Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke (MBAS)

The Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke (MBAS) is a charitable, non-profit art museum founded in 1982 and located in a historic former Eastern Townships Bank building in downtown Sherbrooke, Quebec. Its mandate is to collect, preserve, present and promote visual art that reflects the vitality of Quebec and, in particular, the Eastern Townships. The museum manages a significant collection of nearly 4,900 works by more than 850 artists, alongside a rich programme of temporary exhibitions and educational activities.

Beyond its exhibition role, the MBAS acts as a channel for cultural funding and artist support. Through philanthropic partnerships and public subsidies, it is able to offer concrete financial and professional opportunities to artists and cultural workers.

The museum administers the Bourse de création KESAR, a creation grant developed in partnership with the KESAR Society of the Rahimaly-Mamode family. From 2025 to 2027, this program awards a $12,000 grant each year to one professional visual artist from a visible minority, selected following a formal call for submissions and rigorous jury evaluation based on artistic quality, originality and professional recognition.

The grant also includes a residency at the Centre d’art Jardins Racine and culminates in a collective exhibition at the MBAS in 2028, where the three laureates receive artist fees in line with CARFAC standards. This structure combines direct financial support, creation time, visibility and fair remuneration, positioning the museum as an active funder of emerging and underrepresented voices in Quebec’s visual arts.

In addition, the museum coordinates or co-coordinates public calls such as Parcours Photo Sherbrooke, for which artists and photographers submit complete dossiers that are evaluated according to clear selection criteria and objectives (relevance of the subject, aesthetic quality, professionalism, contribution to public access to art). While some of these initiatives are formally mandated and financed by the City of Sherbrooke or other partners, the MBAS plays a central curatorial and administrative role in distributing opportunities and resources.

The MBAS is recognized as a registered charity and invites individuals and companies to support its mission through donations, memberships and fundraising events. Its "Support Us" and "Make a Donation" sections explain the tax benefits attached to cultural donations and encourage major gifts, which help sustain exhibitions, educational programming and artist-support schemes such as the KESAR grant.

The museum also receives recurring support from government funders and municipal partners, as highlighted on its "Subsidizers, Sponsors and Partners" page, where the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec, the Government of Canada and the City of Sherbrooke are listed among its main financial backers. This diversified funding mix enables the MBAS to maintain a stable base while piloting more targeted grant and call-for-project initiatives.

The museum’s funding-related activities primarily target professional artists and cultural practitioners working in visual arts, with particular attention to artists from visible minorities through the KESAR program. More broadly, its calls for submissions invite photographers and visual artists from the region and across Quebec to obtain exhibition opportunities and professional recognition.

By combining curation, education and selective financial support, the Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke contributes to the vitality of the arts ecosystem in the Eastern Townships and Quebec. Its programs increase access to art for local communities, amplify diverse artistic narratives and help ensure that creators are fairly compensated and accompanied throughout key moments of their careers.