Field trips to cultural venues

In keeping with Québec’s cultural policy, Partout, la culture, and the related action plan, financial support is being provided to school boards and private educational institutions to enable all young people, from preschool through secondary school, to take part in two free school field trips to cultural venues per year. Students in adult general education and vocational training may also be offered the opportunity to take part in cultural field trips while completing their programs.

School field trips to cultural venues enable students to discover the incredible abundance of culturally important places and events while providing them with opportunities to have meaningful cultural experiences.

To be eligible for financial support, a cultural field trip must involve travel by one or more groups of students to a cultural venue or event listed in the Répertoire culture-éducation    and linked to the “Organisme culturel” filter. In addition, the project:

• must be presented by a school or group of schools, or by a school board
• must present the steps in the preparation, implementation and transfer-of-learning phases (with the exception of  childcare projects):
  • the preparation phase involves one or more activities that enable the students to acquire the knowledge they will need during the implementation phase
  • the implementation phase involves one or more cultural experiences that students take part in as part of school field trips
  • the transfer-of-learning phase allows students to reflect on the knowledge acquired during the previous two phases and to make connections with other learning situations in the classroom

The following activities are not eligible:

• visits to cultural venues outside Québec
• cultural workshops held at a school (educational institutions can obtain financial assistance for these workshops under the Cultural Workshops at School component of the Culture in the Schools program)
• exchange trips and practicums

If some of the students under a school board’s jurisdiction are unable to travel to venues outside educational institutions, organizers are advised to contact the Ministère.

Please keep in mind that financial assistance may be granted for field trips to science organizations under the Science Culture component of the Culture in the Schools program.

Two free school field trips to cultural venues

Financial assistance is provided to school boards and private educational institutions to enable all young people, from preschool through secondary school, to take part in two free school field trips to cultural venues per year.

School boards

This allocation comes under measure 15186 of the budgetary rules for school boards. This measure, which is protected and paid in advance, is intended solely to support field trips to cultural venues.

Private educational institutions

In the budgetary rules for private schools (in French only), this allocation comes under Volet 2 (Sorties scolaires en milieu culturel) of measure 30210 (Activités culturelles), and is reserved exclusively for this use.

Eligible expenses

Financial assistance for school field trips to cultural venues covers the following expenses:

• the cost of transportation to cultural organizations
• the cost of tickets to shows or events
• the entrance fees for cultural organizations
• the costs associated with preparation and transfer-of-learning activities offered by cultural organizations
• the following list of preparation and administration fees, which must not exceed 5% of the total of the other eligible expenses:
  • costs associated with secretarial services or with the school’s support for cultural projects
  • stationery, printing, photocopying
  • supply teaching expenses that make it possible for teachers and other educators to participate in the various phases of field trip projects
  • taxes

For all school field trips to cultural venues, the percentage of funding allocated under the present measure must be adjusted if an institution receives a grant for the same project under another financial assistance measure, particularly for school transportation. The financial support from various budget measures must not exceed 100% of the costs associated with the project.

In accordance with the terms and conditions in each jurisdiction, projects proposed by teachers must be submitted to the principal of the educational institution or to the school board. The Project Submission Form is made available to school boards to facilitate the project-submission process.

For more information about the terms and conditions in effect in each jurisdiction, teachers and other school staff members can contact their school’s principal, who may, if necessary, contact the person responsible for Culture-Education files at the school board.

The representative of the cultural organization and the person responsible for the school field trip should contact one another to determine the dates of the outing and the activities to be carried out at school in order to properly prepare the students for their cultural outing.

Evaluation of requests for financial assistance

The school board or educational institution may set up a process of project evaluation, selection and follow-up.

The following criteria could be considered when evaluating applications:

• effective collaboration between teachers or other school staff and the representatives of the cultural organization
• involvement of the greatest possible number of students
• preparation and transfer-of-learning activities associated with the project
• connections with the Québec Education Program

The school must contact the representative of the cultural organization as soon as a reply to the application for financial assistance has been received, and must sign the agreement only when the project has been approved.  If the application for financial assistance is refused, the school administration must notify the cultural organization so that it can unblock the dates it had reserved for the school field trip.

The school board or educational institution may sign a binding contract with the cultural organization. This contract should take into account the terms and conditions established by the Ministère and specify the points on which the parties agree:

• dates of the field trips and the preparatory workshops, if applicable
• terms and conditions of payment
• duties and responsibilities of the school and the cultural organization
• contract cancellation and termination clauses

The school must verify whether the school board has administrative requirements with regard to the payment of the cultural organization.

Reporting on the use of financial assistance

School boards

School boards that receive financial support under measure 15186 are required to submit, no later than June 30 of the current school year, the Utilisation de l’aide financière – Rapport de la commission scolaire form, which is accessible via the CollecteInfo   portal. The Ministère may recover any money used for unanticipated expenses.

Private educational institutions

Private educational institutions must account for the expenses incurred under this measure in the TRAFEP financial report. Any amount used for unanticipated expenses may be recovered by the Ministère.