Please note: Some of the content on this page was published prior to the launch of Creative Australia and references the Australia Council. Read more.

The Lady Mollie Isabelle Askin Ballet Scholarship

Travelling scholarship to support the professional development of a young person under 30 with outstanding ability and promise in ballet.

About the Scholarship

The Lady Mollie Isabelle Askin Ballet Scholarship was established by a Deed of Lady Mollie Askin to further culture and advance education in Australia by providing a travelling scholarship for Australian citizens with outstanding ability and promise in ballet.

The scholarship is awarded biennially to a candidate who has outstanding ability and promise in ballet. The scholarship is worth $30,000, payable in two instalments of $15,000 over two years.

The scholarships are administered by Creative Australia on behalf of Perpetual as trustee.

A list of previous recipients is available here.

Who can apply

Applications for the Lady Mollie Isabelle Askin Ballet Scholarship are open to individual artists who are Australian citizens aged 17 – 29 at the closing date.

These are terms established by the Lady Mollie Isabelle Askin Ballet Scholarship Trust. There are no exceptions to these requirements.

If you are an Australian citizen but will have difficulty providing a copy of a birth certificate, passport or citizenship certificate, please contact Artists Services.

Who can’t apply

You can’t apply for a scholarship if:

  • you have an overdue grant report
  • you owe money to Creative Australia
  • you were previously awarded a Lady Mollie Isabelle Askin Ballet Scholarship.

Scholarship funds can be used to assist with study programs, professional training courses and mentor programs that would not otherwise be obtainable due to lack of financial resources.

Scholarship proposals will be reviewed by Creative Australia staff. We may seek industry advice on your scholarship before making our recommendations to Perpetual, who will make the final decision.

The decision of Perpetual is final, and no feedback will be provided  on your application or the decision.

Your application will be assessed against two criteria:

  • the potential of the applicant
  • the viability of the proposal.

Scholarship applications are submitted through Creative Australia’s Application Management System (AMS).

Once logged into the AMS, click on ‘Apply for a Grant’ from the left panel menu. Scroll down the list of opportunities. Under ‘Co-Investment Opportunities’ select ‘The Lady Mollie Askin Ballet Scholarship’.

The type of questions we ask you in the application form include:

  • your name and contact details
  • confirmation that you are an Australian citizen
  • confirmation of your age
  • information about your practice, your professional experience and your career goals
  • the proposed aims and activities of your scholarship (names of teachers/institutions, travel plans, dates, etc.), and how your planned activities will assist your career
  • supporting material relevant to your proposal.

Additional material can be submitted to support your application. We will review support material to understand your artistic practice and viability of your proposal.

We do not accept support materials 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, please contact Artists Services.

You can submit the following support material with your application:

 

    1. Artistic support material
    2.  

      You may submit up to two URLs (web links). Please provide:

      • a direct link/URL to a 5 min (maximum) video recording of class/studio work (must include adagio, turning and allegro examples)
      • a direct link/URL to a 10 min (maximum) video recording of performance material (must include examples from the classical ballet repertoire and a contemporary ballet example).

       

    3. Letters of support

     

    You can include up to three letters of support or written references for you and your scholarship, with each letter not exceeding one A4 page. The letters should explain how the proposed scholarship will benefit you.

    Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks). However, if you cannot supply artistic support material via URL, we will accept artistic support material in the following formats:

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

     
    Please note: Our 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.

    To find out more about support material, including advice on how to get examples of your work online, please contact Artists Services.