Australia Council Chair Mr Rupert Myer AM today announced the 11 recipients of the second annual Australia Council Creative Australia Fellowships. The announcement was made at a special event at the Melbourne Recital Centre attended by the artists as well as a broad cross section of the arts community.

With original funding for only five fellowships across the two categories, the Australia Council committed to a further six after being impressed by the exceptional quality of applications, bringing the total funding pool to $860,000.

The highly sought after fellowships attracted a total of 255 applications (172 for early career and 83 for established.) The established artists will each receive $100,000 for one year and the early career artists will receive $60,000 over two years.

Mr Myer congratulated the recipients of the prestigious Creative Australia Fellowships which aim to support both emerging and established artists develop their arts practice, to experiment, research and develop new ways to present their works.

These grants provide artists with the valuable time and financial security to focus on their work and in turn drive innovation and dynamic growth in our arts, Mr Myer said.

The Australia Council is deeply committed to supporting the development and the celebration of Australia’s creative talent, offering training opportunities and career pathways in the arts and its related industries.

Through the Fellowships the Australia Council is providing direct support to artists at critical stages during their careers to ensure they have time to develop, to support risk taking, experimentation and innovation.

These Creative Australia Fellowships were designed to recognise artists who have already made a significant contribution to Australian culture and to those that are taking an original approach to artistic practice, including those who are working across multiple disciplines, said Mr Myer.

“The Fellowships are an investment in the long term sustainability of each artists’ career. So from the perspective of the Australia Council, this is an investment in the future of art.”

Managed by the Australia Council the Creative Australia Fellowships are a major initiative to support the professional development of outstanding artists working across the sector and Australia. The Fellowships are a centrepiece of the Federal Government’s Creative Australia Artist Grants initiative with $10m committed to individual artists over five years.