International Travel Fund
$5,000 to $20,000 to support travel costs associated with attending key market development and cultural exchange platforms and gatherings.
Asia Topa 2020 Showcase The Seen & Unseen by Kamila Andini, Ida Ayu Wayan, Arya Satyani, Adena Jacobs, Eugyeene Teh, Jenny Hector. Image: Ifa Isfansyah
About the program
The International Travel Fund supports international travel costs associated with Australian artists, creative workers and organisations attending market development or key gatherings overseas.
Market development activities are those that enable applicants to promote, market, pitch, or sell works with a focus on entering or maintaining new or existing international markets.
The aims of the fund are to:
- support international travel costs associated with individuals, groups or organisations to attend market development, key gatherings, events or opportunities overseas
- enable support for Australian artists, creative workers and organisations to build and sustain international connections.
Applicants should consider when their travel activities will take place and plan in advance where possible.
Applicants can apply for flat rates of $5,000 or $10,000 or $15,000 or $20,000. Requests for other amounts will not be accepted.
Applications are accepted from:
- Australian-based individuals
Australian citizens living overseas are eligible. If your application is successful, you may be required to provide evidence of your Australian citizenship - Australian-based groups and organisations.
Applications from internationally based organisations are eligible, however international organisations must demonstrate the request benefits practicing Australian artists or creative workers, their work or Australian audiences.
- open to individuals, groups and organisations, including small businesses
- noting that recipients of Creative Australia’s Two-Year Investment for Organisations Pilots 2025-2026 and Four-Year investment for Organisations funding are eligible to apply
- applicants can submit one (1) application per closing date. Note you cannot submit an individual application as well as a group or organisation application
- art forms supported:
- community arts and cultural development
- dance
- emerging and experimental arts
- First Nations arts and culture
- literature
- music (excluding contemporary music as per Music Australia’s definition)
- multi-art form
- visual arts
- theatre.
- you are an internationally based individual artist or creative worker who is not an Australian citizen or permanent resident
- you are an international individual, group or organisation seeking support for travel to Australia
- you have already applied to this closing date under this grant category
- you have already applied to an Arts Projects grant category for the same activity
- you are an organisation and receive investment through the National Performing Arts Partnership Framework. Overseas organisations wanting to apply to work with a National Performing Arts Partnership Framework organisation are also ineligible
- you have an overdue grant report to Creative Australia
- you owe money to Creative Australia
- you work in contemporary music. You must apply to the Export Development Fund from Music Australia.
Contemporary music, as defined by the Music Australia Council, is:
“Australian contemporary music is any genre or subgenre of music currently composed, written, produced by Australians and licensed, recorded, presented, and distributed through commercial and non-commercial activity. For the purposes of Music Australia’s initial investments, the focus will be on musical works that are new, original and relevant to contemporary Australia.”
You may apply for any and all costs associated with travel and attendance at confirmed international market development or key gatherings.
Eligible costs include but are not limited to:
- fees for your time to attend the opportunity, (if wages are not covered by your organisation). We strongly advise you refer to and pay at, or above, industry standard rates
- flights, accommodation, per diems and ground transport costs
- travel insurance
- visas
- freight or baggage costs
- marketing, promotion and project management costs
- costs associated with attendance at international book fairs
- costs associated with attendance at events and activities associated with publication and promotion of literary, art fair or works in international markets
- costs associated with conferences however, applicants must demonstrate the market development outcome/s
- childcare, carer and access costs
- tickets and/or registration costs to attend events
- costs associated with reducing the environmental impact of your activity
- access costs, see below.
- travel costs that are for the same activity across other applications to Creative Australia
- travel costs for professional development, international tours, showcases or presentations (apply to Arts Projects instead)
- travel costs to participate in international exchange activities such as residencies, labs, and peer exchange models (apply to the International Engagement Fund instead)
- travel that does not involve or benefit Australian practicing artists or creative workers
- travel to events or activities that do not have a clearly-defined arts component
- travel for events and activities 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 & Intellectual Property Protocols
- travel to attend contemporary music activities. You must apply to the Export Development Fund from Music Australia.
Access costs are legitimate expenses and may be included. We encourage applicants to ensure that their work is accessible to everyone. This may include costs associated with making activities accessible to a wide range of people (e.g. presentation or delivery activities using Auslan, translation to other languages, captioning, audio description, temporary building adjustments, and materials in other formats).
If you are working with d/Deaf people or people with disability in your application, you may use funds for access costs associated with the use of an interpreter, translation services, specific technical equipment, carer or support worker assistance including travel costs. Please contact Artist Services to discuss your specific needs.
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 involving contact with children, will additionally be required to implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.
Industry Advisors and Creative Australia staff with relevant experience will assess the applications against the assessment criteria listed below. Creative Australia staff will consider how the proposed activities align with the aims of the fund when making final decisions on submissions.
Applicants are required to nominate the art form expertise required to assess your submission.
Under each criterion are bullet points indicating what assessors may consider when assessing your application. You do not need to respond to every bullet point listed.
Assessors will assess the quality of the applicants’ practice in the context of the opportunity.
They may consider:
- the quality of your work, demonstrating your professional track record
- the relevance of the planned activities and the significance of these on your ongoing development
- realistic and achievable planning and resource use, including contingency and relevant plans for international travel to enable the proposed outcomes
- where relevant, evidence that the Protocols for First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts have been adhered to.
Assessors will assess the expected impact or outcome of the proposed activities for the applicant.
They may consider:
- how the activity is relevant to the identified areas of practice and career development
- the benefit and impact on career, artistic or cultural practice of the applicant
- the potential to develop new markets, relationships or meet existing market demand
- the extent to which the activity contributes to a sector that is accessible, inclusive and equitable
- the capacity to strengthen skills and abilities of those involved.
Creative Australia staff will consider how the proposed activities align to the aims of the fund when making final decisions on submissions.
They may also consider:
- capacity of the applicant to deliver on the proposed outcomes
- supporting diversity across investment streams, timelines, activities, art forms, geography, representation, audiences and risk, how the activity supports the development of artists and their works in international markets.
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 types of questions we ask in the application form include:
- how you would like your application to be assessed (art form expertise).
- a summary of your proposal.
- a description of the international activities and how it meets the assessment criteria:
- Quality: Tell us about your creative practice in relation to this opportunity
- Impact: Tell us about the opportunity, possible partners and why this is important for your ongoing development as an artist/creative worker or as an organisation
- Activity details including dates and locations
- Supporting material as relevant to your project, including examples of your work, CVs or bios, invitations, and letters of support or permission from participants, communities, First Nations organisations, and Elders where relevant.
Additional material must be submitted to support your application. We will review support material to understand your artistic practice, quality and impact of your proposal. Do not assume that those who are reading your submission, know your work or experience and consider this when deciding what should be included.
We strongly recommend you curate your support material to be relevant, targeted and easily accessible.
Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks) that link to content that is targeted and relevant to your submission.
Assessors will not access any URLs that require them to log in or sign up to a platform. Please do not provide links to applications or documents that require users to log in or pay for access.
If you are linking to sites or files that are private or password protected, please provide the password in the password field on the application form.
You can provide up to 3 URLs and 3 file uploads.
You can include a maximum of:
- 10 minutes of video and/or audio recording, and/or
- 10 images as a single PDF, and/or
- 10 pages of written material (for example, CVs/bios and letters of support/invitation or confirmation, promotional plans).
If you provide material that exceeds these limits it may not be reviewed as a part of the assessment process.
If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material to your application in the following formats:
- video (MP4, Windows Media)
- audio (MP3, Windows Media)
- images (JPEG, PowerPoint)
- written material (Word, PDF).
We do not accept support material submitted via post. Support 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 Artist Services.
Learn more about support material via the Creative Australia website.
- Creative/artistic and cultural support material
This should include relevant, recent examples of your creative or cultural work and/or the services you provide using the formats identified above.
Information should be presented as a single document and not exceed the collective total of no more than 10 pages of written material, see above.
- 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 and not exceed the collective total of no more than 10 pages of written material, see above.
- Information about the international opportunity
This could include background information on the opportunity you wish to participate in. You may wish to include direct weblinks to the event/schedule of the program.
- Letters of support, invitation or confirmation
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, co-investment (financial or in-kind) 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 may wish to include evidence of presenting venues or invitation or attendance to confirm your involvement. Each letter should include confirmation of any invitations, partners fees or contributions to the activity, whether cash or in-kind, if relevant.
Written information should be presented as a single document and not exceed the collective total of no more than 10 pages, see above.
If relevant to your application, evidence of appropriate permissions and support from First Nations organisations, communities and Elders must be provided. Please refer to the First Nations Protocols for more information.
2025 closing dates
- Tuesday 4 February 2025 at 3pm (AEDT) for activity from 1 April 2025 to 1 July 2025
With more closing dates to come in the new year.
Applications close at 3pm AEDT (2.30pm South Australia; 2pm Queensland; 1.30pm Northern Territory; 12 noon Western Australia).
Apply now
Please note: Are you registering to use our Application Management 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.
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application within eight (8) weeks after the closing date.
Contact
If you need advice about applying, contact Artists Services:
Phone: 02 9215 9000
Toll-free: 1800 226 912
NRS: 1800 555 677 | Visit the NRS
Email: enquiries@creative.gov.au
Frequently asked questions
This fund covers many art forms and sectors. Individuals who may wish to apply to the fund could include artists, curators, producers, presenters and literary agents, rights managers and publishers, authors, illustrators and tour managers.
If you have applied as an individual, you are unable to also apply as a part of a group or organisation’s submission.
Applications will be assessed by Industry Advisors and Creative Australia staff. Assessments will also incorporate a moderation process before final decisions are made. This moderation will include the Heads of Practice and the International team.
The assessment team will also consider the suitability of each request in relation to the art form. An example of this may include the literature sector where applicants are encouraged to plan a suite of activities rather than attendance at a single event. This may include literary festivals or promotional opportunities.