Mary and the Marquis van Shyzer – funding to support their debut studio album
  • Dead Parents Society – funding to support the continued development and presentation of this ground-breaking sketch comedy revue.

2018 Recipients

2017 Recipients

  • The Adventures of Tom Shadow – funding to produce a 2-week run of “The Adventures of Tom Shadow” at Factory Theatre
  • Utilidors – funding to produce the web series “Time Slicers.”
  • Fusion Comedy – funding to support work with a series of directors, coaching them through their writing process.

2016 Recipients

  • Peter N’ Chris – funding to produce a web series called “Sidekicks”
  • Uncalled for – funding to embark on their debut Toronto theatrical run of their revue “Playday Mayday“
  • Panacea! – funding supported the creation of their first web short “Uber“
  • Of Mud and Mirth – funding supported work with a director in preparation for their Montreal Fringe appearance.

2015 Recipients

  • The Templeton Philharmonic – funding supported their 5-date New York showcase tour in November 2015
  • The Junkyard Dukes – funding supported the production of their debut, self-titled sketch comedy album The Junkyard Dukes