First Nations Arts and Culture Business Innovation Award
Key information
Amount: One award of $25,000
Application open: Thursday 28 May 2026
Applications close: Tuesday 15 September 2026, 3pm AEST
Notifications: late January 2027
The First Nations Arts & Culture Awards are on Thursday 27 May 2027.
Please note: To nominate you must be registered in our application management system a minimum of two business days prior to the closing date.
National Relay Service
The National Relay Service is an Australia-wide telephone access service available to anyone who is Deaf or has a hearing or speech impairment.
Creative Australia uses the National Relay Service to increase access to our programs and services for people who are Deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment.
Visit the National Relay Service website to find out more information and register to use the National Relay Service.
Voice Relay number: 1300 555 727
TTY number: 133 677
Email: helpdesk@relayservice.com.au
Auslan Interpreter Service
Creative Australia can provide an Auslan Interpreter Service for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing. If you require this service, please email FirstNationsArts@creative.gov.au, to schedule a suitable date and time for you, so we can book an Auslan interpreter.
To ensure an interpreter is available, we will need to receive your request at least one week before the application closing date.
The Interpreter Service is available throughout Australia, including in regional areas.
First Nations Arts and Culture Business Innovation Award
We are pleased to invite nominations for the 2027 First Nations Arts and Culture Business Innovation Award. Valued at $25,000 this Award, for one business, recognises innovation and excellence in entrepreneurship among Australian First Nations small to medium arts and culture businesses or community organisations (including Art Centres) nationwide.
This category is only open to self-nominations from First Nations owned and led small to medium arts and cultural businesses that demonstrate outstanding leadership, innovation and cultural integrity in their business practices. The recipient will be presented with the Award at the First Nations Arts and Culture Awards ceremony to be held on Thursday 27 May 2027.
This initiative is part of Creative Australia’s First Nations First industry development programs. The programs have been developed in response to extensive community consultation on priorities and needs of the sector in response to Pillar 1, First Nations First – Revive, the Australian Government’s shared vision for Australia: a place for every story and a story for every place. These initiatives aim to elevate existing programs and deliver new funding that builds on a 50-year legacy of First Nations leadership and investment at Creative Australia.
About the First Nations Arts and Culture Awards
The Awards are held each year on 27 May the anniversary of the 1967 referendum and the opening of National Reconciliation Week, to honour First Nations excellence and the outstanding contributions of First Nations artists, arts workers and entrepreneurs to their practice, culture, and community.
The Awards are assessed by an independent panel of First Nations Industry Advisors, with the Red Ochre Awards determined by the Creative Australia’s First Nations Board.
The Award categories are:
- The prestigious Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement in Artistic Excellence, to recognise the outstanding contribution of senior First Nations artists to their arts practice. Two recipients of the award will receive $60,000 each.
- The prestigious Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cultural Advocacy and Leadership, to recognise the outstanding contribution of senior First Nations arts leaders or arts and cultural workers. Two recipients of the award will receive $60,000 each.
- The Established Artist of the Year Award, to recognise outstanding achievement in artistic practice of established Australian First Nations artists. The recipient of this award will receive $25,000.
- The Youth Award for Achievement in the Arts, to recognise the achievement of Australian First Nations artists or arts workers between the age of 18 and 35. The recipient of this award will receive $25,000.
- The First Nations Arts and Culture Business Innovation Award, to recognise innovation and excellence in entrepreneurship among Australian First Nations small to medium arts and culture businesses and community organisations (including Art Centres) nationwide. The recipient of this award will receive $25,000.
- The First Nations Arts Fellowships, supporting the creation of major works by two artists.
Eligibility
You are eligible for this award if:
- your business or organisation is 100% Australian First Nations-led and owned
- your business or organisation is part of the arts and culture sector, such as community arts and cultural development, dance, experimental arts, literature, multi-arts, music, theatre and/or visual arts
- your business or organisation is based in Australia
- your business or organisation has not previously received this award.
You are ineligible for this award if:
- you have an overdue grant report
- you owe money to Creative Australia
- your business or organisation previously received the Business Innovation Award
- you, your business or organisation was previously shortlisted for a First Nations Arts and Culture Award within the past three yearsyour business or organisation is nominated for this award by a third party.
Please note: we only accept self-nominations for this First Nations award category only and you can only be nominated in one category for the 2027 First Nations Arts and Culture Awards.
Assessment criteria
Nominations will be assessed against three criteria. This award is for small to medium First Nations Arts and Cultural Businesses. Under each criterion are bullet points indicating what the Peer Assessors may consider when assessing your application. You do not need to respond to every bullet point listed.
1. Innovation
- uniqueness and innovation in practice
- leadership in bold ideas and new ways of doing business and collaborations.
2. Recognition
- contribution to Australian First Nations arts and culture
- First Nations industry and peer recognition.
3. Impact
- business activity directly benefits Australian First Nations communities
- demonstration of business growth and achieving goals
- best practice principles for business and governance have been applied and shared
- contribution to, and expanding of, areas of practice
- evidence of promoting ethical and environmentally sustainable practices.
Nominations
Please consider the below when providing your nomination:
- your key area of business practice
- what outcomes you have achieved through your innovation
- please describe a recent innovation or entrepreneurial initiative your organisation or business has implemented. How has it created impact and contributed to the growth and elevation of your business activities?
- provide a summary of your innovation and achievements.
Please note we only accept self-nominations in this award category.
Support material
• You must submit a business profile for the nominee (approx. 2 x A4 pages, or a link to the nominee’s website, Instagram or LinkedIn).
• You must submit examples of the arts and culture business practise (up to 2 pages of images or up to 5 minutes of audio/video).
• You may submit up to four letters or statements of support (approx. 2 x A4 pages, or up to 5 minutes of audio/video).
Types of support material we accept
• our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks)
• you can provide up to three URLs that link to content that is relevant to your nomination.
Please note:
• do not supply any URLs that require users to log in or sign up to a platform.
• do not provide links to applications that require users to log in or pay for access.
• If you are linking to media files that are private or password protected, please provide the password in the password field on the nomination form.
Other accepted file formats
If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material to your nomination in other formats, for example:
• video (MP4, QuickTime, and Windows Media)
• audio (MP3 and Windows Media)
• images (JPEG and PowerPoint)
• written material (Word and PDF).
We do not accept support material submitted via post. 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 the First Nations Arts and Culture team at FirstNationsArts@creative.gov.au.
How to apply
To nominate, log in to our Application Management System. You must register an account if you do not already have one. It may take up to two business days for us to process your registration. Once you have logged in:
1. select ‘Submit a Nomination’ from the left panel menu
2. under ‘Awards’ select ‘Start a new award nomination’
3. ensure you select the correct award from the list of options
4. complete the fields and select answers using the dropdown menus
5. upload any necessary support material
6. select ‘Save’ once complete
7. if you are not ready to submit your nomination you can return to it through ‘Your Draft Applications’ in the left panel menu
8. when you are ready to submit your nomination, select ‘Submit’.
