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.

APIEF Fundraising Residential 2023

Five-day training event designed for early-to-mid career arts fundraisers.

About the opportunity

We have partnered with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) to offer five places at their upcoming major residential training event, the Asia Pacific Institute in Educational Fundraising (APIEF).

This five-day event will be held at Novotel 10/14 Eastern Beach Rd, Geelong VIC on the 23rd–27th of October 2023.

Run by experts in educational and arts fundraising, APIEF is an in-depth training event offering interactive sessions covering a diverse range of topics including annual and regular giving, major gifts, bequests and legacies, campaigns, stewardship, ethics, effective prospect tracking, making the case for support and more.

This opportunity is for early-to-mid career arts fundraisers representing an arts organisation with an emerging and/or established fundraising program.

This opportunity includes:

  • A pass to the four-day training program
  • Four nights of accommodation at Novotel 10/14 Eastern Beach Rd (check in Monday 23
    October, check out Friday 27 October)
  • Institute materials and meals as indicated in the event schedule.

Any additional transport and accommodation costs will be the responsibility of the participant. Each place at the event is valued at A$4,860.

We encourage you to visit the APIEF website for the full program and information on presenters, sessions and opportunities.

Applicants must be employed in a role that includes fundraising or development.

Applicant organisations must:

  • Be based in Australia and carrying out most of their arts activity or practice within
    Australia
  • Be a legally constituted entity (with an ABN)
  • Be registered as a not-for-profit organisation, as defined by the Australian Taxation
    Office (ATO)*, and;
  • Be operating with the primary purpose of providing arts and cultural opportunities for
    Australian artists and audiences

*Definitions of not-for-profit entities may be found on the ATO and ASIC websites.

All expressions of interest (EOI) must outline:

  • Your organisation’s primary purpose
  • How the opportunity will benefit you
  • How the opportunity will benefit your organisation, and;
  • Your history of fundraising training

Programs team
T: 03 9616 0321
E: cpa.programs@creative.gov.au

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.

Digital Skills Program – Workshop

A workshop designed for practitioners seeking technical support, wanting to brainstorm lingering ideas or looking to explore new possibilities.

Image credit: Rémi Chauvin

About the workshop

The Australia Council is pleased to announce the Digital Skills Program Digital Arts Workshop on Tuesday 23 May. 

The Digital Skills Program is a series of workshops, seminars and intensives that focus on using digital and emerging technologies to develop creative practice. 

As part of this program we’re offering 25-30 artists and digital practitioners the opportunity to engage with digital producers and technologists. This intimate workshop will allow for a focused discussion on specific challenges and projects amongst peers.  

This workshop is designed for practitioners who may be seeking technical support, wanting to brainstorm lingering ideas, or looking to explore new possibilities. It is designed to energise, inspire and encourage a digital mindset in artists and organisations. 

We invite you to submit your questions and digital dilemmas for the panel to brainstorm with you.  

Susie Anderson’s professional career spans 10 years and arts organisations in both Melbourne, Sydney and London and includes Sydney Opera House, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Etsy Australia and RMIT University. She is based in Naarm and currently works within the Museums & Collections department of The University of Melbourne, creating digital experiences and strategy for Buxton Contemporary, Science Gallery Melbourne, The Ian Potter Museum of Art and Grainger Museum.

Akil Ahamat is a Sri Lankan Malay artist, filmmaker and arts worker currently based on Ngunnawal & Ngambri land. Akil’s work across video, sound, performance and installation considers the physical and social isolation of online experience and its effects in configuring contemporary subjectivity. Among their research influences, they draw especially on the use of ASMR in online spaces as a self-administered therapeutic tool, translating its restorative effects into intimate audio experiences.

Akil has most recently exhibited physically at Melbourne’s Living Museum of the West, Monash University Museum of Art, Institute of Modern Art and Artspace and produced online works for 4a Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Parramatta Artist’s Studios and Sydney Review of Books.

Cara Stewart is a Creative Producer with over a decade of experience in digital storytelling, large-scale installations, and performance at leading cultural organisations such as MoMA PS1, Performa, Red Bull Music Academy, Guggenheim, Brooklyn Museum, Sydney Biennale and the Powerhouse Museum. 

Governance Training for Organisations (3-day course)

Foundations of Directorship™ online course with the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Perth leadership exchange.

Governance Conversations webinar series

Learn more about contemporary issues in arts governance at our free monthly webinar series, Governance Conversations, programmed in collaboration with Diversity Arts Australia. The series will explore practical aspects of governing arts and creative industries organisations, innovative approaches, and share best practice models for ensuring diversity and cultural safety.

Register for upcoming webinars and watch recordings of past webinars at the link below.

Register and watch now

About the opportunity

Australia Council for the Arts is delighted to offer world-class governance training with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) for organisations via the Foundations of Directorship™ Course. 

This course has a length of 11 weeks, including pre-reading, three facilitator-led virtual classrooms and (optional) assessment time. The course will provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the main components of directorship – governance, risk, strategy and finance.

The opportunity is open to CEOs, Executive Directors, and General Managers or those in an equivalent role (as well as staff member acting as the Board secretariat) and Board Members from arts organisations. See eligibility guidelines for full details.

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

  • Identify the duties and responsibilities of a director.
  • Outline governance and board meeting processes.
  • Outline the director’s role in evaluating financial statements.
  • Recognise the link between corporate strategy and financial performance.
  • Identify the director’s role in formulating and monitoring strategy, and identifying and assessing risk.

The program has a standard duration of 11 weeks, including 2 weeks of pre-reading, 3 in-classroom (online) sessions, and an optional 6-week assessment period.

The program consists of three courses:

  • Governance for Directors
  • Risk and Strategy for Directors
  • Finance for Directors.

On completion of the third online classroom session, participants will be provided with an opportunity to complete a 90 minute, 30 question multiple choice quiz covering content from all three days.

This opportunity is only open to:

  • CEOs, Executive Directors and General Managers, Board Members or those in an equivalent role (as well as staff acting as the Board secretariat) from arts organisations
  • small-to-medium arts organisations, Multi-Year Investment organisations and National Performing Arts Partnership Framework organisations with less than $800,000 in annual funding from Australia Council  .

Only organisations may apply for this opportunity. You must be an Australian based organisation.

You can’t apply if:

  • you are an individual
  • you are an NPAPF organisation in receipt of more than $800,000 in annual funding from Australia Council.
  • you have undertaken previous training with the Australian Institute of Company Directors or equivalent training
  • you have an overdue grant report
  • you owe money to the Australia Council
  • you are applying as a group.

If you are an individual not currently on a board you may be eligible for the Governance Training for Individuals opportunity.

See the FAQS below to understand any applicable costs to your organisation.

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

Selection Criteria:

  • Timeliness and relevance of the training opportunity to your organisation.
  • The impact the proposed activity will have on your organisation.
  • Commitment to implementing learnings for the sustainability of the arts sector.

Frequently asked questions

We are supporting a number of fully subsidised (free) places in this course for small-to-medium organisations with less than $2M annual turnover.

Multi-year Investment organisations who are successful will be required to contribute 50% of the course cost ($1174.50). Multi-year Investment organisations have the option to apply for second, 50% subsidised place within the one application.

NPAPF organisations will receive one fully subsidised place and will be required to cover the full cost of an additional participant ($2349).

Alternatively, organisations seeking to secure a place with arts and creative industries peers can cover the cost. For more information about paid places, please email leadershipprogram@creative.gov.au.

Organisations can nominate 1 person to attend the course.

Multi-year Investment organisations can request an additional second place in the course. A second place is subject to applicable costs and availability. See above under “How much does it cost” for more.

NPAPF organisations must nominate 1 executive staff member and 1 board member to attend the training, and will be required to cover the full cost of the second place in the course. See above under “How much does it cost” for more.

Please also note the information about the staff and board members who are eligible to attend the course under “Eligibility”.

We are working with the AICD’s Board Advance team to offer this course specifically for creative industries professionals.

Online. The Course will be delivered online utilising Zoom video conferencing technology and appropriate technology capabilities are required.

A link to access each Online facilitation session will be made available to Participants in the MyLearning “My Courses” page.

This course is digitally accessible. Please get in touch if you have any specific access requirements.

Applicants must be available for an induction session on the first day of the course period as well as three days of the online teaching and have capacity to undertake the pre-reading and preparation in the two months leading up to the course date. 

Pre-reading of course notes is required to support your full participation in the course. The reading is extensive and requires 20-30 hours to complete.  

During the three days of the online teaching the hours will be 11am – 6:30pm AEDT. 

The course will be delivered by expert facilitators from the AICD faculty with directorship experience in a similar sector or industry.

The learning approach takes the form of a series of facilitated discussions and interactive case studies that consolidate understanding.

For any questions or further information please email leadershipprogram@creative.gov.au or call +61 2 9215 9058.

Governance Training Courses

A range of funded governance courses with the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Perth leadership exchange.

Governance Conversations webinar series

Learn more about contemporary issues in arts governance at our free monthly webinar series Governance Conversations, programmed in collaboration with Diversity Arts Australia. The series will explore practical aspects of governing arts and creative industries organisations, innovative approaches, and share best practice models for ensuring diversity and cultural safety.

Register for upcoming webinars and watch recordings of past webinars at the link below.

Watch here

About the opportunities

Australia Council for the Arts is delighted to offer world-class governance training with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

The courses on offer will provide participants with training in the areas of governance, risk, strategy and finance.

Learn more, and apply, via the links below:

  • Governance Training for Individuals: Governance Foundations for Not-for-Profit Directors with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (online delivery)
    Applications open: Monday 14 August
    Applications close: Tuesday 19 September 2023, 3pm AEST
  • Governance Training for Organisations (1.5-day course): Governance Foundations for Not-for-Profit Directors with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (online delivery)
    Applications open: Monday 14 August
    Applications close: Tuesday 19 September 2023, 3pm AEST
  • Governance Training for Organisations (3-day course): Foundations of Directorship™ online course with the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
    Applications open: Monday 14 August
    Applications close: Tuesday 19 September 2023, 3pm AEST

Governance Training for Organisations (1.5-day course)

Governance Foundations for Not-for-Profit Directors with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (online delivery)

Perth leadership exchange.

Governance Conversations webinar series

Learn more about contemporary issues in arts governance at our free monthly webinar series, Governance Conversations, programmed in collaboration with Diversity Arts Australia. The series will explore practical aspects of governing arts and creative industries organisations, innovative approaches, and share best practice models for ensuring diversity and cultural safety.

Register for upcoming webinars and watch recordings of past webinars at the link below.

Register and watch now

About the opportunity

Australia Council for the Arts is delighted to offer world-class governance training with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) for organisations via the Governance Foundations for Not-for-Profit Directors Course.

This 1.5-day course, to be delivered online, will provide participants with an understanding of fundamental compliance and performance related roles and responsibilities of not-for-profit directors, specifically in the areas of governance, risk, strategy and financial performance.

The opportunity is open to CEOs, Executive Directors, Artistic Directors and General Managers or those in an equivalent role (as well as staff acting as the board secretariat) from small-to-medium arts organisations. It is aimed at those with no formal board governance training in the first few years of their board role.

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

  • Examine the duties and responsibilities of directors in not-for-profit (NFP) organisations.
  • Outline the role of the regulatory authorities in the NFP sector.
  • Compare the role of directors in NFP organisations with the role of directors in the commercial sector.
  • Explain the role of the board in developing strategy.
  • Establish the link between strategy and risk management, risk culture and effective leadership.
  • Explain the major elements of the financial statements and the linkages between the financial statements.
  • Identify a director’s duties with regard to an organisation’s financial statements and financial reports.
  • Discuss the board’s role in improving financial performance.

The program consists of three half-day courses:

  • Duties and Responsibilities of the Not-for-Profit Director
  • Strategy and Risk for the Not-for-Profit Director
  • Finance for the Not-for-Profit Director

This program has a length of 1.5 days with further time allocated for completing the pre-coursework (approximately one day in duration). To support the learning within this program, participants who enrol in the program also receive a recording of The Role of the Not-for-Profit Director webinar and access to the Interpreting Financial Statements eLearning course.

Access to the pre-coursework will be available three weeks prior to the course date. Participants are required to complete this in preparation before attending the online classroom sessions.

This opportunity is only open to:

  • CEOs, Executive Directors, Artistic Directors and General Managers or those in an equivalent role (as well a staff acting as the Board secretariat) from small-to-medium arts organisations
  • Organisations who do not receive Multi-year Investment from Australia Council
  • CEOs, Executive Directors, Artistic Directors and General Managers or those in the first 5 years of their tenure with no formal governance training.

Only organisations may apply for this opportunity. You must be an Australian based arts organisation.

You can’t apply if:

  • you are an individual
  • you receive Multi-year Investment via Four Year Funding, Visual Arts and Craft Strategy or National Performing Arts Partnership Framework
  • you have undertaken previous training with the Australian Institute of Company Directors or equivalent training
  • you have an overdue grant report
  • you owe money to the Australia Council
  • you are applying as a group.

If you are an individual not currently on a board you may be eligible for the Governance Training for Individuals opportunity.

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

Selection Criteria:

  • Timeliness and relevance of the training opportunity to your organisation.
  • The impact the proposed activity will have on your organisation.
  • Commitment to implementing learnings for the sustainability of the arts sector.

Frequently asked questions

We are supporting a number of fully subsidised (free) places in this course.

Alternatively, organisations seeking to secure a place with arts and creative industries peers can cover the cost. For more information about paid places, please email leadershipprogram@creative.gov.au.

Organisations can nominate 1 person to attend the course.

Multi-year Investment organisations can request an additional second place in the course. A second place is subject to applicable costs and availability. See above under “How much does it cost” for more.

NPAPF organisations must nominate 1 executive staff member and 1 board member to attend the training, and will be required to cover the full cost of the second place in the course. See above under “How much does it cost” for more.

Please also note the information about the staff and board members who are eligible to attend the course under “Eligibility”.

We are working with the AICD’s Board Advance team to offer this course specifically for creative industries professionals.

Online. The Course will be delivered online utilising Zoom video conferencing technology and appropriate technology capabilities are required.

A link to access each online facilitation session will be made available to participants in the MyLearning “My Courses” page.

This course is digitally accessible. Please get in touch if you have any specific access requirements.

Applicants must be available for the two days of the course and have capacity to undertake a full day of pre-reading and preparation in the three weeks leading up to the course date.

During the two days of the online teaching the hours will be:

  • Day 1: 11am-6:30pm (AEDT)
  • Day 2: 11am-2:30pm (AEDT)

The course will be delivered by expert facilitators from the AICD faculty with directorship experience in a similar sector or industry.

The learning approach takes the form of a series of facilitated discussions and interactive case studies that consolidate understanding.

For any questions or further information please email leadershipprogram@creative.gov.au or call +61 2 9215 9058.

Governance Training for Individuals

Governance Foundations for Not-for-Profit Directors with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (online delivery)

Perth leadership exchange.

Governance Conversations webinar series

Learn more about contemporary issues in arts governance at our free monthly webinar series, Governance Conversations, programmed in collaboration with Diversity Arts Australia. The series will explore practical aspects of governing arts and creative industries organisations, innovative approaches, and share best practice models for ensuring diversity and cultural safety.

Register for upcoming webinars and watch recordings of past webinars at the link below.

Register and watch now

About the opportunity

Australia Council for the Arts is delighted to offer world-class governance training with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) for individuals via the Governance Foundations for Not-for-Profit Directors Course.

This 1.5-day course, to be delivered online, will provide participants with an understanding of fundamental compliance and performance related roles and the responsibilities of not-for-profit (NFP) directors, specifically in the areas of governance, risk, strategy and financial performance.

The opportunity is open to individuals in the arts and creative industries who are working outside of organisations. It is for individuals with no prior board director experience who are seeking to build capacity and capability in this area with the ambition to accept a directorship role on an arts / creative industries board.

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

  • Examine the duties and responsibilities of directors in NFP organisations.
  • Outline the role of the regulatory authorities in the NFP sector.
  • Compare the role of directors in NFP organisations with the role of directors in the commercial sector.
  • Explain the role of the board in developing strategy.
  • Establish the link between strategy and risk management, risk culture and effective leadership.
  • Explain the major elements of the financial statements and the linkages between the financial statements.
  • Identify a director’s duties regarding an organisation’s financial statements and financial reports.
  • Discuss the board’s role in improving financial performance.

The program consists of three half-day courses:

  • Duties and Responsibilities of the Not-for-Profit Director
  • Strategy and Risk for the Not-for-Profit Director
  • Finance for the Not-for-Profit Director

This program has a length of 1.5 days with further time allocated for completing the pre-coursework (approximately one day in duration). To support the learning within this program, participants who enrol in the program also receive a recording of The Role of the Not-for-Profit Director webinar and access to the Interpreting Financial Statements eLearning course.

Access to the pre-coursework will be available three weeks prior to the course date. Participants are required to complete this in preparation before attending the online classroom sessions.

This opportunity is only open to:

  • Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people
  • Culturally and Linguistically diverse people
  • People in regional/remote areas
  • People with Disability
  • Younger People (25 and under).

Only individuals may apply for this opportunity. You must be an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident, and a practicing artist or arts worker.

You can’t apply if:

  • you have undertaken previous training with the Australian Institute of Company Directors
  • you have an overdue grant report
  • you owe money to us
  • you are applying as a group or organisation

If you are working in an organisation you may be eligible for the Governance Training for Organisations (1.5 day) or Governance Training for Organisations (3 day) opportunities.

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

Selection Criteria:

  • Timeliness and relevance of the training opportunity to your professional development.
  • The impact the proposed activity will have on your career.
  • Commitment to implementing learnings for the sustainability of the arts sector.

Frequently asked questions

We are supporting a number of fully subsidised (free) places in this course.

Alternatively, individuals seeking to secure a place with arts and creative industries peers can cover the cost. For more information about paid places, please email leadershipprogram@creative.gov.au.

We are working with the AICD’s Board Advance team to offer this course specifically for creative industries professionals.

Online. The Course will be delivered online utilising Zoom video conferencing technology and appropriate technology capabilities are required.

A link to access each Online facilitation session will be made available to Participants in the MyLearning “My Courses” page.

This course is digitally accessible. Please get in touch if you have any specific access requirements.

Applicants must be available for the two days of the course and have capacity to undertake a full day of pre-reading and preparation in the three weeks leading up to the course date.

During the two days of the online teaching the hours will be:

  • Day 1: 11am-6:30pm (AEDT)
  • Day 2: 11am-2:30pm (AEDT)

The course will be delivered by expert facilitators from the AICD faculty with directorship experience in a similar sector or industry.

The learning approach takes the form of a series of facilitated discussions and interactive case studies that consolidate understanding.

For any questions or further information please email leadershipprogram@creative.gov.au or call +61 2 9215 9058.

Sync Australia Online Leadership Program

About


Sync Leadership Australia Online Program is a new intensive modular online leadership and coaching program exploring leadership for people with disability and/or who are D/deaf.

The Sync Leadership program was founded over 10 years ago by Sarah Pickthall and Jo Verrent – two leaders with disability in the UK – to develop Deaf and disabled leadership in arts, culture, heritage and media. Sync has been successfully rolled out globally, including in Australia in 2014, 2015 and 2021 via an online format.

Access Arts is delighted to bring the Sync Leadership program back to Australia in 2022.

Taking part in Sync will help you develop new awareness and skills and refresh your confidence to progress your professional arts career.

 “Sync is not about the job you have; it is about your leadership potential and how to harness it.” Sarah Pickthall, Co-Founder, Sync Leadership.

Eligible applicants must be:

  • a practicing artist, arts worker or producer who identifies as experiencing disability and/or who is D/deaf
  • an artist or arts manager in the arts, culture or media for at least two years
  • an Australian resident
  • available for all program sessions
  • has access to suitable WiFi connection
  • willing to identify publicly as person with disability if they are the winner.

Applications must include:

  • a 100-word biography
  • a high-resolution photograph (portrait orientation)
  • answers to all application questions (in writing or on video)
  • a professional letter of recommendation.

You are welcome to submit your application in a format that is accessible to you, such as audio, video, printed, dictated, electronic or handwritten.

Click here to download the Sync Australia guidelines

Click here to download the Sync Australia application form 

The following selection criteria will be used to assess your application:

  • readiness for the Sync program – being at the right point in your professional career
  • leadership skills and flair that Sync can help you develop
  • your development in the arts and culture: short term and long-term goals
  • personal and professional experience of barriers and how these have been managed or overcome
  • commitment to the six workshops and three one-on-one coaching sessions
  • confirmed availability on all session dates and times.

For your application to be eligible, you must submit your current resume and examples of work.

Current biography (required)

  • 100 words maximum
  • Please outline your artistic background, experience and achievements

Examples of work (required)

You may select any or a combination of the following:

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

Letter of support

  • From an individual or organisation who knows your work and recommends it

Please note that where possible we prefer to receive website links, PDF or Word documents as supporting material. The maximum file size for sending an email to Access Arts is 15MB. If your application exceeds 15MB your application will not be eligible.

  1. Complete your application online at ly/SYNCLeadershipAU-2023 and upload your supporting material OR
  2. Email your completed application form and support material to syncaustralia@cpl.org.au. Please use “SYNC Leadership Australia 2022” in the subject heading.

We encourage you to apply in advance of the closing date to avoid delays caused by unforeseeable technical difficulties.

If you have any questions about eligibility or application, please contact Access Arts on 07 3505 0311 or 0403 070 661 or email syncaustralia@cpl.org.au.

Successful participants will be contacted by phone and email on Friday 28 October 2022.

You will be asked to provide information about your access requirements, so we can make arrangements for you. You will also be provided with a program timetable.

Sync Leadership Australia Online Program is presented by Sync Leadership (UK) and Access Arts, supported by Australia Council for the Arts.

Sync Leadership Australia Online Program is presented by Sync Leadership (UK) and Access Arts, supported by Australia Council for the Arts.

Digital Skills Program

A series of workshops, seminars and intensives that focus on using digital and emerging technologies to develop creative practice.

About the program

We are partnering with leading educational institutions, creative technologists and industry professionals to bring you a series of learning opportunities designed to develop your skills and to adapt and thrive in an increasingly digital world. The program aims to enable creative practitioners to develop relevant digital skills and strategies to explore new creative work and build sustainable careers.

The Digital Skills panels bring together leading artists, researchers, producers and curators in the field to talk about how they’re making, programming and working with new technologies and the digital space.

Previous panels

Workshops are ideation-based sessions with industry professionals and creative technologists designed to stimulate a digital mindset in artists and organisations. Participants are encouraged to bring problems, questions and projects to the session to have them worked through. Part tech support, part brain-storming, these sessions aim to energise and inspire participants.

Keep an eye out for our upcoming workshops.

Intensives take small groups of digital artists and practitioners to key industry events in the wider creative sector. These short intensives are designed for artists to cross pollinate with the wider digital creative industries and gain exposure to new technologies outside the art sector.

Previous intensives

Digital Skills Program × Melbourne International Games Week

Future of Arts, Culture & Technology Symposium

Riverina Arts Leadership Program

For regional arts leaders

The Australia Council facilitated a 3-month leadership program for artists and arts workers from across the Riverina between March and June 2021 in Wagga. The program is designed for both emerging and established leaders working in the arts and creative industries.The program connected with our national cohort visiting Wagga Wagga for their leadership residentials.

Participants were guided through four sessions to explore their leadership, new ways of thinking and enacting the potential of creativity for change. Activities included workshops, discussions, guest speakers and reflective practices to learn more about creative leadership.


Diversity and access: leadership program

The Australia Council 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. We encourage applicants to contact us via phone or email to discuss further. Learn more about diversity in leadership.


 

In partnership with:
















International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA) Australia Fellowship Program

Welcome to the International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA) Australia Fellowship Program

Australia council scholarship

The Australia Council are partnering with the International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA) to support four emerging and mid-career leaders from the performing arts sector to participate in a three-year fellowship program, including attendance at New York congresses in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and Taipei congress in mid-2020.

The overall aim of the Fellowship Program is to increase Australian arts leaders’ ability to sustainably and confidently operate in international markets.

ISPA’s Fellowship Program provides emerging and mid-career performing arts professionals with the opportunity to expand their international networks through membership and attendance at ISPA Congresses. The program targets leaders from specific regions and facilitates their participation in ISPA over an extended period of time.

As part of the program, fellows will attend a one-day pre-congress orientation with other members of the Fellowship Program. Fellows are encouraged to use the opportunity to build and nurture relationships, exchange ideas and to commission and present new works.

The next ISPA Congress will be held in New York in January 2020. Further information about the Fellowship Program is available on ISPA’s website.

An Australia Council Scholarship of US$24,800 per person over three years will support four high-performing, mid-career Australian performing arts leaders to participate in ISPA’s Fellowship Program. The all-inclusive scholarship covers membership, registration, travel, accommodation, per diems and program expenses.

  •  ISPA Congress New York 2020: 13-16 January
  •  ISPA Congress Taipei 2020: Dates TBA (May/June 2020)
  •  ISPA Congress New York 2021: 11-14 January
  •  ISPA Congress New York 2022: Dates TBA (January 2022)

Applicants must:

  • be permanent residents or citizens of Australia
  • be currently employed/working in the performing arts
  • have a minimum of five years professional experience in the arts
  • have not received an ISPA Fellowship in the past
  • have the ability to attend and fully participate in ISPA for the next three years.

For more information and to apply visit the ISPA website.

In partnership with:

International Leadership program (Indo-Pacific)

In partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the International Leadership Program invites applicants from nine eligible Indo-Pacific countries to apply for the Arts Leaders or Future Leaders programs in Australia.

Apply for a fully funded scholarship in one of our groundbreaking programs to transform your leadership and create impact for your organisation, practice or community.

Join colleagues from across our region to explore arts leadership through a different lens and learn through a range of experiences during your visits to Australia.

Applications for the 2019 round are now closed.

LEARN MORE

Arts Leaders program

The Arts Leaders Program is designed to transform our sector’s knowledge by developing skills and capabilities of our established practitioners. The program brings together leaders from Australia and eligible Indo Pacific countries across artforms and career levels, to inspire and enhance arts leadership. The Arts Leaders Program is a personal and professional development opportunity – it will enhance your skills and capabilities, develop your networks and provide a platform for growth.

Applications are now closed.

LEARN MORE

Future Leaders program

The Future Leaders Program is designed to transform our sectors knowledge by developing skills and capabilities of our emerging practitioners. The program brings together a group of diverse leaders to engage with current and relevant themes affecting the future of the arts. Together, you will work through common challenges and opportunities faced within the sector today. 

The Future Leaders Program is for emerging leaders within their first ten years’ experience in the sector. The program is open to arts leaders working independently, within organisations or the broader community. 

Applications for the 2019 round are now closed.

Future Leaders Program

Arts Governance program

The Arts Governance Program is a national opportunity for organisations to enhance their governance practices through a program tailored specifically to the arts. The program aims to enhance governance skills, supporting leaders to prosper and arts organisations to thrive.

The program is comprised of two components, an arts governance workshop series and webinar series, both of which are aimed at the leaders (including board members/chairs, as well as senior management and artistic staff) of small to medium arts organisations.

LEARN MORE

Future Leaders Program

A personal and professional development opportunity for emerging arts leaders.

2022 Future Leaders Residential 2, Bundanon Art Museum and Bridge. Image credit: Heidrun Lohr

The Future Leaders Program is a personal and professional development opportunity for emerging arts leaders within the first ten years of their career.

The program promotes networking, while enhancing skills and knowledge. Delivered over 12-months, participants connect with and learn from peers who are working within organisations or independently, through in-person and online workshops.

Through facilitated discussion, knowledge exchanges, workshops and on Country learning with First Nations Elders, Future leaders will explore new models of leadership and current themes our industry faces today and into the future.

The program supports participants requirements, including access and travel, including alternative models of participation if required.

We have developed an Easy English Guide for our leadership programs. The guide combines text and images to convey information simply and directly.

For more information, please refer to the Future Leaders FAQ section or connect with Leadership Program team at leadershipprogram@creative.gov.au.

AJ Lamarque is a Queer, Mixed Raced Comedian with heritage from the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and Asia. When not performing/being an independent producer, he is the Associate Producer, Marketing for Griffin Theatre Company. In the recent past he has participated in writers’ rooms for digital and TV productions, performed at prestigious venues across Australia and is developing his own show ‘English Breakfast’ which will premiere later this year.

His independent work is based around fostering welcoming and inclusive spaces within comedy for all types of audiences and performers. His show Kweens of Comedy is one of Sydney’s and Oxford Street’s biggest comedy nights through which he also runs the Newcomers Program — a free initiative to help mentor and support diverse new voices in the comedy industry.

AJ has previously been on the Membership Committee for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and has talked on diversity and inclusivity for Sydney Fringe Festival. In 2018, he was given the Sydney Opera House’s Future Leader Award for his work on their Reconciliation Action Committee. In 2019 he was a finalist for the Honour Award’s Young Achiever category and, in 2020, he was one of Out for Australia’s 30 under 30.

Andi Snelling is a multi-award-winning performer, writer and director. She makes boundary-pushing theatre that explores the human condition through the personal as universal with raw honesty and playful physicality.

Andi holds a BA (French & German)/Dip. Creative Arts (Theatre Studies), University of Melbourne, completed on a scholarship program at Freie Universität, Berlin, where she lived for many years before moving to London to study an MA Performance (Acting) at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Her career highlights include: Edith in Picnic at Hanging Rock (BBC), Brinda in Neighbours (Fremantle Media), Ensemble in Crazy for You (London Palladium), Inflight Voice for Qatar Airways and her three critically-acclaimed solo theatre shows, #DearDiary, Déjà Vu and Happy-Go-Wrong, with the latter receiving five awards and being named a “highlight of the year” (The Age).

After having her world turned upside down by chronic illness, Andi has become a champion of thriving in impossibility. She is passionate about the intersection of art and health and is an ambassador for the Lyme Disease Association of Australia, on the board of No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability, and runs her own creative mentoring business, Kick Up The Arts.

Andrew is an accomplished Producer whose career has covered Festival, Art Centre and Local Government roles. Originally from Western Australia, Andrew has worked with leading arts organisations such as Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth Festival, and Big hART, programming and producing iconic events, cherished by the community.

Andrew’s professional practice explores how creative processes can be used as a tool for community development, working with intergenerational and intercultural cohorts of emerging and established artists, to create truly collaborative performance and exhibition pieces.

Currently living and working in nipaluna (Hobart) lutruwita (Tasmania), Andrew is discovering a new community and divides his time between working at the Moonah Arts Centre and freelance Producing opportunities.

Celia is a proud Adnyamathanha woman, a producer and an artist. In her role at Adelaide Festival Centre, she works on First Nations programming for DreamBIG Children’s Festival and the Centre’s year-round program. Celia is the creative producer for new literary and storytelling events OUR WORDS and OUR STORIES celebrating the importance of First Nations narratives alongside the annual OUR MOB: Art by South Australian Aboriginal Artists exhibition. Celia’s personal artistic practice focuses on illustration and development of Adnyamathanha language resources to reinvigorate the language in her community.

DAVID RALPH is an arts management graduate (WAAPA) working across community arts and cultural development and performing arts sectors. He is passionate about the artistic, social and economic factors that influence and shape the cultural melting pot we all live and work in. David has programmed large civic cultural programs (26.01.08, Federation Square), national tour manager (Sumardi, Aryantha & IndoBboy Fusion 2007/08) and worked as program manager for the Anti-Racism Action Band (2010/11).

David is a co-founding member Outer Urban Projects a company creating new forms of contemporary performance imagined from the life experiences of young emerging artists from Melbourne’s outer north (since 2012).  Works have included: Urban Chamber – Beyond (2013, Melbourne Festival), Poetic License (2014, 2015 & 2017 Melbourne Writers Festival), Grand DiVisions – A Moved Urban Cantata (2015, Melbourne Festival), Vessel (2017, Melbourne Fringe), 125BPM (2019, Melbourne Recital Centre and The Audition (2019, La Mama).

Donna is a Wakka Wakka woman of the Bujiebara clan of South East Queensland and also first generation Australian. She has a Bachelor of Music Performance from UTAS and has been working in the music industry for a number of years, including with: – APRA AMCOS’ National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office (NATSIMO) – MusicNT – First Nations Media Australia’s indigiTUBE Project (current). Donna lives and works on the unceded lands of the Arrernte peoples of Mparntwe/Alice Springs and is soon to release singles from her music project VELIA produced by Dave Crowe.

Eugenie Lee is a Wangal Land-based interdisciplinary artist with a conceptual focus on persistent pain. Experimentation and collaboration with pain researchers, who investigate ways in which technologies can assist in pain science, are an important foundation for her art practice which includes participatory interactive performance, installations, and paintings.
Eugenie’s practice integrates Crip Theory and explores innovative ways to draw out deeper understanding and reflections about the fundamental experience of a social being in the context of pain.

Notable curatorial exhibitions include Psyche at Science Gallery Bengaluru (2022), the Big Anxiety Festival at UNSW (2019), MOD.IFY: It’s not what you know at Museum Of Discovery (MOD.) (2018), and The Patient: The Medical Subject in Contemporary Art (2016-18). Eugenie is a recipient of Sync Leadership Access Arts (2021), Career Development Grants Australia Council of the Arts (2020), Create NSW’s 360 Vision: Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Development Initiative (2019), Synapse residency at Australian Network for Art and Technology ANAT (2015), and Amplify Your Arts Accessible Arts (2014). She is an active pain advocate and a member of the prestigious Global Alliance of Partners for Pain Advocacy Task Force (GAPPA) for the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). Eugenie graduated with Honours from Sydney College of the Arts in 2012.

Fiona Dorrell is the Executive Director of the NT Writers’ Centre. In 2020 she was the Artistic Director for the NT Writers Festival and steered the event through a major pandemic related postponement to deliver a heartwarming four day program in collaboration with 100+ artists. She is driven by the belief that writing and storytelling ​illuminates our values, and allows us to experience the interconnectedness between people and place. For her own writing, she is a a previous recipient of an Arts NT Varuna Fellowship and alumni to the ACTWC’s Hardcopy program.

Harley Mann, is a Wakka Wakka man from Queensland, he grew up on Gadigal country in NSW. Drawing on his own Aboriginal heritage as inspiration Harley founded Na Djinang Circus in 2017. Harley has since worked with some of Australia’s leading contemporary circus companies including, Circa, Circus Oz and Casus.

Under Harley’s guidance, Na Djinangs highly successful work Common Dissonance was nominated for a greenroom award for best circus. In 2021 Na Djinang premiered a sold-out season of Arterial as a part of the Yirramboi Festival.

Harley was also honoured with the 2018 Melbourne Fringe Award for Best Emerging Circus Artist. He was also chosen as the youth representative for the 2018 circus talk as a part of the Sydney Festival. And he is a current member of the CaPT Advisory board for circus and physical theatre. and was recently a recipient of the Circus Oz Fellow ship program 2021.

Harley is ensuring that he upskills while he tours, creates, and develops what he hopes is a significant contribution to Australia’s circus industry.

Ian Sinclair is an antidisciplinary artist, playwright and Live Art curator spanning immersive and participatory installation, cross-artform collaborations, contemporary Theatre and socially engaged world-building approaches. His projects consider queerness, kinship, the ecological uncanny and the ethical quandaries of cultural spectacle.

Sinclair’s experimental partnership Pony Express, with artist Loren Kronemyer, lampoons soft and hard power structures to create palliative, alternate ‘realities’ that consider deep adaptation, burgeoning social movements, nonhuman politics and our trans-apocalyptic age.

Sinclair has exhibited and toured, nationally and internationally, from contemporary art institutions to non-traditional venues. Collaborating with communities at the forefront of queer, activist, and environmental futures. Sinclair has a BA (Contemporary Performance) from Edith Cowan University and was a seasonal lecturer at the Iceland University of the Arts.

In 2021, he premiered plays Whale Fall (Perth Festival x PICA); Nocturna (The Kabuki Drop); exhibited Abolish The Olympics (Contemporary Art Tasmania); curated Crisis Actor and Hyperlocal (PACT). In 2022, will premiere large-scale artwork Epoch Wars (Performing Lines x New Annual Festival); play Horses (Kunst Productions x Belvoir25A), and develop new Live Artworks: To A God Unknown and The Queer Woodchop.

For the past twelve years, Joe Alexander has developed and run a range of initiatives in the music industry, from advocating for representation of musicians from migrant backgrounds, to profiling musicians and arts workers working in regional and remote areas and bringing contemporary musicians together in collaboration and community building. In 2009, Joe founded Bedroom Suck Records, an independent label which now has over eighty releases in distribution throughout Australia, New Zealand, Japan, North America, the UK and Europe. He later formed the Great Southern Land Touring Co., an initiative aimed at connecting with musicians in remote and regional Australia. Ten years later, 2019 saw the launch of Music in Exile, an exciting new not-for-profit record label and artist services company working with Australian musicians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The Music in Exile team has grown to six staff, managing the growth and development of a roster of exciting artists and working to build an organisation that is artist-driven and community minded. For Joe, meeting individuals and hearing their stories is the greatest joy the music industry can bring, and he hopes to share this experience with audiences everywhere.

Katina is a Wakka Wakka Kombumerri choreographer / performer and also has Norwegian, German and English Ancestry. She has worked throughout Australia, Canada, UK, USA and Europe with Atamira, Sydney Dance Company, Stalker Theatre, Expressions (now Australasian Dance Collective), Bangarra, Force Majeure, Erth, GUTS, Meryl Tankard, Martin del Amo, Victoria Hunt, Narelle Benjamin, Vicki Van Hout, Liesel Zink and Wesley Enoch.

Katina’s choreographic highlights include Mother’s Cry for Sydney Dance Company’s New Breed 2018, movement direction for the play Sunshine Super Girl (Sydney Festival 2021), the ABC series Cleverman 2 and the Malthouse production Walking into the Bigness.

Katina presented her Independent solo work namu nunar at Supercell Festival of Contemporary Dance, Yonder Festival, Horizon Festival, Festival 2018 and Happy Hour as part of March Dance 2019. Katina is also founding member of Dance Makers Collective and collaborated and performed with them on their Australian Dance Award nominated DADS, Instar as part of Big Dance in Small Chunks (Parramatta Riverside), their 2020 sold out Sydney Festival show The Rivoli and most recently choreographing solo work beneath performed by Emily Flannery as part of In Situ with DMC’s Future Makers at Sydney Festival 2021.

Kuichiang “Kush” Kuiy is a 2nd generation Australian of South-Sudanese heritage. Kush is an independent producer/artist/writer/curator and avid bird watcher. Her artistic practice reflects her third-culture experience; cultural heritage; and the natural world. Kush’s producing practice is based in the outer South-East suburbs. She is passionate abut making arts and culture accessible to her community and works on various projects with local artists to build the creative scene in the suburbs. Kush is a 2020 recipient of Creative Victoria and Theatre Networks Australia’s, Victorian Independent Producers Initiative and the 2021 Lindsay King Arts Award recipient. She is the co-founder and producer of the Rise of South Sudan Music and Arts Festival; the networking platform Blaxcellence; & is a founding member of the Way Over There Collective. Kush is the Art Director for the GRID Series’ inaugural Sun, Earth, Moon Festival in Cranbourne. Kush has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in International Relations from Deakin University.

Leah Jing McIntosh is a critic, researcher, and the founding editor of LIMINAL, an anti-racist literary platform that seeks to support and elevate racialised artists and writers, with a focus on Asian Australian experience. Alongside editing LIMINAL, and the critically-acclaimed fiction anthology Collisions (Pantera Press, 2020), Leah has established national literary prizes for writers of colour, produced literary events, and partnered with major arts organisations, to advocate for a more equitable arts sector.

She has a Masters in English Literature from University College London, and is currently completing her PhD in Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her research is concerned with the possibilities of diasporic self-representation, and the fracturing of literary form. Leah’s work is underpinned by an anti-racist, anti-colonial praxis, which means she sometimes gets into trouble. Trouble aside, she has been selected as a Victorian nominee for Young Australian of the Year, listed on Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30—Class of 2020 and Asialink’s inaugural 40 under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians. In 2021, she was named one of the three inaugural Asia Society Melbourne Game Changers.

Lewis Major is an award-winning choreographer, director and creative entrepreneur and a former sheep shearer turned contemporary dance theatre maker. He might be the only dance artist in Australia who can reverse parallel park a tractor and travelled to all three axis-of-evil countries. He honed his skills in dancemaking over a decade spent working with seminal contemporary dance makers Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Russell Maliphant, Hans van den Broeck (Cie Soit/Les Ballets C de la B), Damien Jalet, Hofesh Shechter and Aakash Odedra amongst others. Unabashedly audience driven, the ethos that drives his work is local focus, global outlook. His company Lewis Major Projects presents surprisingly real dance works in multiple mediums to diverse audiences across the world, having created 17 different works both independently and on commission and having presented them on 6 continents to widespread critical and commercial success. His work has been presented at amongst others Adelaide Festival, Adelaide Festival Centre, Sadler’s Wells, The Royal Opera House and The Place (UK); Festival de Mayo (Mexico); La Comete, Centre des Arts Enghien Les Bains, La Maison de la Musique de Nanterre, Maison des Arts de Creteil (France); Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg (Luxembourg), PUSH Push Festival (Canada); Impulstanz Festival, Ars Electronica Festival (Austria); TED Global (Brazil) and TEDx London; Esplanade Theatres (Singapore); and the Baryshnikov Art Centre (NYC).

Mariam Arcilla is an artsworker and storyteller based on Gadigal / Sydney. Her practice metabolises through writing, producing, arts communications, gallery managing, and editing. Born to a Filipino artist and Singaporean air stewardess, Mariam spent her childhood zig-zagged between studios, museums, and make-shift homes in the Philippines, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Immigrating to Australia in 1996, Mariam started her arts career on Yugambeh and Kombumerri Lands / Gold Coast, where she co-founded and managed creative-led initiatives. Since 2006, Mariam has worked with artists and organisations to turn radiant ideas into exhibitions, publications, dialogues, and resources. Currently, she is the Communications & Engagement Manager at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and Deputy Chair at Runway Journal. Mariam has held senior and consultant roles at museums, commercial galleries, tech companies, cultural policy boards, and public sector departments in Queensland and New South Wales. She has dreamed up campaigns and programs with leading bodies, including Arts Queensland, City of Gold Coast, Museum of Brisbane, Institute of Modern Art, THE WALLS, State Library of Queensland, and HOTA. Her writing is published in VAULT, Running Dog, Art Collector, and Art Guide. Mariam holds a BA Hons (First Class) and BCA in Contemporary Art & Writing from Griffith University.

Nadya holds master’s degrees in art history from the St Petersburg State University, Russia, and from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; she currently lives and works in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia.

Before assuming her current role of Installation Project Manager at the National Gallery of Victoria, Nadya has worked at the Biennale of Sydney (21st edition “Superposition: Equilibrium and Engagement”), the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, and Smart Project Space in Amsterdam. During her time at the State Hermitage Nadya also contributed to the production of the 10th edition of the European Nomadic Biennial of Contemporary Art MANIFESTA.
With experience in curatorial, management and operations, Nadya is particularly interested in the behind-the-scenes life of art institutions and the continuing evolution of governance and organizational structures and practices that support and bring about artistic vision.

Ripley Kavara is an artist, producer and youth worker born in Papua New Guinea, based in Naarm. Their multidisciplinary experience spans 6+ years, encompassing being a musician, producer, DJ, event organizer and community/youth work as a mentor and project lead.

Kavara’s brain child Kandere was the catalyst that launched them into the heights of the music scene. Performing at Dark Mofo alongside artists including Kojey Radical, GAIKA, Kaiit, Drmingnow, Kandere was applauded by music critics, receiving rave reviews from Noisey, Purple Sneakers, Acclaim and Swampland magazines. Kandere’s debut single ‘BBGOY’ solidified Kavara as an innovator, their music described as “evoking strong visions.”

Kavara is the founder of FAMILI. Birthed in 2019, FAMILI is a music-focused Pasifika and Blak collective of queer and transgender people. As Creative Director, lead artist and producer, they hold the role of working collaboratively with other artists to bring life to their visions, with a particular focus on elevating, emerging artists,  under-represented voices and stories through the music and arts industries. The critical acclaim of the collective’s inaugural performance led to developing Kavara’s new work ‘We Take Back Our Mother Tongues’, debuting in 2022.

Kavara’s vision; home, diaspora, futures, disruption, belonging, Spiritual homecoming – with no limitations.

Sarah is a writer based on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Alongside writing, she holds a role within an acclaimed social enterprise in the education sector.

As the mixed-race child of a Ghanaian father and an Anglo-Australian mother, much of Sarah’s writing is themed around relationship to identity, culture, ancestry, intersectionality and connection through the diasporic experience. Sarah has written and performed with the Floating Key collective produced by China Aleisse at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, she has contributed to the ‘Where Are You From?’ project curated by Sabina McKenna exhibited at Blak Dot Gallery, and has been published in FOLK Magazine.

In 2020, Sarah’s piece ‘Magnolia’s Nurture’ won the Writers Victoria Woman of Colour Commission, and was published in ‘The Victorian Writer’. She was then featured on the Queerstories in Lockdown podcast, an award-winning podcast and storytelling project curated by Maeve Marsden, and was also commissioned by Lucille Cutting to pen the essay “Love & Death ” for The Pin.

In her position as Head of School Engagement within a highly esteemed, innovative and youth-driven social enterprise, Sarah plays a key role in supporting positive outcomes for students nationally, empowering them to be their most authentic selves.

Vishnu Arunasalam is a Sri Lankan-born Australian-raised multifaceted art-maker exploring the traditional  dance medium of Bharathanatyam through contemporary expression and techniques. His work explores his  South Asian diaspora identity within the contemporary Australian landscape through cross-disciplinary and  intercultural collaborations whilst also promoting the nuances and aesthetics of the Bharatanatyam form in  Australia.

He is a current practitioner of Bharathanatyam, Carnatic Music (South Indian Classical Music) and  Nattuvangam (South Indian Vocal Percussion) and has experience in Art Direction, Costume Design,  Production and Administration.
Currently, he is the Artistic Director of Agal Dance Company, established in August 2018 and is primarily  based in Sydney. They are a cutting-edge dance group, exploring the style of Bharathanatyam (South Indian  Classical Dance) through contemporary and modern world techniques. It is the first of its kind in Australia as  they use a South Asian vocabulary to critically think about the world and the issues they face as Australians  of a South Asian background.

Adriana Nordin Manan juggles eight professional roles: writer, translator, playwright, researcher, curator, dramaturg, educator and entrepreneur. After training in the social sciences and switching careers from policy research, she considers the arts a potent platform to “be in a room with difficult topics, while surrounded by gentleness and care.”

The desire to understand how people co-exist—especially the missteps and tensions—drives Adriana’s artmaking, which owes much to her being from Malaysia where the existence of intergroup conflict is always assumed, to confront these assumptions feels like catharsis and artistic duty. The layers and dimensions to colonialism, diversity, urban chaos and neoliberalism-instigated upheavals keep her alert and constantly seeking to create.

In 2019, Adriana’s translation of “Pengap” by Lokman Hakim was the first ever Malay submission shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. In 2021, the script of her first full-length play was a semi-finalist in the International Scratchpad Series by The Playwrights Realm, New York City. She is currently setting up a company that offers services in writing and translation, with an affiliated ideas lab and incubation space in storytelling and cultural exchange through language.

Adriana speaks Malay, English and Spanish, and is making glacial progress in learning Chinese.

“My name is Andrew Asaph Kuliniasi. I hold a lot of jobs in the creative field. I am a playwright, screenwriter, director, producer, actor, creative director, creative consultant, choreographer and songwriter in a country that has a super small creative arts industry. The best way to describe me is a swan in a pond full of crocodiles. I am a gay man, in a country where the issues I talk about in my art can get me killed. I am 21 years old, turning 22 and I am ready to lead the industry I believe I was born to build in my country. ”

Andrew Kuliniasi

Xuân Hạ is a visual and multimedia artist who currently lives and works in Danang, and whose practice focuses on the socio-cultural changes in her home region of Central Vietnam. In 2015, she co-founded “Chaosdowntown Cháo” – an art collective based in Saigon, and in 2019, she founded the “a sông club” – an art club exploring the identity of Da Nang-Quang Nam, including its land and its people.
Her body of works stems from the oppositions between herself and the dizzying changes that occur in her surrounding environment. Through various experimentations with materials and space, the artist uses the fragments of everyday life and a wide range of artistic media (painting, animation, video, sculpture and installation) to present unrealistic scenarios that then gradually shape their own narratives.

Mac Andre Arboleda is the Project Lead of the Artists for Digital Rights Network and the Founding President of the UP Internet Freedom Network. Between 2015 and 2019, he organized Zine Orgy, a biannual expo in Los Baños, Laguna created for artists and independent publishers. Between 2018 and 2020, he organized Munzinelupa, an annual arts festival in Muntinlupa City that hosted zine expos, film screenings, musical performances, and educational discussions. He is a member of Magpies Press, an artist collective and small press, where he served as Creative Director of The Basement, a platform for critical conversations on culture. Arboleda has completed residencies and fellowships hosted by the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Asia-Europe Foundation, GlobalGRACE, Load Na Dito, Salzburg Global Seminar, and the EU’s Cultural Relations Platform, among others. His works have been exhibited in Nomina Nuda, Sining Makiling Gallery, MONO8 Gallery, and the Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. He is a practicing artist, curator, and writer, and currently lives in San Pedro City, Laguna.

Olisana Mariner (she/her) is a Samoan Artist, Social Entrepreneur and Mental Health Advocate. Her life mission is to create solutions that make the democratisation of information and amplification of marginalised voices more effective. As a person living with EUPD and a caretaker to loved ones with ASD, ADD/ADHD, BP and CPTSD – Olisana aspires to create more equitable and inclusive environments for neurodiverse individuals in Pacific communities.

Born and raised in Samoa and hailing from the villages of Tulaele, Lalomanu, Sinamoga, Afega, Lano and Salelologa – with ancestors from the island of Niue and Kingdom of Tonga – Olisana is proud to be a Pacific Island woman.

In 2019, Olisana started her first business, THE HUB Pacific a hybrid events management company. Taking her lessons learned from incubation programs and international pitchfests she co-founded social enterprise, Onelook Studio, with her sister in 2021. Olisana serves as a minor shareholder of OSM Investments Limited; Founding Curator of the Apia Hub, Global Shapers Community (by the World Economic Forum); and Apia Hub Coordinator for the Pacific Connect program (run by ICDP and funded by the Government of Australia).

Using her skills in communication, international relations, and strategic thinking, Olisana brings the energy and vision to manage projects, lead teams and raise funds to meet community needs. As a Pacific Islander, she builds a strong sense of purpose and belonging into any team utilising empathy and social responsibility. Born and raised on a small island, Olisana also brings Samoan values such as resilience, adaptability and inclusion through talanoa to create customer-centric and/or community-led solutions.

When she’s not in a cafe sipping espressos, you can find her playing tabletop games with friends, potting plants, puzzling, and thrifting.

A post graduate from London International School of Performing Arts, Titas Dutta has been a practicing theatre maker and performer for more than a decade, working for National School of Drama Repertory Company, The Company Theatre, Shapeshift Collective and many more national and international theatre companies. She/they is a non-binary female theatre maker and arts manager based out of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Titas is trained in devising theatre techniques and mask derived acting practices proposed by the pedagogy of Jacques Lecoq. She/ they has been performing extensively across Europe, Australia and  Asia for most of her performing career so far. With her/their interest in art business and entrepreneurship, as an arts manager Titas has worked as the creative programmer for TCT Workspace, Kamshet and as the Programmer of Performing Arts for Kolkata Centre for Creativity, Kolkata. She/They was instrumental to conceive, manage and tour the international touring devising theatre festival “Whilst Walking Touring Festival 2019” in India. She/they is one of the founder members of  the women and queer theatre collective ‘Birati Samuho Performer’s Collective’ (Samuho) that is founded in April 2019 in Kolkata, where her/their research on performativity of gender marginalised bodies in public/ performance space has been manifesting into live creations. She/they advocates for inclusive content and practice, accessibility of theatre for all, safe space for actors/ performers and self-sustenance of creative organisations in her/their creative practice. Parent of a seven month old baby, Titas has a knack for rock climbing, cooking and music.

Varsha is Co-Founder and Director of One All, a non profit that provides value education to youth through the self-refereed and mixed-gender sport of Ultimate Frisbee. One All works with schools and under-served communities in India. Varsha completed her Masters in Photojournalism from Boston University in 2010 and worked as a storyteller across sectors. She is merging her passion for storytelling into her work as a sport facilitator to showcase stories of strength to the world. She believes that the power of this sport can bring people together and help build a better future – and to achieve that, all we need to do is show the world what is possible. She currently lives in the Nilgiri Hills, working with the indigenous tribes of the region.

Ananth holds a PhD in Human Geography specialising in socio-ecological adaptation. He has taught at the Universities of Wollongong and Melbourne and is an active researcher. Ananth has worked as an actor in Australia, New Zealand and the UK for the last 15 years and is an associate artist at Melbourne Playback Theatre Company. Ananth was trained by Marty Linksy and Ron Heifetz at Harvard Kennedy School in the Adaptive Leadership approach. He holds a Cert IV in adult education (TAE), BA (Hons) and a Diploma in Spanish language.

Tom has a background in journalism and politics. He has trained at the Harvard Kennedy School with Marty Linksy and Ron Heifetz and holds an Advanced Diploma of Facilitation from the Groupwork Institute. His work with Polykala has included supporting the renegotiation of the Regional Forestry Agreements; delivering adaptive leadership training to LGAs in Victoria and the Northern Territory and a range of Universities and NFPs. He holds at Cert IV in adult education (TAE), a BA (Uni Melb) and is pursuing graduate study in Psychology.

Participants of our Leadership Programs join an alumni network of over 250 national and international leaders from across the Indo-Pacific following the formal conclusion of their programs. 

Find out more about the participants of these programs here.

The International Leadership Program is for arts professionals from eligible Indo- Pacific countries to join the Future Leaders or Arts Leaders Program in Australia. 

In partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the International Leadership Program has supported 43 creative industries leaders from nine eligible Indo-Pacific countries to participate in the Arts Leaders or Future Leaders programs in Australia since 2018. 

Applications are now closed.  

Residential 1: 19-23 May 2022
Online session: 18 August 2022
Residential 2: 17-21 November 2022
Online session: 24 March 2023
Residential 3: 25-29 May 2023