Dreaming Award
$20,000 in mentoring and partnerships support for two inspirational First Nations artists aged 18-30 to create a major body of work.
About the Dreaming Award
Established in 2012, the Dreaming Award supports First Nations artists aged 18-30 to create a major body of work in mentorship or partnership with an established professional artist nominated by the applicant. The mentor/partner guides and advises in the development of the new work.
Two Dreaming Awards will be offered in 2024 by the First Nations Strategy Panel. The recipients of these Awards will receive $20,000 each.
The Dreaming Awards will be presented at the 2024 First Nations Arts and Culture Awards.
If you need advice about applying, contact an Artists Services Officer.
About the First Nations Arts and Culture Awards
The First Nations Arts and Culture Awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding work and achievements of First Nations artists. On the evening of Monday 27 May 2024, the following awards will be presented:
- the prestigious Red Ochre Awards for outstanding lifetime achievement for a senior male and female artist
- the Dreaming Awards, recognising two emerging First Nations artists
- the First Nations Arts Fellowship to support the creation of a major work by an artist
- the First Nations Emerging Career Development Award, supporting two Australian First Nations artists or arts workers to pursue their professional development.
Who can apply
- Only First Nations individuals may apply to this category
- You must be an artist between the ages of 18 and 30 years
- You must have a confirmed mentor
- Disciplines include community arts and cultural development, dance, literature, experimental arts, multi-arts, music, theatre and visual arts
- You cannot apply for activities that have already commenced.
Who can’t apply
You can’t apply for this award if:
- you have an overdue grant report
- you owe money to Creative Australia
- you are an organisation.
Supported activities must last no longer than one year from your proposed start date.
Applications will be assessed by the First Nations Arts and Culture Strategy Panel against the assessment criteria below.
Assessment criteria
Under each criterion are bullet points indicating what the First Nations Arts and Culture Strategy Panel members may consider when assessing your application. You do not need to respond to every bullet point listed.
- The artistic merit and strength of the project concept
This criterion may include:
- your vision, ideas and artistic rationale
- the strength and clarity of proposed mentoring/partnerships
- your experience and the quality of work you have previously produced
- the significance of your work within your area of practice
- a clear project budget.
- The viability of the project and its benefits for the applicant
This criterion may include:
- evidence of adherence to First Nations cultural protocols
- evidence of considered consultation and engagement with First Nations participants, audiences and communities
- the strength and clarity of your proposed mentoring/partnerships
- the capacity of the project to strengthen your professional and creative development
- the development of strong creative and professional partnerships.
- Creative outcomes of the project
This criterion is about creation, capabilities, distribution, and reach. For example, your project may:
- contribute to your artistic and professional development
- help you to sustain a viable artistic career
- support a safe environment and wellbeing for people working in the arts
- develop strong partnerships and collaborations
- demonstrate a strong audience development and engagement strategy
- foster opportunities that benefit Australian audiences.
The application form will ask you to provide:
- a title for your activity
- a summary of your activity
- an explanation of how the activity will benefit you
- an outline of your artistic practice, focusing on career highlights and achievements
- details of your mentors and partners, and the role they will play in your project
- a timetable of activities
- details of the impact you expect your project to have on your artistic and/or professional development
- a budget containing details of the expenses, income and in-kind support for your activity, including any access and support costs
- support material relevant to your activity. This may include examples of your previous work, bios of additional people involved, and letters of support from mentors, partners, collaborators or communities.
You should submit support material with your application. The panel may review this support material to help them gain a better sense of your project.
We do not accept application-related support material submitted via post. Application-related material received by post will not be assessed and will be returned to the sender. If you think you will have difficulty submitting your support material online, or need advice on what type of material to submit, please contact Artists Services.
There are three types of support material you may submit:
- Artistic support material
This should include relevant, recent examples of your artistic or cultural work.
- Biographies and CVs
You can include a brief bio or curriculum vitae (CV) for key artists, arts workers, mentors, 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.
- 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. If relevant to your activity, letters of support may also provide evidence of appropriate cultural protocols, permissions or outline the support of key project partners. You can include up to five letters of support, with each letter not exceeding one A4 page.
What is the best way to provide support material?
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 panel 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 below.
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).
Key dates
Amount: 2 awards of $20,000 each
Applications closed
Notification: December 2023
Please note: To nominate you must be registered in our application management system a minimum of two business days prior to the closing date.
Contact
To discuss your application, please contact:
Michelle Wong
Project Officer
First Nations Arts and Culture
Phone: 02 9215 9171
Email: michelle.wong@creative.gov.au
If you need help with your application, please call or email us.