Peer assessment is the cornerstone of public arts funding and crucial to how ArtsNL delivers its grant programs. Peer assessors are representatives of the arts community with expertise and experience in the artistic discipline or area for which the applicants are seeking funding. They range from independent artists to other professionals working in the field.
Peer assessors assess applications against ArtsNL granting program criteria and advise on priorities. They are selected and managed by the ArtsNL Program Officer assigned to a specific discipline. Program Officers coordinate and mediate assessment sessions but are not permitted to influence the decisions of the assessors.
ArtsNL uses peer assessment for three reasons:
- To ensure applications in a specific artistic discipline or area are evaluated by qualified individuals with experience in that area and knowledge of the artistic community.
- To maintain an effective mechanism for ArtsNL to stay connected with the artistic community and its developing trends.
- To maintain the arms-length nature of ArtsNL and protect arts funding from political influences.
The act of using peer assessment ensures the direct involvement of the arts community in ArtsNL’s operations. Applicants can therefore be confident their applications have been assessed by people whose knowledge and expertise ensure sound qualitative judgements in their designated field(s) of the arts.
ArtsNL proactively discloses the names of assessors each year on its website in alphabetical order as an addendum to its annual summary. ArtsNL will not publish the names of peer assessors associated with a particular program to ensure the privacy and safety of peer assessors.