Arts Business: First Nations Development Fund

Who can apply

• You must be an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident to apply or an organisation based in Australia
• You must be a First Nations individual, group, or micro-organisation.

Please note: You can only submit one application for this grant initiative.

Who can’t apply

You can’t apply to this fund if:

• you have an overdue report for another Creative Australia grant
• you owe money to Creative Australia
• your organisation is not First Nations led
• your project is already funded by Creative Australia
• you are receiving Multi-Year Investment from Creative Australia.

What the fund can be used for

Activities related to the development and impact of your creative business.

Activities include but are not limited to:

• An artist or designer purchasing a graphic design program, a short course in the program and a tablet to increase the mobility and quality of their design services
• A musician purchasing a digital audio workshop, mentoring and studio time to boost the professional quality of their music
• Community consultation and temporary marketing staffing to expand the audience and network of a growing organisation
• Access costs are legitimate expenses and may be included in your application. We encourage applicants to ensure that their work is accessible to everyone
• Build e commerce and digital platforms to streamline your business activities.

What can’t be applied for

You can’t apply for:

• Individuals and organisations which are not delivering cultural, creative or artistic work
• activities that have already taken place
• activities that have already been funded by Creative Australia (for example, through your multi-year investment)
• activities engaging with First Nations content, artists and communities that do not adhere to our First Nations Cultural & 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.

Industry advisors with diverse and relevant experience will assess the EOIs against the assessment criteria listed below and advise Creative Australia on which applicants to prioritise.

Your application will be assessed against the published assessment criteria. The bullet points underneath each criterion indicate what industry advisors may consider if relevant. You do not need to respond to every bullet point listed.

Quality

Industry advisors will assess the quality of the artistic and/or cultural development proposed in your EOI.

They may consider:

• the merit of the business proposal provided or examples of previous practice
• the potential, experimentation or ambition of the creative/group/micro-organisation
• the creative skills or engagement to be gained through this opportunity.

Viability

Industry Advisors will assess the viability of the proposed activities with consideration to planning, protocols, and budget.

They may consider:

• the relevance and timeliness of proposed activity
• the skills and abilities of the people involved
• realistic and achievable planning and resource use to undertake the activities
• the calibre and track record of your organisation, partners, and collaborators
• your previous experience delivering other projects/activities of similar size and scope.

Impact

Industry advisors will assess the expected impact or outcome of the proposed activities on the applicant.

They may consider:

• the benefit and impact on the career of the people involved and the ongoing development of the organisation/business
• how the activity is relevant to the organisation/business
• the potential to discover and develop new markets, relationships or meet existing market demand
• the extent to which the activity contributes to a sector that is ethical, accessible, inclusive, and equitable.

Applications must be submitted via Creative Australia’s Application Management System.

If you are registering to use the System for the first time, make sure you register well before the closing date. It can take up to two business days to process your registration.

The application form includes the following questions:

• Please provide the title of your proposal
• Please provide a summary of your arts business and or practice, current activities, and key positions
• Describe your priorities and needs to be addressed by this funding
• How will this funding assist you to elevate your business and/or practice?

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

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

There are four types of support material you may submit:

1. Artistic support material

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

Types of support material we accept

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

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

These URLs can include a total of:

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

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

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

Other accepted file formats 

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

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

2. Biographies and CVs

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

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

3. Letters of support

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

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

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