Coup de pouce: Custom Trainings
Do you need training quickly to meet a specific need? That’s what the Coup de pouce program is for! Define your project and get private, customized training in a wide range of skills.
- You can submit an application now.
- Your application may take up to two (2) weeks to process. It must therefore be submitted at least two (2) weeks before the planned start date of your training project. This means that if you submit your project on August 27, 2025, your training must start no earlier than September 15, 2025.
- Your project may end no later than May 29, 2026, if you can demonstrate that it cannot be completed earlier, as projects with shorter timelines will be given priority. Applications are processed on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted.
- If you are located in the Montérégie region, your application will be processed according to the criteria specific to the Coup de pouce Montérégie program.
Program Eligibility
Eligible training programs
Eligible areas of expertise
Ineligible projects
How do I submit a Coup de pouce project?
Duration of the projects
Processing of applications
Financial contribution of the participant
Evaluation
Who can submit a Coup de pouce project?
- The program is aimed exclusively at dance professionals (artists, cultural workers, managers, designers, etc.), whether salaried (full-time or part-time), self-employed, receiving employment insurance or social assistance, or graduate students (bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate, full-time or part-time).
- Temporary foreign cultural workers are eligible if they hold a valid work permit at the time of their Coup de pouce training activity.
- You don’t have to be a member of the RQD to receive a Coup de pouce, but applications from our members are given priority.
- Professionals in artistic disciplines other than dance, as well as high school or college students, are not eligible for the Coup de pouce program.
Important: All candidates participating in the same Coup de pouce project must meet these criteria.
- Customized individual training
- Customized training for a small group of participants with a similar need.
- Online training with a registration fee (eligible only if assistance from a trainer is possible and required).
Your training project must lead to an improvement in your skills, employability or employment conditions in any field of skills, such as:
- Artistic, discipline-based or related artistic skills.
- Career, cultural organization and human resources management.
- Overall knowledge of the cultural community, of law, and of the globalization of artistic activities.
- Advertising, communications, development and marketing.
- Audience development and cultural mediation.
- New technologies.
- Training programs, classes or internships already eligible for the Dance Training Support Program.
- Hiring of a consultant mandated to carry out the project or of a collaborator required for the project.
- Learning or rehearsing a show.
- Participation in an information session, a conference, a colloquium, a convention, a seminar, a symposium, a lunch-and-talk or any other event of this type.
- Learning a second language or participating in a francization project.
- Training or internship offered outside Quebec.
- Maintenance and development of skills or qualifications required by law or regulation (example: health and safety at work).
- Self-taught training or without a formal framework.
Not sure whether your project is eligible or not? Please contact our Professional Development Director before submitting your Coup de pouce project.
How do I submit a Coup de pouce project?
- Define your training needs.
- Determine your objectives.
- Contact the trainer of your choice.
- Outline your training plan with the trainer; get their complete contact information and hourly rates, and find out if they are registered to charge taxes.
- Complete our Coup de pouce application form.
A Coup de pouce project generally lasts no longer than 12 hours, but projects are evaluated on a case by case basis. A project can be shorter or longer, exceptionally, if it is justified and if there are sufficient funds available through the program.
The Professional Development Director will normally evaluate your project within two weeks. They ensure that the project is eligible, relevant and realistic, and that it is a formative activity and has the potential to improve your employment situation. The Director also checks your eligibility for the program and your trainer’s expertise. If required, they can help you specify your project and can recommend a trainer.
If your project is accepted, the RQD will send you an agreement that both you and your trainer must sign. If there is more than one participant in your training, only the applicant will sign the agreement with the RQD on behalf of their group.
Important: your training can only begin once the RQD has received the agreement signed by all parties, as well as your financial contribution.
Financial contribution of the participant
- Customized individual training program or training program for a small group of participants: 15% of the cost of the project. Once your project has been completed, the RQD will pay your trainer’s fees upon presentation of their bill and training report.
- Online training with registration fee: 25% of the fees. You are required to pay the registration fee in full and the RQD will reimburse you for 75% of the fee before the start of your training program, upon receipt of the supporting documents.
After completing your Coup de pouce training program, you will receive an appreciation form from the RQD. Please fill it in and return it within the prescribed time period. Your answers provide relevant data that is essential to maintaining the quality of our training.
This program by the Regroupement québécois de la danse is made possible thanks to financial support from the Quebec government, through the Intervention-Compétences program of Compétence Culture.
