Please note: Some of the content on this page was published prior to the launch of Creative Australia and references the Australia Council. Read more.

(re)situate Biennale Delegates Program

A funded opportunity for early career individuals working in visual arts. Engage with the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Yokohama Triennale, and Venice Biennale 2024.

Biennale Delegates Program 2022, MCA.

About the program

The (re)situate Biennale Delegates Program is a professional development opportunity for early career individuals working in the visual arts industry (producers, technicians, writers, curators, artists, project managers) who are based in Australia or Aotearoa (New Zealand). The program will facilitate exchange of ideas, catalyse new perspectives, and support the seeding of future projects and collaborations.

Between February and April 2024, a total of 15 individuals living in either Australia and Aotearoa (New Zealand), will connect with artists, producers and curators from Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art (face-to-face), Yokohama Triennale (online), and the Venice Biennale (face-to-face).

The (re)situate Program forms part of Australia’s participation in the Venice Biennale, extending development and engagement outcomes to the visual arts sector and providing critical exposure to contemporary visual arts practice in an international context. In line with Creative Australia’s International Engagement Strategy 2021-25 the program focusses on Australian practice with a borderless approach to international engagement.


The Biennale Delegates Program is delivered in partnership with Creative New Zealand, Yokohama Triennale and the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art. It is made possible through co-investment from ArtsACT, Create NSW, Arts NT, Arts Queensland, Arts South Australia, Arts Tasmania and Creative Victoria and the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries – Western Australia. Additional access support for successful applicants has been made possible through the generosity of the Cross Family Foundations.

2024 Biennale Delegates Program Participants

Alice Castello

Annika Aitken

Aspen Beattie (Luritja, Warumungu and Yawuru)

Bahar Sayed

Bilquis Ghani

Eloise Breskvar

Emily Jean Robertson (Palawa)

Georgia Hayward (Mardigan)

Israel Randell (Rarotonga and Tainui, Ngāti Kahungunu)

Jasmine Craciun (Barkindji, Malyangapa)

Linda Iriza

Matariki Williams (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Hauiti, Taranaki, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārangi)

Moorina Bonini (Yorta Yorta, Wurundjeri and Wiradjuri)

Peggy Kasabad Lane (Saibai Koedal Awgadhalayg)

Samia Sayed

International Touring and Presentation Fund

$5,000 to $80,000 to support international touring, showcasing and presentation opportunities.

Stephanie Lake Company, Colossus, 2022. Taipei International Festival, Taiwan. Image courtesy of the artist

Please note: this program excludes applications for contemporary music, which we define as, “any genre or subgenre of music currently composed, written, produced by Australians and licensed, recorded, presented, and distributed through commercial and non-commercial activity. The focus will be on musical works that are new, original and relevant to contemporary Australia.”

Please apply for the Music Australia Export Development Funds:

  1. Performance and Touring Activity
  2. Professional and Artistic Development
  3. Market and Audience Development

This program also excludes applications from literature publishers, literary agents, rights managers, authors and illustrators. Please apply to our literature grants instead:

  1. International Rights Fund for Literature
  2. International Travel Fund for Authors and Illustrators
  3. Translation Fund for Literature

 

About the program

The International Touring and Presentation Fund supports international touring, showcasing and presentation opportunities for Australian artists and creative workers.

Tours, showcases and presentations can take place in-person, online, or in a combination of in-person and online (hybrid).

International organisations that are presenting Australian artists or creative workers are eligible to apply.

Applicants can propose a single event, presentation or showcase or a program of activity in multiple locations.

The activities you are applying for through this fund must be fully confirmed.

Only one application can be made to this category per closing date.

Funding amounts are available between $5,000 to $80,000.

Applications must meet at least one of Creative Australia’sInternational Engagement Strategy 2021–2025 priorities:

  • rethink and expand the concept of mobility through testing dynamic engagement models that include digital, hybrid and in-person connection
  • leverage technologies and digital platforms for creation, distribution, networking, and increasing discoverability of Australian work
  • activate borderless thinking to build reciprocal and multilateral partnerships across regions and industries, and leverage co-investment
  • strengthen First Nations exchange that is First Nations-led and self-determined
  • amplify Asia Pacific engagement, and the perspectives of the Asia Pacific diaspora in Australia
  • diversify income and revenue streams to foster sustainable careers and business models by increasing access to markets, information and networks and showcase Australian work to global audiences and influencers
  • foster creative risk-taking, experimentation and innovation in creation, distribution, connection and profile-building
  • centre equity and access and reflect Australia’s diversity
  • embed sustainability through research and investment in best-practice models and frameworks to minimise the sector’s carbon footprint.

Supported activities must last no longer than two years from the proposed start date.

Please read through the grant guidelines below.

If you need advice about applying, contact an Artists Services Officer at enquiries@creative.gov.au

Community arts and cultural development, dance, emerging and experimental arts, First Nations arts and culture, literature, multi-artform, visual arts, theatre, and music.

This excludes contemporary music, defined by the Music Australia Council as:

“Any genre or subgenre of music currently composed, written, produced by Australians and licensed, recorded, presented, and distributed through commercial and non-commercial activity. For the purposes of Music Australia’s initial investments, the focus will be on musical works that are new, original and relevant to contemporary Australia.”

Music Australia has established an Export Music Development Fund for those artists working in contemporary music. Details to those three funding categories can be found here.

  • Eligible applicants include Australian artists, and creative workers who do not work in contemporary music (as defined above).
  • You can only submit one application to each closing date for the International Touring and Presentation Fund.
  • You must have confirmation letters from your international partner(s) for the applicable touring and presentation.
  • Individuals, groups and organisations (including small businesses) may apply to this category.
  • International organisations can apply for projects that benefit practicing Australian artists or creative workers, their work or Australian audiences.

You can’t apply for a grant if:

  • you have already applied to this closing date under this grant category
  • you have already applied to this closing date for the International Travel Fund, or the International Engagement Fund for the same activity
  • you have already applied to the 5 March 2024 closing date for the Arts Projects grant categories for the same activity
  • you have an overdue grant report to Creative Australia
  • you owe money to Creative Australia
  • you receive, or are working with an organisation that receives, a combined total of more than $520,000 annually (per calendar year) through the National Performing Arts Partnership Framework, the Four Year Investment for Organisations, and/or the Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy funding from 2021 to 2024
  • you work in contemporary music (as defined above). You must apply to the Export Development Fund from Music Australia
  • you are an Australian literary agent, rights manager or publisher seeking support to attend international market platforms such as book fairs. You must apply to the International Rights Fund for Literature
  • you are an Australian author and/or illustrator seeking support to attend events and activities associated with publication and promotion of your work in international markets. You must apply to the International Travel Fund for Authors and Illustrators
  • you are an international publisher seeking support to translate Australian works by living authors of creative writing, or an Australian publisher seeking support to translate non-English works into English by Australian translators. You must apply to the Translation Fund for Literature.

You may apply for costs associated with confirmed international tours, showcases or presentation.

Activities may take place in-person, online, or a combination of in-person and online (hybrid activities).

Eligible costs include but are not limited to:

  • artist and creative worker fees for showcasing opportunities, remount or pre-production costs, for tours or presentations. Examples of industry benchmarks from the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) can be found on their website
  • flights, accommodation, per diems, ground transport costs
  • travel insurance
  • visas
  • freight or baggage costs
  • production expenses, including for remounting existing works
  • project management costs
  • childcare, carer and access costs
  • costs associated with reducing the environmental impact of your activity.

Access costs are legitimate expenses and may be included in your application. We encourage applicants to ensure that their work is accessible to everyone. Budgets may include costs associated with making activities accessible to a wide range of people (e.g. performances using Auslan, translation to other languages, captioning, audio description, temporary building adjustments, and materials in other formats).

If you are a d/Deaf applicant, an applicant with disability, or are working with d/Deaf artists or artists with disability, you may apply for access costs associated with the use of an interpreter, translation services, specific technical equipment, carer or support worker assistance. Please contact Artists Services to discuss your specific needs.

You can’t apply for:

  • unconfirmed international tours, showcases or presentations
  • costs that duplicate from the same activity across other current applications to Creative Australia
  • touring or presentation activities where there is no reasonable contribution to fees for artists or creative workers from the presenting partner/s
  • contemporary music touring and presentation (apply to the Export Development Fund from Music Australia instead)
  • activities that are not international tours, showcases or presentations (apply to the International Engagement Fund instead)
  • outbound international market development activities (apply to the International Travel Fund instead)
  • international tours, presentations or showcases that do not involve or benefit Australian practicing artists or creative workers
  • international tours, presentations or showcases that do not have a clearly-defined arts component
  • international tours, presentations or showcases that have already taken place
  • activities engaging with First Nations content, artists and communities that do not adhere to the Creative Australia First Nations Cultural & Intellectual Property Protocols 
  • you are an Australian literary agent, rights manager or publisher seeking support to attend international market platforms such as book fairs. You must apply to the International Rights Fund for Literature
  • you are an Australian author and/or illustrator seeking support to attend events and activities associated with publication and promotion of your work in international markets. You must apply to the International Travel Fund for Authors and Illustrators
  • support to translate Australian works by living authors of creative writing, or an Australian publisher seeking support to translate non-English works into English by Australian translators. You must apply to the Translation Fund for Literature.

Your application must comply with the following Protocols. We may contact you to request further information during the assessment process, or if successful, as a condition of your funding.

Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts

All applications involving First Nations artists, communities or subject matter must adhere to these Protocols, provide evidence of this in their application and support material. More information on the First Nations Protocols is available here.

Commonwealth Child Safe Framework

All successful applicants are required to comply with all Australian law relating to employing or engaging people who work or volunteer with children, including working with children checks and mandatory reporting. Successful organisations who provide services directly to children, or whose funded activities involve contact with children, will additionally be required to implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.

Industry advisers will assess your application against the published assessment criteria. Creative Australia staff will moderate the assessment.

You must respond to all three selection criteria: viability, impact and strategic focus.

Listed under each criterion are points the assessors may consider when reviewing your application.

Assessors will consider whether your activity is feasible. Some ways to consider viability are listed below. You do not need to respond to every bullet point.

  • The relevance and timeliness of the proposed project.
  • The skills and abilities of those involved, and their relevance to the project.
  • Realistic and achievable planning and resource use, including contingency plans.
  • Well-researched and rationalised activity, particularly if this is your first engagement with an international market.
  • Extent of sustainable practices, multiple engagements and/or slow touring or concept touring, where the idea, process, or work travels but the artist does not.
  • Appropriate payments to participating artists, creative professionals, collaborators, participants, or cultural consultants.
  • Measures being applied to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people involved in the project.
  • Measures being applied to ensure the proposed activity is accessible.
  • Where relevant to the project, evidence that the protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts have been adhered to, or the relevant cultural protocols for the international jurisdiction in which you are working.
  • Evidence of appropriate consultation with participants, audiences or communities.
  • The role of partners or collaborators, including confirmation of any income and co-funding, including earned income, grants, sponsorship and in-kind contributions.

Assessors will consider the impact of your activity. Some ways to consider impact are listed below. You do not need to respond to every bullet point.

  • The extent to which this activity develops an international market or relationship for, or enhances international networks, audiences, and profile.
  • The contribution of the activity towards re-imagining the future for international engagement in the cultural and creative industries.
  • The extent to which the activity contributes to a sector that is accessible, inclusive and equitable.

Assessors will consider how your activity meets one or more of the strategic priorities identified in our International Engagement Strategy 2021–2025.

You must respond to one or more of the bullet points listed below.

  • Rethink and expand the concept of mobility through testing dynamic engagement models that include digital, hybrid and in-person connection.
  • Leverage technologies and digital platforms for creation, distribution, networking, and increase discoverability of Australian work.
  • Activate borderless thinking to build reciprocal and multilateral partnerships across regions and industries, and leverage co-investment.
  • Strengthen First Nations exchange that is First Nations-led and self-determined.
  • Amplify Asia Pacific engagement, and the perspectives of the Asia Pacific diaspora in Australia.
  • Diversify income and revenue streams to foster sustainable careers and business models by increasing access to markets, information and networks and showcase Australian work to global audiences and influencers.
  • Foster risk-taking, experimentation and innovation in creation, distribution, connection and profile-building.
  • Centre equity and access and reflect Australia’s diversity.
  • Embed sustainability through research and investment in best-practice models and frameworks to minimise the sector’s carbon footprint.

The types of questions we ask in the application form include:

  • a title for your project
  • a summary of your project
  • a brief description of the artist/s or creative worker/s applying
  • an outline of your project and what you want to do
  • a timetable or itinerary for your project
  • a description of the outcome your project delivers
  • a projected budget which details the expenses, income, and in-kind support of the project
  • supporting material as relevant to your project, including examples of your work, bios of additional artists, letters of confirmation from presenting partners, and letters of support or permission from participants, communities, First Nations organisation, and Elders.

You should submit support material with your application. The peer assessors may review this support material to help them gain a better sense of your project.

We do not accept application-related support material submitted via post. Application-related material received by post will not be assessed and will be returned to the sender. If you think you will have difficulty submitting your support material online, or need advice on what type of material to submit, please contact Artists Services.

1. Letters of confirmation

You must provide letters of confirmation from all presenting partners, such as festivals and venues. Each letter must include confirmation of:

  • any invitations, partner fees or contributions to the activity, whether cash or in-kind
  • If relevant to your activity, letters of confirmation must provide evidence of appropriate permissions and support from First Nations organisations, communities, and Elders. Please refer to the First Nations Protocols for more information.

Please provide a single link to all letters or scan the letters into one PDF file.

You may also submit the following as support material:

2. Artistic support material

This should include relevant, recent examples of your artistic or cultural work.

Types of support material we accept

Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks).

You can provide up to three URLs (weblinks) that link to content that is relevant to your proposal. This may include video, audio, images, or written material.

These URLs can include a total of:

  • 10 minutes of video and/or audio recording
  • 10 images
  • 10 pages of written material (for example, excerpts of literary writing).

Please note: Our industry advisors will not access any URLs that require them to log in or sign up to a platform. Please do not provide links to Spotify or other applications that require users to log in or pay for access.

If you are linking to media files that are private or password protected like Vimeo, please provide the password in the password field on the application form.

Other accepted file formats

If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material to your application in the following formats:

  • video (MP4, QuickTime, and Windows Media)
  • audio (MP3 and Windows Media)
  • images (JPEG and PowerPoint)
  • written material (Word and PDF).

3. Biographies and CVs

You can include a brief bio or curriculum vitae (CV) for key artists, personnel or other collaborators involved in your project.

Brief bios or CV information should be presented as a single document no longer than two A4 pages in total.


More International programs

International Travel Fund

$5,000 to $20,000 to support travel costs associated with attending key market development and cultural exchange platforms and gatherings.

Asia Topa 2020 Showcase The Seen & Unseen by Kamila Andini, Ida Ayu Wayan, Arya Satyani, Adena Jacobs, Eugyeene Teh, Jenny Hector. Image: Ifa Isfansyah

Please note: this program excludes applications for contemporary music, which we define as, “any genre or subgenre of music currently composed, written, produced by Australians and licensed, recorded, presented, and distributed through commercial and non-commercial activity. The focus will be on musical works that are new, original and relevant to contemporary Australia.”

Please apply for the Music Australia Export Development Funds:

  1. Performance and Touring Activity
  2. Professional and Artistic Development
  3. Market and Audience Development

This program also excludes applications from literature publishers, literary agents, rights managers, authors and illustrators, seeking support to attend international market platforms and events/activities associated with publication and promotion of your work in international markets. Please apply to our literature grants instead:

  1. International Rights Fund for Literature
  2. International Travel Fund for Authors and Illustrators

 

 

About the program

The International Travel Fund supports international travel costs associated with Australian artists and creative workers attending market development and cultural exchange platforms or key gatherings overseas. Some examples are below:

  • North America: CINARS, International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) Congress, International Market of Contemporary Circus (MICC), TYA/USA National Festival & Conference, Western Arts Alliance (WAA) Annual Conference, Frieze LA;
  • North Asia: Asia Discovers Asia Meeting (ADAM), Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo (HKPAX), China Shanghai Performing Arts Fair (SPAF), Yokohama Performing Arts Meeting (YPAM), Art Basel Hong Kong;
  • South and Southeast Asia: Art Jogja, Bangkok International Performing Arts Meeting (BIPAM), Serendipity Arts Festival, Indonesian Dance Festival (IDF), Singapore Arts Festival;
  • Europe and the UK: Ars Electronica, London Design Week, WOMEX*, ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering in Marseille; IETM events;
  • The Pacific: Performing Arts Network of New Zealand (PANNZ) Arts Market;
  • Global: ASSITEJ gatherings.

Creative Australia has separate callouts open for delegates who would like to attend the Performing Arts Market Seoul (PAMS) 2024 and Tanzmesse 2024. We will run a callout for the New York Publishers Program later in 2024.

*Eligible applicants include Australian artists, and creative workers who do not work in contemporary music (as defined below). Music Australia has established an Export Music Development Fund for those artists working in contemporary music. Details to those three funding categories can be found here.

Applicants can propose attendance at a single market development or cultural exchange platform or key gathering, or a program of events across multiple locations. Applicants are strongly encouraged to demonstrate reasons for why travel is required.

Only one application can be made to this category per closing date.

Funding amounts are available between $5,000 to $20,000, and multiple travellers may be included within the same application.

Applications must meet at least one of Creative Australia’s International Engagement Strategy 2021–2025 priorities:

  • rethink and expand the concept of mobility through testing dynamic engagement models that include digital, hybrid and in-person connection
  • leverage technologies and digital platforms for creation, distribution, networking, and increasing discoverability of Australian work
  • activate borderless thinking to build reciprocal and multilateral partnerships across regions and industries, and leverage co-investment
  • strengthen First Nations exchange that is First Nations-led and self-determined
  • amplify Asia Pacific engagement, and the perspectives of the Asia Pacific diaspora in Australia
  • diversify income and revenue streams to foster sustainable careers and business models by increasing access to markets, information and networks and showcase Australian work to global audiences and influencers
  • foster creative risk-taking, experimentation and innovation in creation, distribution, connection and profile-building
  • centre equity and access and reflect Australia’s diversity
  • embed sustainability through research and investment in best-practice models and frameworks to minimise the sector’s carbon footprint.

Supported activities must last no longer than two years from the proposed start date.

Please read through the following grant guidelines.

If you need advice about applying, contact an Artists Services Officer at enquiries@creative.gov.au

Community arts and cultural development, dance, emerging and experimental arts, First Nations arts and culture, literature, multi-artform, visual arts, theatre, and music.

This excludes contemporary music, defined by the Music Australia Council as:

“Any genre or subgenre of music currently composed, written, produced by Australians and licensed, recorded, presented, and distributed through commercial and non-commercial activity. For the purposes of Music Australia’s initial investments, the focus will be on musical works that are new, original and relevant to contemporary Australia.”

Music Australia has established an Export Music Development Fund for those artists working in contemporary music. Details to those three funding categories can be found here.

  • Eligible applicants include Australian artists, and creative workers who do not work in contemporary music (as defined above).
  • You can only submit one application to each closing date for the International Travel Fund.
  • Individuals, groups and organisations (including small businesses) may apply to this category.

You can’t apply for a grant if:

  • you have already applied to this closing date under this grant category
  • you have already applied to this closing date for the International Touring and Presentation Fund, or the International Engagement Fund for the same activity
  • you have already applied to the 5 March 2024 closing date for the Arts Projects grant categories for the same activity
  • you have an overdue grant report to Creative Australia
  • you owe money to Creative Australia
  • you receive, or are working with an organisation that receives, a combined total of more than $520,000 annually (per calendar year) through the National Performing Arts Partnership Framework, the Four Year Investment for Organisations, and/or the Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy funding from 2021 to 2024
  • you are not an Australian artist or creative worker
  • you work in contemporary music. You must apply to the Export Development Fund from Music Australia
  • you are an Australian literary agent, rights manager or publisher seeking support to attend international market platforms such as book fairs. You must apply to the International Rights Fund for Literature
  • you are an Australian author and/or illustrator seeking support to attend events and activities associated with publication and promotion of your work in international markets. You must apply to the International Travel Fund for Authors and Illustrators

You may apply for any and all costs associated with travel and attendance at confirmed international market development and cultural exchange platforms or key gatherings.

Eligible costs include but are not limited to:

  • artist and creative worker fees. You may refer to industry benchmarks set by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), etc
  • flights, accommodation, per diems, ground transport costs
  • travel insurance
  • visas
  • freight or baggage costs
  • production expenses, including for remounting existing works
  • marketing, promotion and project management costs
  • childcare, carer and access costs
  • tickets and/or registration costs to attend events
  • costs associated with reducing the environmental impact of your activity.

Access costs are legitimate expenses and may be included in your application. We encourage applicants to ensure that their work is accessible to everyone. Budgets may include costs associated with making activities accessible to a wide range of people (e.g. performances using Auslan, translation to other languages, captioning, audio description, temporary building adjustments, and materials in other formats).

If you are a d/Deaf applicant, an applicant with disability, or are working with d/Deaf artists or artists with disability, you may apply for access costs associated with the use of an interpreter, translation services, specific technical equipment, carer or support worker assistance. Please contact Artists Services to discuss your specific needs.

You can’t apply for:

  • travel costs that duplicate from the same activity across other current applications to Creative Australia
  • travel costs for international tours, showcases or presentations (apply to the International Touring and Presentation Fund instead)
  • travel costs to participate in international exchange activities such as residencies, labs, and peer exchange models (apply to the International Engagement Fund instead)
  • travel costs for international market development activities within Australia.
  • travel costs to Tanzmesse 2024 and Performing Arts Market in Seoul (PAMS) 2024 (apply to the separate callouts above)
  • travel that does not involve or benefit Australian practicing artists or creative workers travel to events or activities that do not have a clearly-defined arts component
  • travel for events and activities that have already taken place
  • activities engaging with First Nations content, artists and communities that do not adhere to the Australia Council First Nations Cultural & Intellectual Property Protocols.
  • travel costs to attend international book fairs. You must apply to the International Rights Fund for Literature
  • travel to attend contemporary music activities. You must apply to the Export Development Fund from Music Australia
  • travel costs to attend events and activities associated with publication and promotion of literary works in international markets. You must apply to the International Travel Fund for Authors and Illustrators.

Your application must comply with the following Protocols. We may contact you to request further information during the assessment process, or if successful, as a condition of your funding.

Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts

All applications involving First Nations artists, communities or subject matter must adhere to these Protocols, provide evidence of this in their application and support material. More information on the First Nations Protocols is available here.

Commonwealth Child Safe Framework

All successful applicants are required to comply with all Australian law relating to employing or engaging people who work or volunteer with children, including working with children checks and mandatory reporting. Successful organisations who provide services directly to children, or whose funded activities involve contact with children, will additionally be required to implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.

Industry advisors will assess your application against the published assessment criteria. Creative Australia will moderate the assessment.

You must respond to all three selection criteria: viability, impact and strategic focus.

Listed under each criterion are points the assessors may consider when reviewing your application.

Assessors will consider whether your activity is feasible. Some ways to consider viability are listed below. You do not need to respond to every bullet point.

  • The relevance and timeliness of the proposed project.
  • The rationale for the travel and who you will be meeting.
  • The skills and abilities of those involved, and their relevance to the project.
  • Realistic and achievable planning and resource use, including contingency plans.
  • Well-researched and rationalised activity, particularly if this is your first engagement with an international market.
  • Extent of sustainable practices, multiple engagements and/or slow touring or concept touring, where the idea, process, or work travels but the artist does not.
  • Appropriate payments to participating artists, creative professionals, collaborators, participants, or cultural consultants.
  • Measures being applied to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people involved in the project.
  • Measures being applied to ensure the proposed activity is accessible.
  • Where relevant to the project, evidence that the protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts have been adhered to, or the relevant cultural protocols for the international jurisdiction in which you are working.
  • Evidence of appropriate consultation with participants, audiences or communities.
  • The role of partners or collaborators, including confirmation of any income and co-funding, including earned income, grants, sponsorship and in-kind contributions.

Assessors will consider the impact of your activity. Some ways to consider impact are listed below. You do not need to respond to every bullet point.

  • The extent to which this activity develops an international market or relationship for, or enhances international networks, audiences, and profile.
  • The contribution of the activity towards re-imagining the future for international engagement in the cultural and creative industries.
  • The extent to which the activity contributes to a sector that is accessible, inclusive and equitable.

Assessors will consider how your activity meets one or more of the strategic priorities identified in Creative Australia’s International Engagement Strategy 2021–2025.

You must respond to one or more of the bullet points listed below.

  • Rethink and expand the concept of mobility through testing dynamic engagement models that include digital, hybrid and in-person connection.
  • Leverage technologies and digital platforms for creation, distribution, networking, and increase discoverability of Australian work.
  • Activate borderless thinking to build reciprocal and multilateral partnerships across regions and industries, and leverage co-investment.
  • Strengthen First Nations exchange that is First Nations-led and self-determined.
  • Amplify Asia Pacific engagement, and the perspectives of the Asia Pacific diaspora in Australia.
  • Diversify income and revenue streams to foster sustainable careers and business models by increasing access to markets, information and networks and showcase Australian work to global audiences and influencers.
  • Foster risk-taking, experimentation and innovation in creation, distribution, connection and profile-building.
  • Centre equity and access and reflect Australia’s diversity.
  • Embed sustainability through research and investment in best-practice models and frameworks to minimise the sector’s carbon footprint.

The types of questions we ask in the application form include:

  • a title for your project
  • a summary of your project
  • a brief description of the artist/s or creative worker/s applying
  • an outline of your project and what you want to do, and why you need to travel
  • a timetable or itinerary for your project
  • a description of the outcome your project delivers
  • a projected budget which details the expenses, income, and in-kind support of the project
  • supporting material as relevant to your project, including examples of your work, bios of additional artists, and letters of support or permission from participants, communities, First Nations organisation, and Elders.

You should submit support material with your application. The industry advisors may review this support material to help them gain a better sense of your project.

We do not accept application-related support material submitted via post. Application-related material received by post will not be assessed and will be returned to the sender. If you think you will have difficulty submitting your support material online, or need advice on what type of material to submit, please contact Artists Services.

There are three types of support material you may submit:

1. Artistic support material

This should include relevant, recent examples of your artistic or cultural work.

Types of support material we accept

Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks).

You can provide up to three URLs (weblinks) that link to content that is relevant to your proposal. This may include video, audio, images, or written material.

These URLs can include a total of:

  • 10 minutes of video and/or audio recording
  • 10 images
  • 10 pages of written material (for example, excerpts of literary writing).

Please note: Our industry advisors will not access any URLs that require them to log in or sign up to a platform. Please do not provide links to Spotify or other applications that require users to log in or pay for access.

If you are linking to media files that are private or password protected like Vimeo, please provide the password in the password field on the application form.

Other accepted file formats

If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material to your application in the following formats:

  • video (MP4, QuickTime, and Windows Media)
  • audio (MP3 and Windows Media)
  • images (JPEG and PowerPoint)
  • written material (Word and PDF).

2. Biographies and CVs

You can include a brief bio or curriculum vitae (CV) for key artists, personnel or other collaborators involved in your project.

Brief bios or CV information should be presented as a single document no longer than two A4 pages in total.

3. Letters of support

Individuals, groups, or organisations can write letters in support of your project. A support letter should explain how the project or activity will benefit you, other artists or arts professionals, participants, or the broader community. It can also detail the support or involvement of key project partners, or evidence of consultation.

If relevant to your activity, letters of support must provide evidence of appropriate permissions and support from First Nations organisations, communities, and Elders. Please refer to the First Nations Protocols for more information.

You can include up to five letters of support, with each letter not exceeding one A4 page.

Please provide a single link to all letters or scan the letters into one PDF file.


More International programs

International Engagement Fund

$5,000 to $30,000 for creative collaboration and development, cultural exchange and reciprocal activities.

Rainbow Chan, The Bridal Lament, 2022, Image courtesy of the artist.

Please note: this program excludes applications for contemporary music, which we define as, “any genre or subgenre of music currently composed, written, produced by Australians and licensed, recorded, presented, and distributed through commercial and non-commercial activity. The focus will be on musical works that are new, original and relevant to contemporary Australia.”

Please apply for the Music Australia Export Development Funds:

  1. Performance and Touring Activity
  2. Professional and Artistic Development
  3. Market and Audience Development

This program also excludes applications from literature publishers, literary agents, rights managers, authors and illustrators. Please apply to our literature grants instead:

  1. International Rights Fund for Literature
  2. International Travel Fund for Authors and Illustrators
  3. Translation Fund for Literature

 

About the program

The International Engagement Fund supports Australian artists and creative workers to undertake reciprocal exchange projects with confirmed international partners. This includes creative collaboration and development; cultural exchange and knowledge sharing; labs and practice-exchange models.

Activities can take place in-person, online, or in a combination of in-person and online (hybrid).

International organisations working with Australian artists or creative workers are eligible to apply.

Only one application can be made to this category per closing date.

Funding amounts are available between $5,000 to $30,000.

Applications must meet at least one of Creative Australia’s International Engagement Strategy 2021–2025 priorities:

  • rethink and expand the concept of mobility through testing dynamic engagement models that include digital, hybrid and in-person connection
  • leverage technologies and digital platforms for creation, distribution, networking, and increasing discoverability of Australian work
  • activate borderless thinking to build reciprocal and multilateral partnerships across regions and industries, and leverage co-investment
  • strengthen First Nations exchange that is First Nations-led and self-determined
  • amplify Asia Pacific engagement, and the perspectives of the Asia Pacific diaspora in Australia
  • diversify income and revenue streams to foster sustainable careers and business models by increasing access to markets, information and networks and showcase Australian work to global audiences and influencers
  • foster creative risk-taking, experimentation and innovation in creation, distribution, connection and profile-building
  • centre equity and access and reflect Australia’s diversity
  • embed sustainability through research and investment in best-practice models and frameworks to minimise the sector’s carbon footprint.

Supported activities must last no longer than two years from the proposed start date.

Please read through the following grant guidelines.

If you need advice about applying, contact an Artists Services Officer.

Community arts and cultural development, dance, emerging and experimental arts, First Nations arts and culture, literature, multi-artform, visual arts, theatre, and music.

This excludes contemporary music, defined by the Music Australia Council as:

“Any genre or subgenre of music currently composed, written, produced by Australians and licensed, recorded, presented, and distributed through commercial and non-commercial activity. For the purposes of Music Australia’s initial investments, the focus will be on musical works that are new, original and relevant to contemporary Australia.”

Music Australia has established an Export Music Development Fund for those artists working in contemporary music. Details to those three funding categories can be found here.

  • Eligible applicants include Australian artists, and creative workers who do not work in contemporary music (as defined above).
  • You can only submit one application to each closing date for the International Engagement Fund.
  • Individuals, groups and organisations (including small businesses) may apply to this category.
  • International organisations can apply for projects that benefit practicing Australian artists or creative workers, their work or Australian audiences.

You can’t apply for a grant if:

  • you have already applied to this closing date for the International Engagement Fund
  • you have already applied to this closing date for the International Touring and Presentation Fund, or the International Travel Fund for the same activity
  • you have already applied to the 5 March 2024 closing date for the Arts Projects grant categories for the same activity
  • you have an overdue grant report
  • you owe money to Creative Australia
  • you receive, or are working with an organisation that receives, a combined total of more than $520,000 annually (per calendar year) through the National Performing Arts Partnership Framework, the Four Year Investment for Organisations, and/or the Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy funding from 2021 to 2024
  • you work in contemporary music (as defined above). You must apply to the Export Development Fund from Music Australia.
  • you are an Australian literary agent, rights manager or publisher seeking support to attend international market platforms such as book fairs. You must apply to the International Rights Fund for Literature
  • you are an Australian author and/or illustrator seeking support to attend events and activities associated with publication and promotion of your work in international markets. You must apply to the International Travel Fund for Authors and Illustrators.
  • you are an international publisher seeking support to translate Australian works by living authors of creative writing, or an Australian publisher seeking support to translate non-English works into English by Australian translators. You must apply to the Translation Fund for Literature.

You may apply for costs associated with creative collaboration and development; cultural exchange and knowledge sharing; research, experimentation, scoping and prototyping activities; and reciprocal relationship-building activities such as residency exchanges, labs and peer exchange models.

Activities may take place in-person, online, or a combination of in-person and online (hybrid activities).

Eligible costs include but are not limited to:

  • artist and creative worker fees. You may refer to industry benchmarks set by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), and the Australian Society of Authors (ASA), etc
  • flights, accommodation, per diems, ground transport costs
  • travel insurance
  • visas
  • freight or baggage costs
  • production expenses
  • marketing, promotion and project management costs
  • childcare, carer and access costs
  • costs associated with reducing the environmental impact of your activity.

Access costs are legitimate expenses and may be included in your application. We encourage applicants to ensure that their work is accessible to everyone. Budgets may include costs associated with making activities accessible to a wide range of people (e.g. performances using Auslan, translation to other languages, captioning, audio description, temporary building adjustments, and materials in other formats).

If you are a d/Deaf applicant, an applicant with disability, or are working with d/Deaf artists or artists with disability, you may apply for access costs associated with the use of an interpreter, translation services, specific technical equipment, carer or support worker assistance. Please contact Artists Services to discuss your specific needs.

You can’t apply for:

  • costs that duplicate from the same activity across other current applications to Creative Australia
  • international presentations or tours (apply to the International Touring & Presentation Fund instead)
  • outbound international market development activities (apply to the International Travel Fund instead, or specific market delegation callouts Tanzmesse 2024 and Performing Arts Market in Seoul 2024)
  • international activities that do not involve or benefit Australian practicing artists or creative workers
  • international activities without international partners
  • international activities that do not have a clearly-defined arts component
  • international activities that have already taken place
  • activities engaging with First Nations content, artists and communities that do not adhere to Creative Australia First Nations Cultural & Intellectual Property Protocols
  • travel to attend contemporary music activities. You must apply to the Export Development Fund from Music Australia
  • travel costs to attend international book fairs. You must apply to the International Rights Fund for Literature
  • travel costs to attend events and activities associated with publication and promotion of literary works in international markets. You must apply to the International Travel Fund for Authors and Illustrators
  • support to translate Australian works by living authors of creative writing, or an Australian publisher seeking support to translate non-English works into English by Australian translators. You must apply to the Translation Fund for Literature.

Your application must comply with the following Protocols. We may contact you to request further information during the assessment process, or if successful, as a condition of your funding.

Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts

All applications involving First Nations artists, communities or subject matter must adhere to these Protocols, provide evidence of this in their application and support material. More information on the First Nations Protocols is available here.

Commonwealth Child Safe Framework

All successful applicants are required to comply with all Australian law relating to employing or engaging people who work or volunteer with children, including working with children checks and mandatory reporting. Successful organisations who provide services directly to children, or whose funded activities involve contact with children, will additionally be required to implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.

Industry Advisors will assess your application against the published assessment criteria. Creative Australia staff will moderate the assessment.

You must respond to all three selection criteria: viability, impact and strategic focus.

Listed under each criterion are points the assessors may consider when reviewing your application.

Assessors will consider whether your activity is feasible. Some ways to consider viability are listed below. You do not need to respond to every bullet point.

  • The relevance and timeliness of the proposed project.
  • The skills and abilities of those involved, and their relevance to the project.
  • Realistic and achievable planning and resource use, including contingency plans.   
  • Evidence of other sources of income or co-funding, such as earned income, grants, sponsorship and/or in-kind contributions.
  • Well-researched and rationalised activity, particularly if this is your first engagement with an international market.
  • Extent of sustainable practices, multiple engagements and/or slow touring or concept touring, where the idea, process, or work travels but the artist does not.  
  • Appropriate payments to participating artists, creative professionals, collaborators, participants, or cultural consultants.   
  • Measures being applied to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people involved in the project.   
  • Measures being applied to ensure the proposed activity is accessible.   
  • Where relevant to the project, evidence that the protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts have been adhered to, or the relevant cultural protocols for the international jurisdiction in which you are working.   
  • Evidence of appropriate consultation with participants, audiences or communities.   
  • Confirmation of the role of partners or collaborators, including any income and co-funding, such as earned income, grants, sponsorship and in-kind contributions.    

Assessors will consider the impact of your activity. Some ways to consider impact are listed below. You do not need to respond to every bullet point.

  • The extent to which this activity develops an international market or relationship for, or enhances international networks, audiences, and profile.
  • The contribution of the activity towards re-imagining the future for international engagement in the cultural and creative industries.
  • The extent to which the activity contributes to a sector that is accessible, inclusive and equitable.

Assessors will consider how your activity meets one or more of the strategic priorities identified in our International Engagement Strategy 2021–2025.

You must respond to one or more of the bullet points listed below.

  • Rethink and expand the concept of mobility through testing dynamic engagement models that include digital, hybrid and in-person connection.
  • Leverage technologies and digital platforms for creation, distribution, networking, and increase discoverability of Australian work.
  • Activate borderless thinking to build reciprocal and multilateral partnerships across regions and industries, and leverage co-investment.
  • Strengthen First Nations exchange that is First Nations-led and self-determined.
  • Amplify Asia Pacific engagement, and the perspectives of the Asia Pacific diaspora in Australia.
  • Diversify income and revenue streams to foster sustainable careers and business models by increasing access to markets, information and networks and showcase Australian work to global audiences and influencers.
  • Foster risk-taking, experimentation and innovation in creation, distribution, connection and profile-building.
  • Centre equity and access and reflect Australia’s diversity.
  • Embed sustainability through research and investment in best-practice models and frameworks to minimise the sector’s carbon footprint.

The types of questions we ask in the application form include:

  • a title for your project
  • a summary of your project
  • a brief description of the organisation applying
  • an outline of your project and what you want to do
  • a timetable or itinerary for your project
  • a description of the outcome your project delivers
  • a projected budget which details the expenses, income, and in-kind support of the project
  • supporting material as relevant to your project, including examples of your work, bios of additional artists, and letters of support or permission from participants, communities, First Nations organisation, and Elders.

You should submit support material with your application. The Industry Advisors may review this support material to help them gain a better sense of your project.

We do not accept application-related support material submitted via post. Application-related material received by post will not be assessed and will be returned to the sender. If you think you will have difficulty submitting your support material online, or need advice on what type of material to submit, please contact Artists Services.

There are three types of support material you may submit:

1. Artistic support material

This should include relevant, recent examples of your artistic or cultural work, or the services you provide.

Types of support material we accept

Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks).

You can provide up to three URLs (weblinks) that link to content that is relevant to your proposal. This may include video, audio, images, or written material.

These URLs can include a total of:

  • 10 minutes of video and/or audio recording
  • 10 images
  • 10 pages of written material (for example, excerpts of literary writing).

Please note: Our industry advisors will not access any URLs that require them to log in or sign up to a platform. Please do not provide links to Spotify or other applications that require users to log in or pay for access.

If you are linking to media files that are private or password protected like Vimeo, please provide the password in the password field on the application form.

Other accepted file formats

If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material to your application in the following formats:

  • video (MP4, QuickTime, and Windows Media)
  • audio (MP3 and Windows Media)
  • images (JPEG and PowerPoint)
  • written material (Word and PDF).

2. Biographies and CVs

You can include a brief bio or curriculum vitae (CV) for key artists, personnel or other collaborators involved in your project.

Brief bios or CV information should be presented as a single document no longer than two A4 pages in total.

3. Letters of support

Individuals, groups or organisations can write letters in support of your project. A support letter should explain how the project or activity will benefit you, other artists or arts professionals, participants or the broader community. It can also detail the support or involvement of key project partners, or evidence of consultation.

If relevant to your activity, letters of support must provide evidence of appropriate permissions and support from First Nations organisations, communities, and Elders. Please refer to the First Nations Protocols for more information.

You can include up to five letters of support, with each letter not exceeding one A4 page.

Please provide a single link to all letters or scan the letters into one PDF file. 

More International programs

Createch: Digital Enterprise Program

We’re funding expert coaching in digital disruption for creative enterprises and cultural organisations, in partnership with industry leaders REMIX.

Image by Tim Cheeseman

About the program

We are collaborating with REMIX Summits to fund 20 hours of consultancy support for a cohort of creative enterprises and cultural organisations. The program will help scale an innovation project or creative business. The project must be fully-digital or hybrid.

We are seeking creative businesses and organisations with an existing track record who would benefit from consulting and support from experienced creative entrepreneurs and industry specialists.

The goal of this program is to provide access to REMIX’s consulting to give you the highest likelihood of success. Outcomes will be tailored to your needs, but may include:

  • introductions to potential investors
  • introductions to potential partners and collaborators who can help your idea grow more quickly
  • expert advice and strategic reviews to identify challenges and opportunities
  • planning for investment
  • planning your technical or product roadmap
  • global trend analysis and insights to assist your project development
  • coaching and strategic advice around the development of your project presentation

In addition to 20-hours of bespoke consulting, participants will become part of a unique peer community made up of Australia’s leading creative innovators. You will also attend REMIX Summit Perth on 14-15 September 2023 to network and exchange with peers.

You will receive digital REMIX resources, and your innovation project will be promoted globally in the special REMIX Digital Showcase, where you will be invited to give a 10-15 minute presentation introducing your work. The showcase will be cross-promoted by REMIX to help grow the audience for your innovation project.

REMIX has worked with some of the world’s greatest cultural institutions, technologists, funding bodies and creative businesses to apply its global market intelligence. It helps clients respond to disruptive new trends – redefining services, rethinking business models and creative experiences to find innovative ways to unlock additional revenue streams and engage new audiences. Clients have included Tate, the National Gallery (UK), State Library Victoria, ACMI, Melbourne Arts Precinct, Saatchi Gallery, and the Houses of Parliament (UK).

For further information and case studies please see www.remixsummits.com/agency/.

This opportunity is open to arts-aligned/creative industries organisations, groups and individuals.

We are seeking creative businesses, organisations and individuals based in Australia that have:

  1. A proven track record with further potential for growth and/or impact

Your project or organisation is getting traction: you can point to its positive reception and early growth or your expertise in a particular area. Now you are ready to grow it to the next level, for example through investment, introductions, strategic planning or advanced tech support.

  1. A digital or hybrid innovation that reimagines how the arts are experienced or supported

You are a disrupter with an ability to imagine new opportunities for the arts sector, whether fully digital or hybrid. Innovations may come from the use of technology, for example immersive experiences using projection or free-roam VR; or innovations offering new or improved digital access to culture (e.g., new aggregation models, new creative platforms, gamification, creator economy, hybrid online/offline experiences, new digital content, or new distribution channels). We’re also open to digital innovations that directly support the arts but don’t have a creative end product, for example, new models for creative retail, funding or networks.

Applications will be reviewed by staff and industry advisors. Your application will be based on merit, response to the selection criteria below, and in line with our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Your application will be assessed on the:

  • viability of the proposed project;
  • timeliness and relevance of the consulting opportunity to scale your project;
  • potential impact your project will have on the creative sector.

Learn more about how we assess your application.

​​To apply, you will need to answer the following questions:

  • ​Project title.
  • ​Project description.
  • How your project is getting traction. Describe how you have had a positive reception and early growth and why this opportunity is timely in terms of supporting the scaling of your project.
  • ​Describe how you have been a disrupter with an ability to imagine new opportunities for the arts sector, whether fully digital or hybrid.
  • ​Describe the potential impact of your project on the creative sector​.

A ‘project’ in this context can be a standalone creative enterprise or a program/business unit within a cultural organisation. It can be either for-profit or non-profit but must be digital or hybrid. It should be innovative in driving new audiences and/or revenues, and already be (or have the longer-term potential to become) financially sustainable. If it operates within a cultural organisation, at least one staff member should be assigned to the project as a component of their job function (so we have a clear lead to work with on the program).

A ‘disrupter’ is free from traditional assumptions about how creative and cultural experiences and content should look. They are the first to ask, ‘Why does it have to be done this way?’ and instead champion innovative new models and approaches. Disrupters forge their own paths, inventing bold new ways of engaging the general public with cultural content and experiences.

Some examples of potential ‘impacts’ are:

  • To set new standards for what digital and hybrid experiences look like in the creative sector
  • To create strategies, tools or platforms that other organisations could also benefit from
  • To redefine how audiences regard or engage with the creative and cultural sectors; rethinking audience demand, consumption and involvement.

CreaTech is where creativity meets technology. It brings together creative skills and emerging technologies to create new ways of engaging audiences and to inspire business growth and investment.” – Creative Industries Council UK

​​The consultancy will be delivered online.

​Participants will:

  • Receive 20-hours of bespoke consulting delivered by REMIX co-founders Peter Tullin & Simon Cronshaw.
  • Attend two online cohort workshops with other participants featuring presentations from digital innovators and disruptors

​1) Orientation Workshop: 14 August 2023

​2) Mid-Point Workshop: 28 September 2023

  • Have access to digital REMIX resources including talks and courses
  • Attend Perth REMIX on 14-15 September 2023 for a series of talks, workshops and opportunities for peer-to-peer networking
  • Receive coaching and support to develop a Digital Showcase for their project
  • Benefit from global promotion of their project via a special REMIX Digital Showcase
  • Become part of a unique peer community made up of Australia’s leading creative innovators​

Please email digital@creative.gov.au if you would like more information.

Creative Climate Leadership Program

A transformative 5-day climate leadership program for artists and arts professionals, delivered in-person at Bundanon, NSW.

Julie’s Bicycle’s Creative Climate Leadership Benelux 2023 programme, photo by Moa Karlberg

Creative Climate Leadership (CCL) empowers artists and cultural professionals to take action on the climate and ecological crisis with impact, creativity, and resilience. It was designed to mobilise and connect a creative climate movement.

CCL offers:

  • An inspiring 5 day program of learning and peer-to-peer exchange for 24 talented and motivated participants living and working in Australia.
  • A powerful opportunity to collaborate and develop creative ideas in a serene environment.
  • A space to develop and/or scale up cultural leadership on climate action and justice.
  • A supportive network of national and international CCL alumni.

Participants will:

  1. Deepen their understanding of the climate and ecological crises as an intersectional issue.
  2. Understand and develop the role of culture and creativity in responding to these challenges.
  3. Emerge with a toolbox of approaches and practical solutions for transformative action, including:
    • approaches to action and collaboration that are equitable and inclusive
    • methods for designing solutions to complex problems
    • strategies for rethinking and reorienting the cultural ecosystem towards a thriving future that prioritises the well-being of people and nature
  4. Develop insights into climate ‘leadership’ at individual and collective levels, bottom up and top down
  5. Emerge ready to translate their learning into a CCL Action project

The Australia Council is committed to increasing the diversity of leaders in our industry and encourages applications from people who identify as First Nations, from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with disability, and people living in regional and remote areas.

We actively work with individuals to support access needs – including childcare, cultural practices, financial and/or learning access needs as required.

Find out more information about this program in a one-hour Zoom information session with Mikala Tai and Adam McGowan from the Australia Council; Farah Ahmed and Chiara Badiali (Music Lead) from Julie’s Bicycle, and Australian Facilitator Ruth Langford. Watch the recording here.


This program delivery is supported by the British Council.

Ruth has a diverse background in cultural arts, environmental, social justice, youth work and Indigenous Medicines Therapy and divides her time on projects that reflect her passion for uniting ancient traditions and contemporary innovations for optimistic action and healing for all.

As a Songwoman and Storyteller, Ruth draws upon the cultural knowledge of her Yorta Yorta lineage and the Tasmanian Aboriginal community where she was born and continues to live.

Combining over twenty years traveling the world sitting with Indigenous Elders, Senior Knowledge Keepers and World Wisdom Teachers with conscious research, Ruth Langford’s vision is to connect people to the ancient wisdom of Indigenous teachings in a contemporary and relevant context through the expression of cultural arts, ceremony and ritual.

Establishing Nayri Niara Centre for the Arts of Healing and Nayri Niara Good Spirit Festival, Ruth has gained a reputation as an expert facilitator and coordinator of effective capacity building programs, which have as their guiding principles Connection to Country, Culture, the Self and the Sacred.

Alison established Julie’s Bicycle in 2007 as a non-profit company helping the music industry reduce its environmental impacts and develop new thinking in tune with global environmental challenges. JB has since extended its remit to the full performing and visual arts communities, heritage and wider creative and cultural policy communities. JB is acknowledged as a leading organisation bridging sustainability with the arts and culture.

Originally trained as a cellist, Alison worked with seminal jazz improviser and teacher John Stevens. She worked for many years at Community Music and at Creative and Cultural Skills where she established the National Skills Academy. She has been on many advisory and awarding bodies including Observer Ethical Awards, RCA Sustainable Design Awards, D&AD White Pencil Awards. She has been on the boards of the Music Business Forum, Live Music and Sound Connections, and is on the board of Energy Revolution.

Farah Ahmed (she/they) is the Climate Justice Lead at Julie’s Bicycle. She supports the delivery of events and the Creative Climate Justice programme, developing resources, training and advocacy, connecting environmental, racial and social justice, and creative activism. Their interests lie in how art can centre stories and solutions from the frontlines of climate impacts, and how we can imagine and enact decolonial and anti-capitalist ways of being.

Farah is also co-founder and facilitator of Diaspora Futures, a reflective space for people of colour to centre collective care in the face of the climate crisis. She was on the sounding board for Arvae, a site-specific experiment in collaborative work between artists, scientists and regional environmental experts in Arosa, Switzerland, and was on the oversight board for Art For The People, a citizen’s assembly on arts and culture in Coventry. She is an alumni of the peer-led accelerator programme Huddlecraft and is also an Arts Emergency mentor, supporting young people into careers in the arts.

Thiago Jesus is a creative producer and researcher that joined JB in 2022 to work on the Creative and Climate Leadership programme. For over ten years, he has managed wide-ranging international creative projects and interdisciplinary research at People’s Palace Projects (Queen Mary University of London) in collaboration with artists, academics, activists, and local communities in ten countries.

Since 2014, as the head of PPP’s Indigenous Exchange and Climate Action projects, Thiago has been working closely with Indigenous peoples from the Xingu Territory—in the Brazilian Amazon’s ‘arc of deforestation’—leading an exchange programme for the preservation of indigenous cultural practices as a key factor in safeguarding these communities from the climate crisis.

Thiago is doing doctoral research at Queen Mary University of London, funded by the AHRC (LAHP Collaborative Doctoral Awards). The study, ‘The Art of Creating Climates’, investigates how third-sector organisations with arts and environment at the heart of their programmes approach climate change and respond to environmental issues in distinct North and South contexts, in partnership with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Inhotim Institute in Brazil.

Thiago holds a MA in Visual Culture (University of Westminster) and a BA in Media and Communications (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Aimee Smith is an award-winning choreographer and climate change professional working for 20 years at the intersection of these two fields.

As a choreographer Aimee has created over 15 professional productions including Borderline, Wintering, Accidental Monsters of Meaning and The Futures Project, and has an extensive community arts and cultural exchange practice. She is inspired by the capacity of art and creative experiences to hold spaces for dialogue about the issues of our time, and to imagine the kind of future(s) we want to create.

With a Masters in Sustainability and Climate Policy, Aimee has also worked as a climate change professional across government, business and academia. She has supported arts companies and festivals to develop and implement sustainability strategies and climate action plans, and co-founded Arts and Cultural Workers for Climate Action (ACWCA) to mobilise WA artists & cultural workers for the global student climate strikes.

Anna Weekes is a parent, activist & artist with a CACD practice, working both in Australia and internationally on arts projects for social and environmental justice. Anna has previously worked in Cambodia with an arts organisation, and remote Vanuatu with a women’s group.

Anna has spent the last 14 years working in the Northern Territory. Anna is one of the Creative Producers and Executive Officers at Darwin Community Arts, is a recipient of the Kirk Robson CACD Award, Future Leaders, and Australian Progress fellowship alumni.

Antonia is an arts leader living and working on Gadigal land. She has a rich knowledge of the performing arts sector and the national touring landscape, and is passionate about the transformative impact of arts experiences as well as working collaboratively to lead on change. In her current role as Executive Director of Arts on Tour, she has led on, and is deeply committed to, supporting the transition to environmentally sustainable touring, launching in 2022 the award-winning Green Touring Toolkit. In 2024 Arts on Tour will launch a carbon neutral touring service.

Antonia has held senior management roles in marketing, producing and development at companies large and small, including Urban Theatre Projects, the Australian Theatre Forum, Performing Lines, the Lyric Hammersmith in London and Sydney Dance Company. An alumna of Adaptive Leadership Australia, past Board roles include Co-Chair of PYT Fairfield and Chair of De Quincey Co.

Ari Fuller is Facilities Management Officer at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane, Queensland. With 20 years of invaluable experience at QAGOMA, Ari has emerged as a driving force for museum sustainability practices. Leading the sustainability portfolio since 2015, Ari has implemented comprehensive initiatives that have positioned QAGOMA at the leading edge of Australian museum sustainability.

Drawing on a strong background in museum operations and armed with dual arts degrees, Ari brings a unique blend of artistic sensibility, operational expertise and personal influence to his role. His commitment to institutional carbon reduction strategies has earned him recognition in and beyond the art gallery community. With a vision of carbon neutrality, Ari continues to shape the future of museum operations, leaving an indelible mark on QAGOMA’s sustainability practices and contributing to the preservation of art and culture for generations to come.

Astrid Edwards is a teacher, interviewer and critic. Her PhD at the University of Melbourne investigates potential and perceived barriers to publishing and selling climate fiction in Australia. She hosts The Garret, a podcast exploring the Australian writing and publishing industry, and teaches in the Associate Degree of Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT University. She is the former Chair of Melbourne Writers Festival and former Deputy Chair of Writers Victoria.

Beatrice is a Facilitator, Creative Producer and Climate Impact Manager. For the best part of the last decade, Bea has worked with festivals, events, arts organisations and touring musicians to reduce emissions and take action on climate.

Bea has worked with Green Music Australia, the Off-Grid Living Festival, Slingsby Theatre Company, the Adelaide Festival, Tim Minchin and Lime Cordial.

Last year Bea co-produced Climate Crisis and the Arts, a free one-day event as part of the Adelaide Festival. Bea also co-curated and produced Australia’s first Culture and Environment Roundtable, a collaboration with Julie’s Bicycle, British Arts Council and Australian Council for the Arts.

In November 2022, Bea launched Creative Climate Action, an environmental action course to build frameworks and set goals for sustainability in the live music and arts sector.

Bea is currently working with FEAT.Live, spearheading a new climate action strategy designed to reduce the emissions of live entertainment by unlocking sustainability funding through ticket sales.

In between projects, Bea leads multi-day hiking trips and outdoor adventures around Australia.

Bryony Anderson has been a maker, designer and creative director of participatory artworks for 26 years, creating high calibre works with salvaged materials for puppetry, performance and exhibition. Her work has toured nationally and internationally with many of Australia’s leading performing arts companies. Currently heading Terrapin’s workshop team in Hobart, Tasmania, she has led the company’s move towards carbon neutrality. She has held over 120 workshops in rural, desert, and urban communities and is currently training emerging makers in sustainable practice.

Bryony and her family spent 15 years living in an off-grid shed in the forests of NSW, where they experienced first-hand the upheavals of extreme climate events. Her work is dedicated to raising awareness of the preciousness of resources and ecosystems, coupled with the potential of imagination to motivate and illuminate.

Catherine Polcz is a curator and creative producer working across museums and media specialising in climate and the natural world. Drawing on her background as a botanist and ecologist, she has conceived and produced content for science festivals, events and panel discussions and has exhibited her own work at artist centres in Canada, US and Australia. Since 2018, she has been science producer at the Powerhouse Museum and Sydney Observatory. She is the curator of 100 Climate Conversations, the new Powerhouse climate solutions exhibition, program and podcast featuring 100 weekly conversations with Australian climate leaders.

Charlie Mgee is a songwriter, ukulele-player, permaculturist and founder of the world-renowned ecological funk/swing band, Formidable Vegetable. Growing up in a tin shed with a veggie garden, rainwater tank and one 100W solar panel for power in the south-west of Western Australia, Charlie lived the low-impact lifestyle from a young age, using a dunny that didn’t flush and hanging out with his chickens for entertainment, which made him realise early on that you don’t need a lot in life to be happy.

Later on, Charlie went off to study permaculture and soon after, formed Formidable Vegetable – a band based entirely around principles of regenerative living and being good to the planet, with the hope of inspiring people everywhere to grow better gardens/lives/communities and generally make the world a nicer & more ecologically just place.

His music has been acclaimed by the United Nations and the band has performed not once, not twice, but thrice at Glastonbury Festival alongside such acts as Ed Sheeran, Dolly Parton and The Rolling Stones, inspiring the creation of many a backyard, frontyard and community garden, among other things.

Eliki Reade is an Interdependent Producer and artist of kailoma-Fijian (Fijian/European) heritage. Eliki is intrigued by many forms of storytelling and the ways it is creatively embodied, engaging with work that centres the practice, creating critical connection. Centring relationships in the work that they do and not tied to form, their producing practice covers various forms across performing and visual arts including live music, parties, poetry and spoken word performance, workshops, exhibitions, experimental and digital art. Put simply, ‘they like making cool stuff with their mates’.

They wear multiple creative hats including Program & Events Coordinator at MPavilion, co-instigator with Lana Nguyen for A Climate For Arts commissioned by Diasporas, Co-Creative Producer for Listening Across Faultlines, Pacific Drift—Crenulations & Oceanic Refractions with AM Kanngieser and Mere Nailatikau supported by Australia Council’s International Engagement Fund and VACS, Cultural Advisor for Museums Victoria’s Culture Makers Program, and Co-Chair with Lana Nguyen at SEVENTH Gallery, among many other personally fun and exciting projects and loves.

Eliki is a recipient of the Creative Victoria’s Unlocking Capacity grant (2022-24) and is currently developing a working methodology and manifesto, applying iTaukei / Indigenous Fijian knowledge in intercultural collaboration.

Fiona Lee (b. 1981 Vancouver) is a visual artist and the government relations advisor for Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action (BSCA). A graduate of Newcastle Art School and the University of Newcastle (with class one honours in sculpture), Fiona’s journey merges her art practice with her dedication to climate activism.

The line between protest, installation and campaigning is blurred, with a constant focus on challenging the social license of fossil fuels by highlighting the personal costs of climate change. Her involvement in grassroots social justice and climate organisations across the country spans two decades, including her recent coordination of the Gas Free Hunter Alliance.

A pivotal moment in her campaigning work was her participation in Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action’s landmark court win in 2021. The NSW Land and Environment Court ruled that the NSW Environment Protection Authority take significant action on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. This groundbreaking decision marked the first time an Australian court had directed a government agency to address climate change, setting a precedent for targeted climate policies across Australian states.

Following the devastating loss of her home in the 2019-20 bushfire crisis, Fiona embarked on a 12-month Bushfire Affected Artist residency at The Creator Incubator in Newcastle. From the remnants of her scorched home, Fiona crafted unapologetic and political artworks that addressed her personal loss and the impact of climate change on us all. Her resulting solo exhibition, Carbon Tax, toured Maitland and Manning Regional Art Galleries, CLIMARTE Gallery Melbourne, was featured on ABC Artworks TV and in The Art of Protest at Newcastle Art Gallery.

In 2024 her public artwork High Tide, a collaboration with architectural designer Aaron Crowe, is set to be installed at Yapang Sculpture Park within the Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie.

Grace is a scientist and stage manager with a unique blend of expertise. Currently pursuing her PhD in social-ecological systems, Grace held a previous career as a stage manager, touring nationally and internationally. Driven by her love for both theatre and the environment, Grace has undertaken a mission to promote sustainability within Australia’s theatre industry. With a strong background in research and science communication, Grace founded Griffin Theatre Company’s Green Griffin program and Bump Out Sydney. Her current project is the creation of The Theatre Green Book Australia.

Grace firmly believes that sustainability should be accessible to all and that everyone can contribute to positive change. Her research centres on cultivating and strengthening stakeholder networks across Australia to advance sustainability in the creative and cultural sectors. By understanding the intricacies of the professional theatre industry, and the science behind climate change and sustainability, Grace combines her dual passions to help arts organisations create and maintain greener theatrical practices.

Guy Ritani (Ia/they/them) is a proud Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Kahungunu & Macnamara takatāpui Māori artist, activist, designer and teacher currently living on Kombumerri Country. Co-founder of PermaQueer, Pacific Climate Warrior & community organiser, Guy’s work is within the growing edge of our systemic ecological relationships to Whenua/Country, building food systems, economic support systems and housing that aligns to our planetary limits. Guy is the President of regional arts council Tamborine Mountain Arts Collective and is passionate about social systems and climate justice. Their practice it within storytelling and uses the whatever medium is available and most appropriate to tell stories needing to be told.

Dr Jen Rae is an award-winning artist-researcher of Canadian Scottish-Métis (Indigenous) descent based in unceded Djaara Country/Castlemaine, Victoria. Jen’s practice-led expertise is situated at the intersections of art, speculative futures and climate emergency disaster adaptation + resilience – predominantly articulated through transdisciplinary collaborative methodologies and multi-platform projects, community alliances and public pedagogies. She is a Co-founder and Creative Research Lead of the Centre for Reworlding.

A Bundjalung-Kannakan woman (she/her) and emerging artist, Juundaal lives on Wodi Wodi land of the Dharawal nation and returned to visual arts study at the University of Wollongong in 2018. Her work functions within the discomfort of decolonisation frameworks to actively negotiate tensions, investigate strength in vulnerability and contribute to empowering the non-Indigenous and Indigenous relationship in addressing climate crisis. Healing, cultural connection and learning inextricably fuel and co-exist within her work within an intersectional environmental and Aboriginal cultural revitalisation context. As an emerging artist with a disability, her mentors and space for diverse expression in the arts, are also integral to her creative practice.

Dr Kate Scardifield is an artist and researcher living and working on Gadigal Land. Her practice is cross-disciplinary, collaborative, and focused on charting materials and material systems through states of transformation. Her works span large-scale installations, adaptable textiles, sculpture, and video. Her current projects are investigating algae-based biopolymers, designing with biomaterials for carbon capture and storage, and working with textiles as instruments for navigation, transmission and communication.

She is co-founder and Co-Director of the Material Ecologies Design Lab at the University of Technology Sydney. MEDL is a creative practice and interdisciplinary research lab committed to transforming waste and transitioning material systems for a post-petrochemical world. She is a member of the Algal Biosystems and Biotechnology group in the UTS Climate Change Cluster, working closely with marine scientists and biotechnologists on the design and development of algae-based materials for fashion, textiles and architecture.

Keg de Souza is an artist of Goan ancestry who lives and works on unceded Gadigal land in Sydney. Architecturally trained, she creates social and spatial environments, making reference to her lived experiences of squatting and organising with projects that use and food politics, temporary architecture, publishing and radical pedagogy. Keg draws from personal experiences of colonialism – from her own ancestral lands being colonised to living as a settler on other peoples unceded lands – to inform her layered projects that centre marginalised voices and lesser-known stories for learning about Place.

kelli is an artist and co-founder of boorloo based experimental art group, pvi collective. their work is renowned for being socially engaged and participatory, seeking to empower audiences to step out of their comfort zones.

kelli is a passionate advocate for experimental practice and it’s continued growth in australia. kelli is an AusCo peer, a member of #feminist educators against sexism, a climate champion for better futures australia and a trouble-maker at heart – good trouble, that is 🙂

Na’im lives and works on stolen Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Country. They’re a settler non-binary disabled queer neurodiverse radical composer, ecologist & sound artist. Their practice, identity & values are indivisible. Their work explores environmental and social justice, & personal experience using traditional notation, sonifying data, live-composing with objects, video scoring, field-recordings, hand-drawn graphic scores, & collaboration across artforms.

Na’im has been commissioned & had works performed in Australia, Aotearoa, UK, US, Hong Kong & China. They’ve had residencies at Tilde New Music Fest (Naarm, Aus) & Lijiang Studio (Yunnan, China). In 2022 they created the soundtrack to Zoë, A Good Catch Circus’s response to the climate crises.

Art is for everyone and it’s integral to growing change. Na’im wants to empower access to ecological & marginal knowledges, radical futures imagining, and weird enriching art experiences.

Noemie Huttner-Koros is a performance-maker, writer, dramaturg and community organiser based between Whajuk Noongar country and Wurundjeri country. Their practice is driven by a deep belief in the cultural and civic role of art and in engaging with sites and histories where queer culture, composting and ecological crisis occur. Shows include: Mother of Compost (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival), The Lion Never Sleeps (Australian Book Review’s Arts Highlights of 2019) & Democracy Repair Services (The Blue Room Theatre 2023).

Noemie has a Bachelor of Performing Arts, Performance Making (WAAPA) and a Master of Theatre, Dramaturgy from Victorian College of the Arts. They have worked with companies including: Mammalian Diving Reflex, Australian Theatre for Young People, DADAA, Propel Youth Arts WA and is currently the Graduate Dramaturg at Red Stitch Actors Theatre. They were the winner of the 2020 Venie Holmgren Environmental Poetry Prize & 2021 WA Young Environmentalist of the Year.

Pippa Bailey is an independent producer/director/consultant based on Wangal Land in Sydney. She is committed connecting artistic practice to plans for fairer future where Climate Justice leads.

Pippa started her career as an actor and reporter/producer with SBSTV. She held leading roles in the UK including The Museum Of on London’s South Bank, oh!art at Oxford House in Bethnal Green, The World Famous – company of pyrotechnicians and Total Theatre Awards at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Since 2013 Pippa has worked as Senior Producer with Performing Lines, Sydney Festival and in the First Nations team at Carriageworks. As Director/Producer for ChangeFest 2019-21, she worked in collaboration with Elders and communities to create events that imagine systems change and rehearse fairer futures.

Pippa co-convenes the Cultural Gardeners – Australian Cultural Alliance for Climate Action, is a coordinator with Culture Declares Emergency UK, member of Collaborative Futures and a board Director of IETM: International network for contemporary performing arts.
ve Futures and a board Director of IETM – International Network for the Performing Arts.

Sēini ‘SistaNative’ Taumoepeau (she/her) is a Regenerative Orator & Songwoman, Faivā practitioner (performance of space). A voice of modern Australia, Sēini is an inter-disciplinary artist, storyteller and founder of OceaniaX, Pacific Wave and LELEI Wellness.

Commissions include: Sydney Opera House, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Museum of Contemporary Art. Sēini is a veteran of the arts, media, culture, educational and personal development sectors with an intersectional Oceanic-Pacific lens and First Nations focus.

She carries medicine in her presence, hands and voice, commanding an aesthetic in harmony and rhythm, working with the invisible and intangible.

Connecting with global communities, Sēini is known as: SistaNative, Napangardi & Cantora, with origins from Kingdom of Tonga. An Australian veteran with a career spanning more than 30+ years as a performance artist, presenter/broadcaster and creative industries professional.

Dr Tanja Beer is an ecological designer and community artist who is passionate about co-creating social gathering spaces that accentuate the interconnectedness of the more-than-human world. Originally trained as a performance designer and theatre maker, Tanja’s work increasingly crosses many disciplines, often collaborating with landscape architects and urban ecologists to inspire communication and action on environmental issues.

Her most celebrated project is The Living Stage: a global initiative that combines spatial design, permaculture and community engagement to create recyclable, biodegradable, biodiverse and edible event spaces. Tanja’s extensive career as a designer, educator and researcher builds on more than 20 years of practice. Her pioneering concept of Ecoscenography has been featured in numerous programs, exhibitions, articles and platforms around the world. Tanja is Co-director of the new Performance + Ecology Research Lab (P+ERL) and Senior Lecturer in Design at Griffith University (Brisbane). She is the author of Ecoscenography: An introduction to Ecological Design for Performance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).

Vika Mana is a Torres Strait Islander and Tongan storyteller that takes many forms. They are from the Zagareb and Dauareb tribes of Mer Island and the village of Fahefa in Tonga. They perform poetry, write criticism and breathe life into worlds whilst doing their best to protect this one. Vika excels in a variety of storytelling mediums, all of which centre sovereignty and justice.

This opportunity is open to:  

  • Practising artists and creative/cultural/arts professionals. 
  • Australian citizens or permanent residents. 
  • Individuals who are available to travel to Bundanon NSW to attend the program in full and in person from 11 – 16 September 2023. 

You can’t apply if: 

  • You have an overdue grant report. 
  • You owe money to the Australia Council. 
  • You are applying as a group or organisation. 

You can submit your application via our online application system 

If you have access requirements, please let us know how we can support you. Please see FAQs below for information on submitting a video application. 

Selection criteria:  

  • Nuanced understanding and reflection on what creative climate leadership means. 
  • Engagement with and awareness of climate change, environmental and/or social justice themes, issues and connections in your work to date. 
  • Ability and capacity to take action and lead change. 
  • Demonstrated ability and willingness to work collaboratively and contribute to a group. 

Applications will be reviewed by staff and industry advisors. Your application will be based on quality, response to the selection criteria above, and in line with Australia Council’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. 

Please note:   

To apply you must be registered in our application management system a minimum of two business days prior to the closing date.  

Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application approximately four weeks after the closing date.

Learn more about how we assess your application.

Applicants may choose to supply up to 3 links or attachments to support your application (optional).  

Examples include: 

  • online links to documentation (blogs, news articles, other multimedia content) 
  • past projects and reports 
  • links to video files should be between one to ten minutes in .mp3, .mp4, .mov or .wmv formats 

The CCL Australia programme includes: 

A five-day residential course for arts and cultural professionals who want to take a lead on climate change. Participants will arrive on Monday and leave the following Saturday, with full days of workshops, discussions and talks in between. 

The training sessions will: 

• Explore the role of culture and creativity in responding to climate change and environmental challenges. 

• Share case studies, research, approaches and practical solutions for environmental sustainability in the cultural sector. 

• Enable each participant to develop their leadership and ideas. 

• Prepare participants to apply their learning and new skills when they return home. 

• Support ongoing learning and exchange through an alumni network. 

Themes will include: 

• Approaches to organisational change. 

• Engaging people with new narratives and shifting values through art and design. 

• Encouraging behaviour change through communications and advocacy. 

•  Collaborative ways of working to maximise impact in civic society and policy making. 

A full programme will be released to participants in advance of the course. 

After the course, participants will become members of the CCL Alumni network, which will facilitate ongoing communications. 

CCL Australia is open to practising artists and creative/cultural/arts professionals based in and/or working in Australia. We encourage creatives and leaders that want to challenge the status quo and conventional ways of thinking. 

Previous applicants and/or alumni from Australia Council leadership programs are eligible to apply.

The CCL Australia will take place between 11 – 16 September 2023, at Bundanon NSW, therefore you need to ensure you are available to participate fully, in person, for the full duration. 

​Dates: 

Monday 11 September 2023 – Participants arrive at Bundanon 

Monday 11 to Saturday 16 September 2023 – Training course 

Saturday 16 September 2023 – Participants depart Bundanon. 

The new Bridge and Art Museum are wheelchair accessible. There are designated accessible parking spaces available outside the Bridge and Art Museum. Guide dogs and assistance animals are allowed on Bundanon properties. 

Arthur Boyd’s Studio and the ground floor of the Homestead are wheelchair accessible. There is a staircase inside the Homestead and uneven ground in the visitor carpark and throughout the site. 

We are committed to ensure to remove all possible barriers to participation. If you have any access requirements please let us know in advance so we can make the necessary adjustments. Please contact HOPadmin@creative.gov.au

Participants do not need to do any work prior to attending the course. However, an important part of this CCL is active participation. All participants will be given space to share their skills, knowledge or experience with the other participants. All participants will become members of the CCL Alumni network, which will facilitate ongoing communications. 

Yes, CCL Australia will be held in person at Bundanon, NSW. Applicants must be able to travel and participate in person for the full duration of the course. 

Yes, if you would prefer to submit a video application instead of a written application, please record a video of max 5 minutes addressing the questions in the application form. For further information on how to submit a video application, or if you would like to discuss submitting an application in another format, please email HOPadmin@australicouncil.gov.au.

The Australia Council will cover the costs of accommodation and all meals at Bundanon, NSW during the course. 

Bus travel between Sydney and Bundanon will be provided by the Australia Council. Successful applicants can make their own preferred travel arrangements to Bundanon from other locations at their own cost.

There is an optional question for those seeking to apply for a stipend to support costs. Australia Council will pay a stipend to successful applicants who are self-employed and/or freelancers, and need support to cover costs such as interstate travel, course participation and other expenses. We suggest applicants include a breakdown of the costs you anticipate needing to cover when answering this question.

We are closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation, and the appropriate protocols will be put in place. We will remain in close communication with all successful applicants to chart the best course of action. 

We ask all participants to take a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) within 24 hours before the programme starts and recommend wearing wear masks when travelling to the event on public transport. Masks and RAT tests will be made available on-site. 

Spaces will be ventilated with regular opening of windows where possible (please bring layers in case of cooler temperatures), and some sessions will be held outside weather permitting. 

All participants who, prior to the event, have symptoms of a respiratory infection, have a high temperature or do not feel well enough to carry out normal activities will be asked to stay at home. Any participants and facilitators who present symptoms during the programme will be asked to self-isolate until they have had a negative RAT test and will be asked to wear masks and maintain a distance to other participants if re-joining the group. 

Creative Climate Leadership Program Information Session

Download the transcript.

TOP 5 – ABC Media Residency Program

The ABC is seeking dynamic early-career PhD arts and humanities scholars with flair and passion for communicating their work to a non-academic audience.

Kluge-Ruhe Residential Fellowship: First Nations Curator

The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia seeks applications.

Ishmael Marika curating Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Bark Painting from Yirrkala at Kluge-Ruhe in 2018. Photo courtesy Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia.

About the opportunity

In partnership with Creative Australia, Kluge-Ruhe is offering a residential fellowship in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.

The fellow will curate an exhibition of recent and promised gifts of acrylic paintings on canvas by Pila Nguru (Spinifex People) from Western Australia produced between 2001-2021. Pila Nguru people left their ancestral homelands when the British began nuclear testing in the Australian desert. They began painting in 1997 as part of their Native Title claim involving the return of their homelands. Kluge-Ruhe’s collection contains works by such leading artists as Lawrence Pennington, Tjaruwa Woods and Patju Presley.

This fellowship is divided into two residential periods totalling six months with a holiday break in December-January. Research and development will take place over four months between mid-August and mid-December 2024. The fellow will return to Charlottesville for two months in February and March 2025 to oversee installation and implement programs associated with the exhibition.

This schedule aligns with the semesters at the University of Virginia, ensuring that the fellow has access to museum curators, staff, and academic partners throughout the residency. It also allows production time for didactics and the printed catalogue prior to the exhibition opening. The precise timing of the fellowship will be negotiated with the successful applicant and some flexibility is possible.

The residency will coincide with activities at Kluge-Ruhe including an artist residency (August 2024) and the opening of the major touring exhibition Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala at the Asia Society in New York (September 2024). Each of these programs will provide opportunities for the fellow to engage with Indigenous Australian artists visiting the USA.

Kluge-Ruhe held a Q&A information session at 11am AEDT on Tuesday 31 October 2023 for people to learn more about the Fellowship. You can view a recording of that session on YouTube here.

Tasks will include research of objects, preparation of didactics, development of an original 1500-2000 word essay to be printed in an exhibition catalogue, content development and implementation of public programs, including web-based programs, and gallery guide training.

The curator’s responsibilities will include the following:

Month 1: Conduct research, develop curatorial rationale and learning goals for the exhibition

Month 2: Create checklist and arrangement, select wall colours, draft texts and labels

Month 3: Draft essay, finalize texts and labels, plan public programs

Month 4: Finalize essay, write press release and media blurbs

Month 5: Supervise installation, train gallery guides

Month 6: Implement public programs

The fellow will work collaboratively with Kluge-Ruhe’s staff on all aspects of the exhibition and associated programs, contributing to and shaping practices that will accelerate First Nations leadership throughout the museum, a key initiative of Kluge-Ruhe’s Strategic Plan 2021-2026.

In addition, the fellow will consult with the Embassy of Australia’s curatorial team during a three-day visit to Washington D.C.

A stipend of up to $60,000 AUD will be paid to the fellow by Creative Australia, a portion of which can also be used towards fees to engage a mentor for the duration of the fellowship. Program costs covered by Kluge-Ruhe include two round trip flights from Australia to Charlottesville, accommodation in a furnished cottage or apartment throughout the residency, vehicle rental, medical insurance, and a research and travel budget of up to $5,000 AUD that can be used by the fellow for professional development.

Professional development funds may be used at the fellow’s discretion. Fellows are encouraged to take full advantage of their residential experience in the United States to explore other museums and build professional networks or to pursue their own research interests. Funds may be used to attend conferences such as the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums, or the American Anthropological Association.

  • This opportunity is ideal for an experienced curator seeking professional growth through an international experience. Emerging and mid-career curators are welcome to apply. Kluge-Ruhe has a track record of successful curatorial residencies with curators such as Stephen Gilchrist (2011) and Kimberley Moulton (2015). The community of Indigenous artists and cultural practitioners associated with Kluge-Ruhe, and the members of our Advisory Council, led by a First Nations co-chair (based in Australia), will support this position. Together they will help to shape and expand Kluge-Ruhe’s offerings in a more integrated way – as members of our team.
  • Kluge-Ruhe held a Q&A information session at 11am AEDT on Tuesday 31 October 2023 for people to learn more about the Fellowship. You can view a recording of that session on YouTube here. Kluge-Ruhe is committed to a culture of inclusion and respect that begins with those who were here first, and whose continued presence is important to our future. We partner with the Monacan Nation and First Nations communities throughout Virginia and nationally to amplify their voices. Please reach out to us with your questions and access needs, including how we might accommodate your family or carer. Contact Margo Smith, mws2d@virginia.eduClick here to learn more about Kluge-Ruhe.
  • APPLY ONLINE by submitting 1) a current resume or CV and 2) an Expression of Interest explaining your qualifications, what you can uniquely contribute to this project, and what you hope to get out of this opportunity.
  • Applications close Tuesday 21 November 2023 at 3pm AEDT.

Dr Jessyca Hutchens is a Palyku woman living and working on Noongar boodja, and a Lecturer at the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Western Australia. Jessyca is an art historian, curator, and writer who has previously held positions as the Curator at the Berndt Museum, the Curatorial Assistant to the Artistic Director for the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, and as a Lecturer in Global Art History at the University of Birmingham. She is currently working on a project on the histories of Australian Indigenous printmaking and was recently a co-curator of the exhibition Black Sky for the 2023 Perth Festival. Jessyca writes regularly on contemporary art, and is a co-founder and editor of an online journal of artistic research, oarplatform.com, and on the editorial committee of Un Magazine.

Venice Biennale 2024: expressions of interest for artistic proposals

Opportunity for Australian artists and curators to present a ground-breaking and ambitious exhibition within the Australia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2024.

Australia Pavilion.

Watch the recording of the information session

In this webinar held on Monday, 26 September, we provided an overview of the stage one process.

About the opportunity

Expressions of interest (EOI) are now open for artistic proposals to represent Australia in the category of National Participation for the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (Venice Biennale 2024).

The Venice Biennale is a significant platform that allows Australian contemporary art to be known globally for its innovation, sustainability, complexity, and diversity. Australia’s participation in the Venice Biennale provides Australian artists and curators with a high-profile international opportunity that includes important international exposure to new audiences, markets, and contexts. This exposure builds the profile of Australian contemporary art and stimulates international cultural links, networks and dialogue for Australian artists and curators.

Australia Council for the Arts is the commissioner in the category of National Participation for the Venice Biennale. In 2024 the Council will be the producing manager of the exhibition. The successful artistic team will work in close collaboration with the Australia Council from concept through to the development, launch and deinstallation.

The Venice Biennale typically runs for seven months, from May to November 2024.

Shortlisted applicants from the expressions of interest will be invited to submit a detailed proposal later this year (Stage Two). The successful artistic team will be announced in early 2023.

We are looking for an artistic team with the concept, credentials, and experience to exhibit in the Australia Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2024.

A shortlisted proposal will include an artistic concept that is:

  • creatively ambitious
  • engaged with contemporary visual art discourse and global conversations
  • responsive to the architecture of the Australia Pavilion, and
  • considerate of the audiences who visit the Venice Biennale.

Proposals may focus on presenting one artist or relate to a number of artists and their practice. Similarly, proposals may include one curator or a number of curators.

Artist Fellowship

The artist/s representing Australia in the Pavilion will receive the Venice Artist Fellowship of $100,000 to develop, create, and produce new artwork(s) for the exhibition in the Australia Pavilion. Additional support towards travel and accommodation in Venice will be provided.

Curator Fellowship

The curator/s representing Australia will receive the Venice Curator Fellowship of $50,000 to provide curatorial direction for the exhibition, working closely with the Australia Council as the producer. Additional support towards travel and accommodation in Venice will be provided.

General Support

An exhibition budget covering freight and equipment, fabrication, Pavilion operations and maintenance, install and deinstall, PR and marketing will be managed by the Australia Council as the producer.

Only individuals and groups may apply to this opportunity. All members of the artistic team must be Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents and practicing artists or arts professionals.

Who can’t apply

You can’t apply for this opportunity if:

  • you have already applied to this opportunity in a separate proposal
  • you have an overdue grant report
  • you owe money to the Australia Council
  • you are an organisation.

Your EOI must address three assessment criteria.

First Criterion | Quality

The panel will assess the quality of the artistic proposal. They will consider:

  • vision, ideas, and artistic rationale
  • level of innovation, ambition, experimentation or risk-taking.

Second Criterion | Viability

The panel will assess the viability of the artistic proposal. They will consider:

  • skills and ability of artist/s and curator/s involved, and relevance to the proposal
  • evidence that you have considered and addressed audience engagement and access associated with your artistic proposal.

Third Criterion | Timeliness

The panel will assess the timeliness of the artistic proposal. They will consider:

  • the proposal’s contribution and relevance to contemporary art discourse both in Australia and Internationally.

Successful EOI applicants will be asked to submit a detailed proposal later this year (Stage Two) based on the advice of a panel of independent industry advisors including national and international visual arts experts. The names of the panelists will be published when the successful Stage Two proposal is publicly announced.

The questions we will ask in the application form include:

  • a title for your proposal
  • the names of the proposed artist/s and curator/s
    *do not list names of any technicians, consultants or any other collaborator supporting your proposal.
  • a short overview of your proposal
  • attachment of three essential and one optional support material items will be required, including a two-page artistic proposal, biographies and curriculum vitae of all members of the artistic team and examples of previous work.

You must submit support material with your application. The panel will review this support material to help them gain a better sense of your proposal.

We do not accept application-related support material submitted via post. Application-related material received by post will not be assessed and will be returned to the sender. If you think you will have difficulty submitting your support material online or need advice on what type of material to submit, please contact the Venice Biennale Project Team.

There are four types of support material you must submit:

  1. Artistic Proposal

A maximum two (2) page, A4 PDF document titled *titleofproposal_ArtisticProposal_VeniceBiennale2024

Minimum font size must be 11pt, sans serif.

This document should address the three assessment criteria outlined in these guidelines and provide a summary of your artistic proposal for the Australia Pavilion.

*You are not required to submit visuals or a realised exhibition concept in this EOI Stage One.

  1. Curriculum Vitae

A maximum one (1) page per individual, A4 PDF document titled *titleofproposal_CV_VeniceBiennale2024

Minimum font size must be 11pt, sans serif.

This document should include a short bio of each member, illustrate relevant experience and practice achievements of each member.

  1. Artistic support material

A maximum four (4) pages per artist, A4 PDF document titled *titleofproposal_previouswork_VeniceBiennale2024

Minimum font size must be 11pt, sans serif.

This document should include images and brief overview text of previous work. Do not include web links in this document.

  1. Letter of support from gallery (optional)

If you are affiliated with a commercial gallery, please provide a letter of support from them outlining the nature of their support towards your participation. An individual letter can be submitted for each artist forming part of the team.

If you are not affiliated with a commercial gallery, you do not need to submit this letter.

CINARS 2022 Biennale

Blood on the Dance Floor by Jacob Boehme. Credit: Dorine Blaise.

About the program

Established in 1984, taking place every two years, CINARS is one of the most important international showcases and networking events attracting over 1900 performing arts professionals from around the globe.

The Australia Council will support a delegation to attend this event. We also welcome any Australian artists and companies attending on a self-funded basis to join the delegation and any related networking activities.

More details on the event can be found on the CINARS website.

Funding

Australia Council will support 10 delegates with $4,000 each, towards the cost of travel. These supported delegates will be responsible for all costs associated with attending the market including flights, visas, insurance, accommodation and registration.

Who can apply

  • This opportunity is for Australian-based artists and/or producers working independently or within organisations.

Who can’t apply

You can’t apply for this grant if:

  • you have an overdue grant report
  • you owe money to the Australia Council.

Applicants are required to respond to the following assessment criteria:

  1. The impact of attendance at CINARS in developing future international opportunities and enhancing international visibility.
  2. Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to the region and market.
  3. The timeliness of this opportunity and demonstrated ability to plan and deliver on any international outcomes that may arise.

Your application will be reviewed by Australia Council staff and industry advisers against the assessment criteria.

Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by late September 2022.

No supporting material is required for this application.

Acme London Residency

Develop your visual arts practice and professional networks while living and working at Acme’s East London residency space, the Fire Station.

Acme Fire Station, 30 Gillender Street, 1999 © Acme Archive

About this opportunity

Through our partnership with Acme, visual arts professionals (including artists, curators, and arts writers) are offered a six-month residency at Acme’s East London Fire Station residency space.

Founded in 1972, Acme Studios is a London-based charity that provides affordable studio space and residencies and awards for non-commercial fine artists. Acme supports over 800 individual artists across 8 boroughs in Greater London, offering a wide range of high-quality, long-term, and professionally managed artist studio spaces, including permanent new-build studios.

In addition to affordable studio space, Acme operates a Residency & Awards programme which is one of the most supportive and extensive in the UK. Acme’s programme of artist support aims to intervene at pivotal moments in artists’ careers. Working with a range of international and UK-based partners and donors, the programme supports professional development for artists at all stages of their careers through residencies, bursaries, mentoring and exhibition opportunities. Over 700 artists have benefitted from the programme since its foundation in 1987.

Acme makes every effort to assist visiting artists with the practical, cultural, and social aspects of their stay. In addition to managing the studio live/workspace, Acme works actively with visiting artists to assist with their networking, practical and research needs and allowing them to develop relationships and focus on their work in a supported environment. Acme staff are available to artists for residency pre-planning, local orientation and for assistance and advice throughout the residency.

The overall aim of Acme’s Residencies & Awards Programme is to offer artists a supported environment and real professional development throughout the residency period. As every artist and their needs are different, Acme representatives are flexible about how they work with artists to achieve their goals.

During the residency period, Acme provide resident artists with opportunities including:

  • connecting with UK and international artists through Acme’s networks via Acme-organised events including networking drinks, gallery visits and artist dinners
  • bespoke one-to-one studio critiques or mentor meetings with UK-based arts professionals, organised by Acme
  • opportunity to work in collaboration with Acme staff to hold artist talks, or develop or participate in group discussions, critiques or events in the new Acme Pavilion Space
  • one-to-one ongoing support and discussion with Acme staff
  • ongoing notifications and invitations to private views, lectures and events in London.

Meet the latest recipient

Shevaun Wright

Shevaun Wright

Shevaun Wright is a lawyer and artist engaged in the growing field of legal aesthetics. Her practice is interdisciplinary and research based, utilizing the contractual medium and the notion of the ‘social contract,’ as well as re-contextualized dialogues as a tool for engaging in institutional legal and artistic critique. Informed by her Aboriginal heritage, she aims to extrapolate feminist and post-colonial critiques of the law and art as a means to access and reveal similarities in their discursive practices. She is a practicing lawyer in Australia and also a member of the California bar. She has undertaken numerous residencies, including the Whitney Independent Study Program (Studio) and most recently was an artist fellow of the Banff International Curatorial Institute. She has masters degrees in art and law including a Master of Fine Arts from UCLA’s Interdisciplinary Studio program.

Who can apply

  • only individuals may apply to this category
  • you must be a practicing artist and an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident.

Who can’t apply? 

You can’t apply if:

  • you received a grant, or administered a grant, from the Australia Council in the past and that grant has not been satisfactorily acquitted
  • you owe money to the Australia Council
  • we will not accept applications from legally constituted organisations.

Applicants must address the following assessment criteria:

  1. Artistic merit
  • suitability of your practice to the residency program and its artistic environment/offer
  • quality of work previously produced, and public and peer response to your work.
  1. Viability
  • suitability of your proposal to the residency program
  • the skills and artistic ability of your collaborators and their relevance to the proposed activity
  • realistic and achievable planning, resource use and evaluation.
  1. Impact on career
  • how the proposed activity strengthens your artistic practice
  • the relevance and timeliness of the proposed activity
  • how the proposed activity strengthens your capacity as an arts professional, particularly in relation to international development and collaboration.

Our staff and industry advisors in consultation with Acme will consider applications according to the assessment criteria.

Successful applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by 3 October 2023.

You should submit support material with your application. Assessors may review this support material to help them gain a better sense of your project.

What you should provide 

We do not accept application-related support material submitted via post. Application-related material received by post will not be assessed and will be returned to the sender. If you think you will have difficulty submitting your support material online, or need advice on what type of material to submit, please contact Ellen Dwyer, International Engagement Adviser, Europe on +61 02 9215 9051 or e.dwyer@creative.gov.au

There are three types of support material you may submit:

  1. Artistic support material

This should include relevant, recent examples of your artistic or cultural work.

Types of support material we accept

Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks).

You can provide up to three URLs (weblinks) that link to content that is relevant to your proposal. This may include video, audio, images, or written material.

These URLs can include a total of:

  • 10 minutes of video and/or audio recording
  • 10 images
  • 10 pages of written material (for example, excerpts of literary writing).

Please note: Our assessors will not access any URLs that require them to log in or sign up to a platform. Please do not provide links to Spotify or other applications that require users to log in or pay for access.

If you are linking to media files that are private or password protected like Vimeo, please provide the password in the password field on the application form.

Other accepted file formats

If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material to your application in the following formats:

  • video (MP4, QuickTime, and Windows Media)
  • audio (MP3 and Windows Media)
  • images (JPEG and PowerPoint)
  • written material (Word and PDF).
  1. Biographies and CVs

You can include a brief bio or curriculum vitae (CV) for key artists, personnel or other collaborators involved in your project.

Brief bios or CV information should be presented as a single document no longer than two A4 pages in total.

  1. Letters of support

Individuals, groups, or organisations can write letters in support of your project. A support letter should explain how the project or activity will benefit you, other artists or arts professionals, participants, or the broader community. It can also detail the support or involvement of key project partners, or evidence of consultation.

If relevant to your activity, letters of support must provide evidence of appropriate permissions and support from First Nations organisations, communities, and Elders. Please refer to the First Nations Protocols for more information.

You can include up to five letters of support, with each letter not exceeding one A4 page.

This residency is housed in a former LCC Fire Brigade Station that was built in 1910 in East London.

Acme’s east London studio complex features 12 work/live units on the upper four floors of the building, with six large non-residential studio spaces on the ground floor.

Each residency unit is 50 sqm large, with the studio element measuring 32 sqm, and features a separate bedroom, private bathroom, and basic kitchen area. The units are electrically heated, and all the windows have secondary glazing to reduce traffic noise and prevent heat loss.

The studio is simply furnished and has a telephone, answering machine, printer, and broadband internet connection. Artists are responsible for providing their own art materials and computer.

Acme are committed to access and diversity in all areas of operation, including service delivery, communication and publicity, staffing, and governance. Access needs for living quarters during a residency can be accommodated on request.

The unit will accommodate couples and Acme can arrange additional bedding for additional guests. However, Fire Station work/live units are not family friendly.

2022-23

2020-2021

  • Hoda Afshar
  • Nathan Beard

2019-2020

  • Channon Goodwin
  • James Geurts

2018-2019

  • Salote Tawale
  • Arlene De Souza

2017-2018

  • Diana Smith
  • Claire Lambe

Frequently asked questions

Are the residency dates flexible? No. The dates for this residency are fixed.

Yes, but this will be at your own cost and we will not be able to provide additional funds towards the extension.

No. You are not required to provide a budget with your application.

There is no requirement for you to provide a timetable of your activities, unless stated otherwise in the individual residency program guidelines.

Yes. If successful, you are required to take out travel insurance for the duration of your residency, which can be paid for from your grant.

The unit will accommodate couples and Acme can arrange additional bedding for additional guests. However, Fire Station work/live units are not family friendly.

Yes, the grant to an individual that accompanies a residency is considered income and taxable. Please visit the Australian Taxation Office website for more information.

The International Residencies Program is dynamic and responsive and the programs on offer may vary from year to year.

Yes. If you are looking for some tips on organising your residency or programs in the region you’re interested in, check out the Tips and Links resources on our International Engagement web page.

Yes. Please note, applications to International Engagement funding opportunities do not count as an application to our Grants Program.

Yes, as long as you have satisfactorily acquitted the previous residency grant.

The grant is not intended to cover lost income or rent at home and applicants will need to consider their capacity to undertake the residency prior to applying.

We partner with established and reputable residency providers and each program is unique. Successful applicants will be provided with detailed information about each residency and introductions to the residency providers who will assist artists with making local connections. Our staff are able to provide further advice and contacts, as requested. Artists are also expected to have their own resources, contacts and project plans for the residency.

The grant is a contribution toward your travel (including airfares and travel insurance) and living costs during the residency period. Applicants are expected to research the cost of living in the residency location they are travelling to. You may need to supplement the grant with your own funds depending on your projected costs for the residency period.

No. We cannot provide any advice on visa or immigration matters. You must contact the relevant country’s visa service to get current information. We suggest you allow plenty of time to apply for all international visas.

Access needs for living quarters during a residency can be accommodated on request.

Biennale Delegates Program Participants

The program will facilitate exchange of ideas, catalyse new perspectives and support the seeding of future projects and collaborations.

About the program

A diverse group of 19 emerging creative and cultural workers from across Australia have been announced as participants of the Australia Council Biennale Delegates Program.

The program’s theme is ‘re(situate)’ and will focus on unpacking different biennale engagement approaches within an Australian and regional context. The participants will connect with artists and teams presenting the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Hawaiʻi Triennial, Documenta 15 and The Biennale of Sydney.

Participants will be guided through the program by Clothilde Bullen, Angie Abdilla, Léuli Eshrāghi, Khaled Sabsabi and Neha Kale. Through online gatherings and an in-person (NSW) residency to facilitate exchange of ideas, catalyse new perspectives and support the seeding of future projects and collaborations.

The 2022 Biennale Delegates Program is generously supported by state and territory partners including ArtsACT, Create NSW, Arts NT, Arts Queensland, Arts South Australia, Arts Tasmania and Creative Victoria and the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries – Western Australia as well as the Cross Family Foundations.

2022 Delegates:

  • Yvette Dal Pozzo (ACT) 
  • Chrischona Schmidt (NT) 
  • Rebekah Raymond (NT) 
  • Aleshia Lonsdale (NSW) 
  • Eddie Abd (NSW) 
  • Jazz Money (NSW) 
  • Riana Head-Toussaint (NSW)
  • Mandy Quadrio (QLD) 
  • Ruha Fifita (QLD)
  • Erin Davidson (SA) 
  • Rayleen Forester (SA) 
  • Sarra Tzijan (SA)
  • Theia Connell (TAS) 
  • Claire G. Coleman (VIC)  
  • Nikki Lam (VIC)
  • Sebastian Henry-Jones (VIC) 
  • Esther McDowell/Yabini Kickett (WA) 
  • Gok-Lim Finch (WA) 
  • Rachel Ciesla (WA)

 

Note: click on images below to learn more about the delegates.

2022 Delegates

Yvette Dal Pozzo – ACT

Yvette Dal Pozzo – ACT

Yvette Dal Pozzo is the Director of the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery. Prior to this role, Yvette was at the National Gallery of Australia, where she worked on major projects, including the two-part exhibition ‘Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now’ and was the editorial assistant and contributor of the corresponding publication titled ‘Know My Name’ (2020). She was also the coordinating editor of Roger Butler’s publication ‘Printed: images by Australian artists 1942-2020’ (2021).

In 2019, Yvette was selected as an Exhibition Attendant to facilitate the Australia Pavilion as part of the 58th Venice Biennale. She has held appointments in galleries, arts festivals, and universities. Yvette holds a Master of Art History and Curatorial Studies from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from the University of Melbourne.

Chrischona Schmidt – NT

Chrischona Schmidt – NT

Chrischona is an arts professional and researcher with a background in art history and social anthropology. She has worked with Central Australian Indigenous communities as a researcher and art centre manager since 2006. In 2018, as Manager at Ikuntji Artists, the business won the Australian Small Business Champion Awards in Indigenous Business. The art centre is now one of the most renowned fine art specialised Indigenous art centres in Australia.
Before that, she worked in research and different areas of the art market, including auction houses, galleries and museums in Australia and overseas.
Chrischona researches local art histories in Central Australia with a particular focus on women’s work. She wrote the first art history of an art movement without an art centre and co-organised the first conference on Indigenous jewellery. She engages actively with the academic discourse through her publications, conference attendance and as a co-organiser of the University of Queensland art history program field school.

Rebekah Raymond – NT

Rebekah Raymond – NT

Rebekah Raymond is a proud Arabana, Mualgal, and Wuthathi woman, with further cultural connections which have been disrupted by the Stolen Generations. She grew up on Larrakia Country and Limilngan-Wulna Country. Rebekah holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney, with majors in Art History and Archaeology.

Rebekah has worked across state and national arts organisations and institutions, while also undertaking independent curatorial, editorial and research projects. Her curatorial practice centres community collaboration, language, archives, and intergenerational knowledge. She currently works as the Curator of Aboriginal Art and Material Culture at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), located on Larrakia Country.

Aleshia Lonsdale – NSW

Aleshia Lonsdale – NSW

Aleshia Lonsdale is a Visual Artist, Arts Worker and Curator based in regional New South Wales (NSW). As a proud Wiradjuri woman from Mudgee in Central Western NSW, Lonsdale creates work using various materials, including natural and found objects that endeavour to give voice to First Nations peoples. She sees the arts as a vehicle for intergenerational cultural transmission and as a tool that allows the audience to view the world through a First Nations lens. With a strong grounding in Culture and Country, her works are influenced by the past, present and future experiences of First Nations Peoples with a particular focus on social, cultural, political and environmental issues.

Eddie Abd – NSW

Eddie Abd – NSW

Eddie Abd is an artist and arts worker living and working on unceded Darug and Gundungurra Lands. Eddie creates intricate, multilayered digital and textile works grounded in her lived experience while responding to a range of concerns from the social to the political and religious.

Her video and digital print works often feature self-referential composite characters inhabiting remixed spaces and engaging in heightened acts of identity performance. Eddie was awarded the 2021 Blake Prize (Emerging Artist) and shortlisted for the Create NSW 2021/2022 Visual Arts (Emerging) Fellowship.

Born in Lebanon in 1979, Eddie studied Fine Arts (Painting) at the Lebanese University. After moving to Australia in 2001, she completed a Bachelor of Digital Media at the University of New South Wales (COFA).

Jazz Money – NSW

Jazz Money – NSW

Jazz Money is a poet and artist of Wiradjuri heritage, a fresh-water woman currently based on Gadigal land. Her practice is centred around the written word while producing works that encompass installation, digital, film and print. Jazz’s writing has been widely performed and published nationally and internationally.

Trained as a filmmaker and arts worker, Jazz specialises in storytelling, community collaboration and digital production, working with First Nations artists and communities to realise digital projects.

Jazz’s debut collection of poetry, ‘how to make a basket’, was released in September 2021 with University of Queensland Press.

Riana Head-Toussaint – NSW

Riana Head-Toussaint – NSW

Riana Head-Toussaint is an interdisciplinary disabled artist who uses a manual wheelchair for mobility. Her work often crosses traditional artform boundaries and exists in online and offline spaces. She employs performance, choreography, video/film, sound design, installation and audience activation to create works that interrogate entrenched systems, structures and ways of thinking; and advocate for social change. The enduring concerns across her works are agency, representation, the limits of empathy, and how these impact people across various marginalised intersections. Her work is deeply informed by her experiences as a disabled woman of Afro-Caribbean heritage and her training as a legal practitioner.

Riana’s practice also involves broader curatorial/space-making projects. She is the founder of Headquarters, a disability-led, digital space; centring and celebrating disabled creatives. Riana is also a qualified Solicitor and Access Consultant. She lives and works on the unceded lands of the Eora Nation.

Mandy Quadrio – QLD

Mandy Quadrio – QLD

Mandy Quadrio is an Indigenous Palawa artist connected to her maternal ancestral countries of Tebrakunna, north-east Tasmania and the Oyster Bay Nation of eastern Tasmania. Currently based in Meanjin (Brisbane), she works across sculpture, installation, photography and mixed media. She received a Doctorate in Visual Arts at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, in 2021.

By reimagining cultural associations of Indigenous and non-Indigenous objects, Quadrio aims to draw attention to historical and contemporary cultural and political events that impact Australian Indigenous people. She works to expose holes and myths in Australian colonial histories

Quadrio has shown in numerous solo, and group shows around Australia, including the TarraWarra Biennial in Melbourne in 2021 and at Ace Open in Adelaide as part of Tarnanthi festival of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art 2021. Her work was permanently acquired by the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania, in 2021.

Ruha Fifita – QLD

Ruha Fifita – QLD

Ruha Fifita (Tonga/New Zealand) is an interdisciplinary artis based in Brisbane. She is co-founder of Pacific art research collective, IVI, Griffith Asia Institute Industry Fellow, and Curatorial Assistant for Pacific Art at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art.

Her creative practice fosters collaboration, community engagement and connection with indigenous methods and materials to achieve social change. She holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries, and a post-graduate Certificate in Discourse and Social Transformation.

Ruha’s work has exhibited throughout the Pacific region in settings such as, the Mori Art Museum, Festival of Pacific Arts, the Dreaming Festival, Auckland Art Festival, Pataka Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Tjibaou Cultural Centre, UNSW Gallery, and Seoul Museum of Art.

Erin Davidson – SA

Erin Davidson – SA

Erin Davidson holds the position of Project Manager at the Art Gallery of South Australia and is responsible for delivering two of the country’s major biennial programs celebrating contemporary art and artists, the Ramsay Art Prize and the Adelaide Biennial Australian Art. Over the last decade, she has worked with South Australian cultural institutions and organisations in various roles.

In 2021, she commenced lecturing in Business Practice for Artists and Designers at the University of South Australia. Her formal education includes Interior Design, Art History, Criticism and Conservation, and Museum and Curatorial Studies. Her professional experiences range from tutoring in interior design, working in engineering and design studios, and managing exhibitions and projects for arts and cultural organisations.

Rayleen Forester – SA

Rayleen Forester – SA

Rayleen Forester is an Adelaide based, independent curator and arts writer. She holds Graduate Diplomas in Art History (University of Adelaide) and Arts & Cultural Management (University of South Australia) and is a South Australian School of Art graduate.

Rayleen’s curatorial interests focus on cross-cultural engagement through contemporary and experimental art practices. She was awarded the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Travel Grant (2010) to collaborate with Japanese curator and Gallery Director Katsuya Ishida and the inaugural Curator Mentorship Initiative grant (2012) to work with international curator Cuauhtémoc Medina at the MANIFESTA biennale. She co-curated the Artists’ Week symposium in 2014 with Lars Bang Larsen (DEN) and Richard Grayson (UK). In 2016, she completed a residency at ICI New York curatorial hub program.

Rayleen writes for national publications and is a founding member of initiatives FELTspace and fine print magazine. In 2020 she was inaugural curator in residence at ACE Open, Adelaide, co-curating If the future is to be worth anything: 2020 Artist Survey with Artistic Director, Patrice Sharkey.

Sarra Tzijan – SA

Sarra Tzijan – SA

Sarra Tzijan is an Indian/Australian artist, originally from Naarm, now living in Tarntanya. Tzijan makes functional, sculptural and wearable objects, playing with the intersections of art and craft, highlighting their limitations. She draws on her mixed heritage to unpack themes of belonging, cultural displacement and colonisation. Adopting a multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach, she encourages the influence of others in her work.

During early education, Tzijan focused on drawing and illustration. In 2014 she completed a degree in Communication Design (RMIT), refining her work on paper. In 2016 she completed an Advanced Diploma of Object and Jewellery Design (Melbourne Polytechnic) and began combining her illustrative aesthetic with three-dimensional objects. In 2018 she was selected to undertake an associateship at JamFactory in the metal studio where she’s currently a tenant.

Theia Connell – TAS

Theia Connell – TAS

Theia Connell is an artist, curator and producer living on unceded Muwinina country in nipaluna/Hobart. Her professional practice has seen her working within festivals, museums, galleries and not-for-profit art spaces regularly for a decade. Theia works closely with contemporary artists to build exhibitions, live events and site-specific projects. Her practice is grounded in the value of collaboration and mutual support and in developing meaningful context for experimental art.

Recent roles include Co-founder and Co-director of Visual Bulk art space, member of the Artistic Directorate at Next Wave, Creative Associate at Dark Mofo, Creative Producer at Dark Mofo, and board member at CONSTANCE ARI. She has exhibited as an independent artist across Australia and internationally, including Incheon Art Platform (Seoul), Snehta (Athens), BUS Projects, Watch This Space ARI, Firstdraft, Kings ARI and more. Theia completed a BFA (Visual Art) at VCA in 2014, and a BA (Art History) at University of Melbourne in 2010.

Claire G. Coleman – VIC

Claire G. Coleman – VIC

Claire G. Coleman is a Noongar woman whose ancestral country is on the south coast of Western Australia.  Born in Perth, she has spent most of her life in Naarm (Melbourne).

Her debut novel Terra Nullius, published by Hachette in Australia and Small Beer in the US, won a black&write! Fellowship and a Norma K. Hemming Award and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the Aurealis Science Fiction Award, among others. The Old Lie (Hachette 2019) is her second novel.

Her art criticism has been published in Spectrum, Artlink and Art Collector, and in exhibition catalogues for NGV, AGSA, NGA, and others.  Her conceptual/video work, Refugium, won the Incinerator Art Award in 2021.

Lies Damned Lies: A Personal Exploration of the Impact of Colonisation, her first nonfiction book published in September 2021 by Ultimo Press.

Nikki Lam – VIC

Nikki Lam – VIC

Nikki Lam is an artist, curator and producer based in Naarm. Working primarily with moving images, her practice explores hybridity and memory through the contemplation on time, space and impermanence. Born in Hong Kong, her work deals with the complexity of migratory expressions. Nikki’s current research focuses on the artistic agency during cultural, social and political transitions, particularly within the context of moving image and screen cultures. With an expanded practice in writing, exhibition and festival making, she is interested in exploring anti-colonial methods in artistic and curatorial practice.

Nikki is the co-director of Hyphenated Projects and Hyphenated Biennial, and curator-at-large at The Substation. She was Artistic Director of Channels video art festival, alongside many hybrid roles in the arts including at ACMI, Next Wave and Footscray Community Arts Centre. Nikki is a current PhD (Art) candidate at RMIT University.

Sebastian Henry-Jones – VIC

Sebastian Henry-Jones – VIC

Sebastian Henry-Jones is a curator led by an interest in writing, DIY thinking, and the exhibition format’s potential to cultivate strategies of collectivity, social responsibility, and tenderness. He looks to embody these ideals in his work by centring the needs, ideas, and requirements of those he works with. His practice is informed by striving for personal ethics with sincerity, generosity, honest communication, and learning at its core.

Seb has staged group exhibitions and independent projects in Sydney and interstate and co-founded Desire Lines and Emerson. Previously, he was an editor at Runway Journal and has held curatorial roles at The 22nd Biennale of Sydney and West Space.

Esther McDowell/Yabini Kickett – WA

Esther McDowell/Yabini Kickett – WA

Yabini Kickett (Esther McDowell) is a descendant of the Kickett and Hayden families of the Bibulmun/Noongar Nation. Having grown up with an artist and poet mother and a photographer and land conservationist father, her practice is heavily rooted in language, endemic plants, family, totemic relations and found objects from Country.

Yabini has exhibited as an independent artist across Australia, including at Art Gallery of Western Australia (2021), Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (2020), Cool Change Contemporary (2018) and more.

Gok-Lim Finch – WA

Gok-Lim Finch – WA

Gok-Lim is a writer and artist living on the unceded sovereign lands of the Whadjuk people of the Bibbulmun nation. In 2019, they were a Creative Research Fellow for the State Library of WA. From 2018 to 2020, they were the board secretary of Propel Youth Arts WA, and the Project Coordinator for Community Arts Network’s Lotterywest Story Street project. They are currently studying a PhD at the University of Western Australia on the history of the Christmas Island workers union and working as the Student Engagement Officer for Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

Rachel Ciesla – WA

Rachel Ciesla – WA

Rachel Cieśla is the Lead Creative for the Simon Lee Foundation Institute of Contemporary Asian Art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Boorloo. She is also a co-founder and co-editor of Heart of Hearts Press.