Frequently asked questions
Over the past decade, the National Arts Participation Survey, the arts landscape it examines, and the ways in which the sector needs to understand audiences, have evolved.
To support these evolving needs, Creative Australia and Lonergan Research developed new and interactive ways to explore the data from the 2022 National Arts Participation Survey, <em>Creating Value</em>.
This is the second time this method of analysis has been used with the results from the National Arts Participation Survey, with the first set of tools analysing the 2019 National Arts Participation Survey data. In this 2022 update, the audience data and advocacy tools have been expanded. This second edition includes personas based on the population segments, and allows data from the population segments to be interactively explored alongside the Behavioural Index and the Attitudinal Index.
The Audience Data and Advocacy Tools can be used to better understand Australians’ engagement with and attitudes towards the arts.
Knowing and Growing your Audience: Guide to the 2022 audience data and advocacy provides an indication of how the tools may be used. While specific uses of the tools are presented throughout the guide, these examples are not exhaustive and there are multiple ways the tools can be used to explore the data. Users may explore the tools in any way they like.
Insights from the Audience Data and Advocacy Tools can be used for strategic planning and advocacy. Depending on your strategy and goals, the dashboards can be used to identify more information on target audiences.
For example, if your organisation’s target audience is parents of children under 16 in South Australia, you can apply the location filter on the demographics dashboard page and test each quintile or population segment to see which holds the largest proportion of your target demographic. You can then use the other dashboard pages to understand more about the quintile(s) which hold this audience – from understanding their key motivations and barriers to how often they engage with the arts.
This audience may also behave differently depending on whether you are looking at them via Population Segment, Behavioural Index or the Attitudinal Index. These insights may inform your organisation’s strategy in reaching this audience. For example, you may be able to tailor specific communication to this group or remove certain barriers that affect their participation.
Benchmarks can be set by choosing a measure, or measures, of interest to you or your organisation and recording the relevant data points.
A benchmark can be as simple as looking at the percentage of those in a particular segment who are in an age category of interest to you and who give to the arts. This percentage can be used as an initial benchmark measure and revisited in future years.
The dashboards cannot be filtered by artform at this stage. Art form filters may be explored in future versions of the tools.
These are currently the only available demographic filters. Additional demographic filters may be explored in future versions of the tools.
No, only one segment can be selected at a time.
At this stage it is not possible to save your settings or findings within the dashboards. However, you can download a dashboard view to PDF which will provide a snapshot of the data you’ve created in the dashboards.
A full report is available on our website which details the methods used to develop the Behavioural Index, Attitudinal Index and Population Segmentation Model.
To reset the dashboard, remove all applied filters by clicking on the highlighted filters. To remove the demographic filters, select ‘All’ in the dropdown menu to apply all categories.
Four filters can be selected at the same time. When using the dashboards, the three demographic filters at the top of the page can be selected at the same time, as well as the index filter.
Applying multiple filters can reduce the available sample size to low numbers. We recommend caution when the sample size (n) reaches 30 or below. Results should then be used indicatively only.
A dashboard is a moving and interactive on-screen graphical summary of information. Within the dashboard there are tabs that hold certain categories of information. Each tab shows various relevant charts. There are five tabs: Types of engagement, Motivations & barriers, Value of the arts, Diversity, Demographics. Each of these tabs illustrate various charts based on their topic.
A persona is a character profile based on the data from the survey. In this guide, personas are based on grouping people together according to their levels of arts engagement and on age, gender, life stage, education and cultural background.
Applications that focus solely on academic studies, or are for activities that are part of assessable coursework are unlikely to be successful with our assessment panels. Assessment panels are also unlikely to support applications requesting the costs of academic fees or courses.
If you wish to apply for study costs, explain to the panel how your project extends, or supplements, the course’s standard curriculum requirements. Also, bear in mind that your project will be assessed on artistic merit of the work.
If you are applying for an Arts Projects grant for funding to complete a training program, course, workshop or diploma, explain how doing so will impact positively on your career or practice.
A segment is a grouping of people who are similar in characteristics of interest. Population segments may be different in size and there is no limit to the number of segments there can be in a population or market.
A quintile is one of five equal, or roughly equal, segments of a population, divided based on a selected variable.
Additional information
When choosing the artform assessment panel for your application, consider which group of assessors will have the experience and background to best appreciate its merits.
If you are not sure which panel to choose, contact us.
Use this section to introduce yourself, your project partners and your project aims.
- Introduce yourself or your organisation in more detail. Don’t assume the assessors are familiar with your work. Talk about your background, how you work, and what you value.
- Don’t use this section to simply list key achievements. You can attach a CV/bio that provides this information in the support material section.
- Speak in your own voice, using the first person.
- Be concise, clear, and succinct. Avoid jargon. Talk about the project in the way that you would with your peers and colleagues.
- Use bullet points and subheadings where appropriate.
- Avoid generalisations, repetition, and hyperbolic or unsubstantiated claims.
- If you are applying on behalf of a group or organisation, use this section to talk about your key collaborators and partners. How does the group or organisation function creatively? What do each of its members bring to the whole? How do you work together? What drew you to working with each other?
- If your project involves a major project partner, provide information about them and how they will be involved.
- Describe the project clearly in terms of ‘what,’ ‘why’ and ‘how’.
- Provide the context and background of your project.
- Focus on what makes your project distinctive, original, and innovative. How is it different from your past work? What do you expect the impact of your project to be for you, the arts sector and Australian culture?
- Make it easy for assessors to understand the creative rationale behind your project.
- Describe your expected outcomes.
- What are the ideas at the centre of your project? Why are those ideas exciting?
- How will the public experience the project?
- Explain the steps you are going to take to deliver your project.
- Provide a clear, detailed, well-planned timetable in the ‘Activity Details’ section. Use this section to show the major milestones, events, and stages in your project.
- Explain how your proposal is timely and time sensitive.
- Situate the project within the context of your career progression, or your organisation’s long-term objectives. Explain where you have come from, where you are going, and why this project will help take you there.
- Think about any questions and concerns that the assessors might have regarding your application. Try to answer these pre-emptively.
- Leave as little room for doubt or ambiguity as possible.
- Show that you have considered and planned for any risks associated with pandemic, flood, fire, or other force majeure events.
- Choose the elective third assessment criterion that relates most directly to your project’s strengths. Your choice should reflect the main outcome of your project.
- If your proposal involves working with First Nations artists, communities, or subject matter, you must provide evidence of genuine consultation and consent. It is essential to implement adhere to our First Nations Protocols and demonstrate the practical application of these in your budget by including appropriate fees for Elders and/or consultants. You can find the Protocols here.
- If your project involves community engagement and participation, provide evidence of genuine community consultation and support. Be sure to outline your community engagement strategy and show that the community supports the project.
- If you have any questions about your project, contact us.
- Ask for what you need. Don’t underestimate the cost of delivering your project.
- Pay all artists, including yourself, fairly. Where possible, use relevant industry awards and rates of pay. Show how you have calculated the wages and fees for those involved in the description field.
- Be detailed and transparent.
- Break down large budget items and show your calculations in the description field.
- Where possible, diversify your income sources.
- Include the value of in-kind contributions that are being offered to your project. In-kind contributions are goods or services that are offered free of charge or at a discounted rate.
- Consider how you will provide accessibility assistance for audience members and project participants. Include those costs in your budget.
- If you have any questions about your completing your budget, contact us.
- Follow the limits set for support material in the published guidelines.
- Use the ‘Support Material’ section to include CVs and bios from your key collaborators and partners.
- Check your URLs to ensure that they work.
- Assessors will not access any URLs that require them to log in to, or sign up to, an online platform.
- If you use a file hosting system such as Dropbox or WeTransfer, make sure your links are public and have not expired.
- Supply high-quality, relevant support material. It should demonstrate the merit and ideas of your project. Where you have collaborators, include examples of their work.
- Ensure your support material corroborates the claims you have made in the written component of your application.
- Provide letters of support. These should demonstrate that your work is held in high regard by others, especially those involved in the project.
- If you have any questions about your support material, contact us.
- Reread your application carefully before you submit it, checking for errors.
- Consider asking friends or colleagues who are familiar with your work to review your draft application.
- If you are having trouble submitting your application, contact us well before the closing date and time.
Once you submit your application, we will send you an email acknowledging that we have received your application.
After we receive your application, we first check it meets the eligibility criteria for the grant or opportunity to which you are applying.
Applications to our grant programs are assessed by arts practice peer panels using the published assessment criteria for the relevant grant program.
We aim to notify you of the outcome of your application no later than 12 weeks after the published closing date for the grant round.
Once all applications have been assessed, you will be contacted about the outcome of your application.
If you have been successful, you will also be sent a funding agreement. This outlines the conditions of funding, how you will be paid and your grant reporting requirements.
The following accordion items outline these stages in more detail.
If your application is successful, you will receive an email telling you a grant is offered. You must then agree to the conditions of your grant, which represents our contract with you – this can be done online, by email or by letter. Payment of a grant will not be made until the grant conditions have been agreed and accepted by all the relevant parties.
You should not start a project that depends on a grant until all relevant parties have agreed and accepted the grant conditions and we have evidence of this acceptance on file.
Standard grant conditions require you to, among other things:
- seek approval before making a change to a funded project (for example, changes in the activity budget; changes to key creative personnel; or changes to start or end dates)
- respond to our requests for information about the project or grant
- satisfactorily account for how the grant is spent (if you do not you will be required to return all the money which you cannot satisfactorily account for)
- comply with all relevant laws
- acknowledge our support in all promotional material associated with the project, including use of the Creative Australia logo and a standard text of acknowledgement
- provide artistic and financial acquittal reports at the end of the project
- return any unspent grant funds at the completion of your project or on notice from us to return such unspent funds.
Grant agreements must be signed by a legal entity – either a legally constituted organisation or an individual. For unincorporated groups, see the section on administered grants.
All individual or organisation grant applicants based in Australia must have an ABN. Individual applicants without an ABN may have their grant administered by an individual or organisation with an ABN. Organisations operating outside of Australia do not need an ABN to apply. Individuals based outside of Australia may not need an ABN to apply, depending on their circumstances (please check with your accountant or tax advisor).
The name of the applicant must match the name of the ABN and the name of the bank account we pay the funds into. There are no exceptions to this rule. If applicants cannot provide an ABN and bank account that are in the same name as the applicant’s name, they will need to nominate an administrator for their grant.
Groups/ensembles/collectives, unincorporated associations/ unincorporated entities and other bodies with no legal status do not need an administrator if they have an active Australian Business Number (ABN) and bank account in their name. If they are unable to provide an active ABN and bank account that matches the name of the applicant, they must nominate an administrator. The name of the administrator must match the name of the ABN and bank account into which we pay the funds if the application is successful.
If we approve your application you will need to accept the conditions of the grant in a funding agreement.
After you accept your funding agreement online, we will automatically generate a payment for the grant on your behalf. You do not need to send us an invoice.
After you accept the funding agreement, we will pay the grant directly into your nominated bank account within two weeks. Grant payments cannot be postponed.
If you do not wish to have the grant funds paid directly into your bank account, you can choose to have your grant administered by another individual or legally constituted organization. Please note this does not apply to Arts Projects – Organisations.
When you apply, you will be asked to provide an active Australian Business Number or ‘ABN’. The ABN that you provide must match the name of the applicant (or the administering body, if you have nominated one). When you accept your funding agreement, you will be asked to enter the details of the bank account you wish the grant to be paid into. The name associated with that bank account must match the name in which the ABN has been registered.
When you have completed your project, you must acquit your grant by providing a grant report. The grant report provides detail on your funded activities and how the funding was spent.
Please read your funding agreement to check details of the grant acquittal material you should provide.
The grant report is where you tell us:
- how you spent your grant
- what the artistic outcomes of your funded activity were.
If you do not provide a satisfactory grant report, we will not make any further payments that may be due to you, and you will not be eligible to apply for further grants. We may also ask you to pay back all or part of the funding provided to you.
We use grant reports to fulfil obligations of accountability to the Australian Government. They are also essential to the development work of Creative Australia. The reports help us evaluate the achievements of funded activities, monitor the effectiveness of grant categories and ensure our policy development is consistent with the experience of artists in the field.
Reporting for Multi-year Funded Organisations
Organisations that receive multi-year funding are required to submit financial, statistical, and artistic reporting on an annual basis.
All reporting is submitted online via our arts organisations reporting system.
If you are not sure what reporting you need to submit as part of your annual reporting, or what information to provide, please get in touch.
All recipients must acknowledge that Creative Australia provided funding for their activities. When you acquit your grant, we will ask you how you acknowledged us.
For printed or online material use our logo and this phrase:
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body. OR,
(Company Name) is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
Where projects do not have a public outcome, or do not produce any printed or online material, you will need to think about how best to acknowledge Creative Australia funding.