The REACH Mentorship/Residency for the Arts program, offering up to $30,000 in funding, is now accepting applications for 2026. The REACH program, now in its eighth year, continues to encourage Canadian and Ukrainian-Canadian artists to reach for their career dreams through mentorships, residencies, internships, training, workshops, and research.
A project of The Shevchenko Foundation, in partnership with the Ihnatowycz Family Foundation, the REACH program supports professional development opportunities for artists whose work highlights Ukrainian heritage, helping them expand their creative practice, build new skills, and develop meaningful connections within and beyond the Ukrainian-Canadian arts community.
The 2026 opportunity is open to Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are 40 years of age or younger at the application deadline, and who present Ukrainian art and culture through various arts forms. Applicants must be working at a peer-recognized, advanced career level for a minimum of two years in visual, literary, or performing arts, new media, or arts management.
The 2025 REACH recipient is Bozena Hrycyna, a folk artist and community educator based in the Ottawa Valley, Ontario. She received $12,709 in REACH funding to support intensive training in traditional Ukrainian straw weaving (solomopletinnya), an endangered cultural craft.
Through the program, Ms. Hrycyna will study at Serfenta, a UNESCO-accredited NGO in Poland, followed by four weeks of mentorship with master artisan Maria Kravchuk in Ukraine.
“REACH funding will play a critical role in developing my skills in these traditional forms, which are at risk of disappearing and little known in the diaspora,” Hrycyna shared. “This training will allow me to preserve and transmit rare techniques while strengthening connections between Ukrainian craft masters and the Canadian public.”
For 2026, the REACH application process has been updated to make it more accessible and user-friendly. Applications are now submitted through an online form, and a budget template is provided to help applicants prepare their submissions with ease.
The application deadline is February 1, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Central Time.
Additional details and the application form are available at www.reachmentorship.com. The application results will be announced in the spring of 2026.