About the program
Creative Australia Fellowships of $80,000 support outstanding, established artists’ and arts workers’ activity and professional development for a period of one to two years.
There are Fellowships offered in the following nine areas: Arts and Disability; Community Arts and Cultural Development; Dance; Emerging and Experimental Arts; First Nations Arts and Culture; Literature; Music; Theatre; Visual Arts.
If you are successful, the payments will be made in two tranches: $75,000 on acceptance of the funding contract, and $5,000 on acquittal.
All Creative Australia grants information including guidelines and application forms are available in accessible formats upon request.
Formats include word documents, audio CD, Braille, Easy English, Auslan and large print. Please note that requests for translated materials may take up to six weeks.
We accept applications for all our programs in accessible formats. Formats include Auslan, audio, video, printed, dictated, electronic and handwritten formats.
Contact Artists Services to discuss your specific requirements.
- email: enquiries@creative.gov.au
- telephone: +61 (0)2 9215 9000 or Toll Free 1800 226 912.
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Who can apply
Only individuals may apply to this category. You must be an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident, and a practicing artist or arts worker.
Applications for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Fellowship must come from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals.
Applications for the Arts and Disability Fellowship must come from d/Deaf artists or arts workers, or artists and arts workers with disability.
Please note: You can only submit one application to this closing date of Fellowships.
Who can’t apply
You can’t apply for a Fellowship if:
- you have an overdue grant report
- you owe money to Creative Australia
- you are applying as a group or organisation
- you received an Australia Council/Creative Australia Fellowship awarded by any panel, board or committee of the Australia Council/Creative Australia since 1996 (excludes Australia Council Fellowships for Early Career Artists 2012-16, Australia Council Fellowships for Established Artists 2012-16, and Music Project Fellowships 2007-2014).
What you can apply for
You can apply for a range of different activity over the Fellowship period. Some examples of the activities we fund are:
- the creation of new work
- research and development
- experimentation
- collaborations
- skills development
- professional development and training
- residencies
- mentorships.
Access costs are legitimate expenses and may be included in your application. We encourage applicants to ensure that their work is accessible to everyone. Budgets may include costs associated with making activities accessible to a wide range of people (e.g. performances using Auslan, translation to other languages, captioning, audio description, temporary building adjustments, and materials in other formats).
If you are a d/Deaf applicant, an applicant with disability, or are working with d/Deaf artists or artists with disability, you may apply for access costs associated with the use of an interpreter, translation services, specific technical equipment, carer or support worker assistance. Please contact Artists Services to discuss your specific needs.
What you cannot apply for
You cannot apply for:
- projects or activities that do not involve or benefit Australian practicing artists or arts workers
- projects or activities that do not have a clearly defined arts component
- projects that have already taken place
- activities engaging with First Nations content, artists and communities that do not adhere to the Creative Australia First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property Protocols.
Your application must comply with the following protocols. We may contact you to request further information during the assessment process, or if successful, as a condition of your funding.
- Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts. All applications involving First Nations artists, communities or subject matter must adhere to these Protocols, provide evidence of this in their application and support material. More information on the First Nations Protocols is available here.
- Commonwealth Child Safe Framework. All successful applicants are required to comply with all Australian law relating to employing or engaging people who work or volunteer with children, including working with children checks and mandatory reporting. Successful organisations who provide services directly to children, or whose funded activities involve contact with children, will additionally be required to implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.
Applications will be assessed by panels of industry advisors, with final decisions approved by the Board of Creative Australia.
You must choose which peer assessment panel you wish to apply to assess your application.
- Arts and Disability
- Community Arts and Cultural Development
- Dance
- Emerging and Experimental Arts
- First Nations
- Literature
- Music
- Theatre
- Visual Arts.
Learn more about assessment panels.
If you are unsure which assessment panel to choose, contact Artists Services.
Learn more about how we assess your application.
Industry advisors will assess your application against the following criteria.
Under each criterion are bullet points indicating what the Industry Advisors may consider. You do not need to respond to every bullet point listed.
Quality
Industry advisors will assess the depth of experience of the artist or arts worker and the significance of their professional achievement, given the context and field they work in.
They may consider:
- the quality and diversity of activities you have previously delivered
- the significance of your career and body of work
- the regional, national or international response to work previously produced
- how the proposed fellowship activity differs from a project application.
Viability
Industry advisors will assess the viability of your proposal, including appropriate planning; wellbeing of personnel; protocols; evaluation and/or budget.
They may consider:
- relevance and timeliness of the proposed activity
- skills and ability of artists, arts workers, collaborators, or participants involved, and relevance to activity
- realistic and achievable planning and resource use, including, where relevant, contingency plans, health and safety plans, and evidence that you have considered the well-being of people involved in the project
- the timetable of activity
- evidence of appropriate consultation with participants, audiences or communities
- appropriate payments to participating artists, arts workers, collaborators, participants, or cultural consultants
- where relevant, evidence that the Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts have been adhered to
- where relevant, evidence that you have considered and addressed any access issues associated with your project
- where relevant, evidence of an environmental impact plan which may include cost-benefits.
Impact
Industry advisors will assess the impact that the Fellowship will have on you and the sector.
They may consider:
- how the proposed activity strengthens your practice
- the impact the proposed activity will have on your career
- how the proposed activity contributes to the broader sector or area of practice
- how the proposed activity will be documented, presented or shared with the sector
- how the proposed activity builds or develops national or international collaborations
- how the proposed activity contributes to diverse practice in your field.
The types of questions we ask in the application form include:
- a title for your Fellowship
- a summary of your Fellowship
- a brief bio
- an outline of three key achievements or career highlights
- an outline of your Fellowship and what you want to do
- a timetable of activity for your Fellowship
- an outline of how the Fellowship activity will impact your career and have broader impact
- supporting material as relevant to your project, including examples of your work, bios of additional artists, and letters of support or permission from participants, communities, First Nations organisations, or Elders.
You should submit support material with your application. The advisors may review this support material to help them gain a better sense of your project.
We do not normally accept application-related support material submitted via post. However, if you think you will have difficulty submitting your support material online, or need advice on what type of material to submit, please contact Artists Services for advice well before the closing date.
There are three types of support material you may submit:
1. Artistic support material
This should include relevant, recent examples of your artistic or cultural work.
Types of support material we accept
Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks).
You can provide up to three URLs (weblinks) that link to content that is relevant to your proposal. This may include video, audio, images, or written material.
These URLs can include a total of:
- 10 minutes of video and/or audio recording
- 10 images
- 10 pages of written material (for example, excerpts of literary writing).
Please note: advisors will not access any URLs that require them to log in or sign up to a platform. Please do not provide links to Spotify or other applications that require users to log in or pay for access.
If you are linking to media files that are private or password protected like Vimeo, please provide the password in the password field on the application form.
Other accepted file formats
If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material to your application in the following formats:
- video (MP4 and Windows Media)
- audio (MP3 and Windows Media)
- images (JPEG and PowerPoint)
- written material (Word and PDF).
2. Biographies and CVs
You can include a brief bio or curriculum vitae (CV) for key artists, personnel or other collaborators involved in your project.
Brief bios or CV information should be presented as a single document no longer than two A4 pages in total.
3. Letters of support
Individuals, groups or organisations can write letters in support of your project. A support letter should explain how the project or activity will benefit you, other artists or arts professionals, participants or the broader community. It can also outline the support or involvement of key project partners, or evidence of consultation.
If relevant to your activity, letters of support must provide evidence of appropriate permissions and support from First Nations organisations, communities, and Elders. Please refer to the First Nations Protocols for more information.
You can include up to five letters of support, with each letter not exceeding one A4 page.
Hoda Afshar
Victoria – Visual Arts
At the intersection of conceptual, staged and documentary image-making, Hoda Afshar’s artistic practice explores the representation of gender, marginality and displacement. Informed by her own experience with migration and cultural displacement, Afshar’s work takes the intrusiveness of the camera as a point of departure to unpack the relationship among truth, power and the image while disrupting traditional image-making conventions.
Afshar’s works have been exhibited widely in Australia and abroad. In 2023, her first major survey exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney accompanied by a publication. Afshar’s works are held in major collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Kadist Collection in Paris, National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Auckland University Art Collection, the Monash University of Modern Art Collection, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of South Australia
The proposed Fellowship will be an 18-month period of development of two new major bodies of work while undertaking significant international residencies. The first body of work is around the idea of ‘border’, following Hoda’s own exile from Iran. She will develop this during a 2-month residency at Sharjah Art Foundation and a 12-month DAAD Artists in Berlin program residency. During time in Australia, she will work on a new collaborative work with Vernon Ah Kee and Berhouz Boochani about Indigenous Youth incarceration.
Nina Agzarian
Victoria – Music
A commanding figure in the Australian and international dance landscape and the unmistakable voice of Saturday nights on triple j for almost a decade; artist, curator, producer, and label owner, Nina Las Vegas is celebrated as a pioneer in electronic music. Respected by both industry and audience alike, Nina’s commitment to discovering and nurturing new talent defines her influential career, dedicated to delivering diverse and noteworthy club music for over two decades and her momentum remains unwavering.
This Fellowship will enable Nina to create a compilation album celebrating 10 years of her record label, NLV Records. Nina will spend 16 months of full-time work on artist research, curation, collaboration, production and marketing to release the album in October 2025. It will feature new works, new collaborations and unreleased tracks from NLV artists.
Troy Brady
Queensland – Arts and Disability
Jungaji (Troy Brady) is a First Nations songman, visual artist, playwright, and activist who has been renowned in the Australian music industry for three decades. First appearing on the scene as a teenager with Aim4More in the 90s, he has now embarked on a new creative path fusing soul and R&B to create a unique and authentic sound that showcases his cultural roots.
In 2013, ‘Aim4More’ reformed for a special performance at Stylin’ Up, Australia’s largest First Nations hip hop festival in his suburb of Inala, Brisbane, to great acclaim and excitement. In 2023, the four original members, including Jungaji, Rodney Stuurman, Harry Whaleboat and RJ (William Johnson) did three shows in Barangaroo, QLD NAIDOC ball and a 30th year reunion show at Judith Wright Arts Centre, Brisbane.
This Fellowship will support Jungaji in creating a full visual and digital performance in his language with his nation’s stories that will create a legacy for Gu Gu Yalanji songmen for the future. In 2025, Jungaji will release his solo album Betting on Blak featuring songs in both English and Gu Gu Yalanji language. Jungaji has built enormous momentum over the past 18 months, performing at nationally recognised events including St Kilda Festival, The Port Fairy Folk Festival, BIGSOUND and the Woodford Folk Festival despite the enormous health issues he faces suffering from lupus – an auto immune disease that attacks the major organs and tissues of the body.
Michael Candy
Queensland – Emerging and Experimental Arts
Michael Candy is an Australian artist known for kinetic light sculptures, interactive installations and video work responding to contemporary technology and its socio-political impact.
His works often emerge as social experiments or ecological interventions, catalysing audience experiences, as environments are transformed through light and movement. This diverse practice mediates the liminal realm the digital age imposes on the physical world. These artworks draw aesthetically from a lineage of post-industrial design, robotics, and emergent technology.
Candy has been involved in many international exhibitions and residencies, notably: Water, (GOMA, Brisbane), Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, (AGSA, Adelaide), Ars Electronica Festival, (Linz, Austria), The Kathmandu Triennale (Kathmandu, Nepal), The Forum of Sensory Motion (Athens, Greece), The Instrument Builders Project + Hackteria Lab (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), and Hawapi (Huepetuhe, Peru).
Ben Graetz
Northern Territory – First Nations
Ben Graetz was born and raised in Darwin and is a descendant of Muran Clan (Iwaidja) and Malak Malak Clan in the Northern Territory and of Badu Island on the Torres Strait Islands of Australia. Ben has been working in the performing arts sector for over 26 years and has established himself as one of this country’s most dynamic and influential arts makers, working as a performer, creative director & producer, programmer, writer, MC and director.
This Fellowship will enable Ben to research and develop a new multi-faceted, impactful Queer First Nations event of scale in Australia. Created by and for the Australian and international First Nations Queer community.
This Fellowship will also support Ben to develop new models for LGBTQIA+SB Indigenous artist-directed commissioning, presentation and touring support with presenting organisations. It will enable models for partner organisations working toward decolonising their internal structures, curatorial processes, and programming; deepening culturally safe operations; and delivery of brokerage and information services between artists and institutions.
Candice Lloyd
Victoria – First Nations
Candice Lloyd AKA Candice Lorrae is an award-winning First Nations singer, songwriter, and music producer with connections to Jawoyn country and the Torres Strait. Born in Darwin, she grew up in Boorloo/Perth and is now based in Naarm/Melbourne.
Her band, The Merindas, formed with Kristel Kickett, gained significant acclaim, and earlier this year she opened the doors to Candy Suite at Aviary Studios. Candy Suite is a commercial production studio aimed at providing First Nations women with access to writing and recording support.
Candice plans to host one-on-one mentoring sessions with 10 aspiring First Nations female producers at the Candy Suite Studio located at Aviary Studios, Melbourne. These sessions aim to empower women and non-binary individuals by providing them with music production skills in a supportive and inclusive environment.
Ellen van Neerven
(Queensland) – Literature
Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning writer, editor and literary activist of Mununjali Yugambeh and Dutch heritage living on the unceded lands of the Yagera and Turrbal people on what is colonially known as north Brisbane. They are the author of four books: Heat and Light (UQP, 2014); Comfort Food (UQP, 2016); THROAT (UQP, 2020); and Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity (UQP, 2024); in the genres of fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction. Heat and Light was re-released in 2023 as part of the First Nations Classics Series with a new introduction by Alison Whittaker.
The Fellowship will allow for the creation of new work over two years. This includes finishing a poetry collection (the author’s third) and drafting a novel manuscript (the author’s first).
Roslyn Oades
Victoria – Theatre
Roslyn Oades is a Naarm-based theatremaker and dramaturg known for her innovative approaches to documentary theatre, having created ten contemporary performance works in this field. In 2021, she premiered her first major theatrical audio installation project, The Nightline (co-created with sound artist Bob Scott) a powerful work about loneliness and connection, featuring 50 interactive telephone tables and hundreds of real-life late-night anonymous voice messages. Following critically-acclaimed seasons at Sydney Festival and Adelaide Festival, The Nightline had its international debut at the Carrefour International de Theatre festival in Quebec in 2024.
Picking up where The Nightline left off, this Fellowship provides time, space and resources for Roslyn to further explore her growing interest in ‘expanded theatre’ forms. This program of activity sees her draw on established collaborations, alongside creative partnerships with new media artists, to workshop and develop three new theatrical installation concepts.
Nick Power
New South Wales – Dance
Nick Power is a B-boy and choreographer whose work draws on the rituals and culture of hip hop to create contemporary performances. His cross cultural practice spans from remote Aboriginal communities to the stages of the most prestigious contemporary dance festivals in Europe. Crossing complex divides of place, culture, language and form is Nick’s forté.
He built his skills in the Australian hip hop scene through dance battles, club shows and teaching workshops. This led to creating work with Tracks Dance and Stalker Theatre, giving him a pathway forward into community based work and contemporary practice. Nick has created four full length independent dance works; Cypher, Between Tiny Cities, Two Crews and Deejay x Dancer. These works have toured around the country and across the world. Nick is a pioneering artist of hip hop dance theatre in Australia and works to support and mentor other artists working in this form.
Nathan Stoneham
Queensland – Community Arts and Cultural Development
Nathan Stoneham is an independent community arts and cultural development facilitator, theatre artist, and producer who has been creating and supporting contemporary, socially engaged arts processes and performances for over fifteen years. He’s part of the arts collective, Company Bad, and has recently been an Artistic Directorate member at Next Wave, and an Australian Volunteer at the Arts Council of Mongolia. He holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries, a Bachelor of Education, a Social Work Masters, and is a recipient of Creative Australia’s Kirk Robson Award. The queer and transcultural works he’s co-created have been presented across the continent and internationally.
During the Fellowship, Nathan will interweave CACD approaches with theatre-making processes, collaborating with children and families in his home town of Mt. Mee on Jinibara country in regional Queensland.
Frequently asked questions
Fellowships are usually awarded to established artists or arts-workers with a clear track record, making significant contribution in their field.
There is no fixed definition of an ‘established’ artist or arts-worker. Generally, this includes ten or more years of arts practice, although this may vary widely across different arts practices. You will need to explain why you consider yourself to be an established artist or arts worker in your application.
If you are at an earlier stage of your practice, an Arts Projects grant might be a better fit. This category of grant can cover a broad range of activities, including self-devised professional development.
A Fellowship is not necessarily focused on project delivery. A self-devised Fellowship program might include time for reflection, research, further skills development or exploring new creative modes or mediums.
A Fellowship can have a transformative impact on the applicants’ practice at this established stage of their career, setting the direction for their next ’10 years’ of practice.
Fellowship assessment criteria are specific to an individual. The applicant is asked to explain:
- their achievements and contribution to their artform or sector at this stage of their practice
- the timeliness of their proposal and the impact of a Fellowship on both their career and where relevant, the broader sector.
An Arts Project has a more defined set of outcomes. Arts Projects proposals usually cover any or multiple stages towards the development, creation, production, and presentation of new work.
An Arts Project can be short or long, with a limit of two years.
Arts Projects assessment criteria are broader and are more structured around project or program delivery undertaken by individuals, groups, or organisations. The focus is on what will be made or created, not necessarily the lead-creatives’ career or practice.