The peers celebrated applications where: 

• The community’s voice was clear and central to the project.
• The work showed heart, passion, connection, and a genuine relationship with the people involved.
• The proposal clearly explained why the project is timely, relevant, and urgent, and how it is grounded in lived experience and real engagement. 

Advice for future applicants: 

• Make a compelling argument for the ‘Impact’ criterion and back up any claims you make by providing adequate detail and evidence. Discuss the specific impact of your project. Consider your own practice, your collaborators or partners, participants or audiences, communities, or the broader sector. For more information, please view this short video.   
• If your proposal involves working with First Nations artists, communities, stories or subject matter, you must provide evidence of genuine consultation and consent. It is essential to implement and adhere to our First Nations Protocols and demonstrate the practical application of these in your budget by including appropriate fees for Elders and/or consultants. You can find the Protocols here.
• If you are engaging with children provide evidence that you are following all relevant child safety protocols and regulations. Include a risk assessment and other relevant documentation in your support material.   

Community engagement 

• Be explicit about how your project is community led. Describe your engagement process, who you are working with, how you collaborate, and your relationship to the community or participants. Include letters of support or confirmation.
• If you are working with partner organisations, clearly outline their role and any in-kind support they are providing.
• Explain the impact your project will have on the communities involved. This might include opportunities, skills development, mentorship, experience, or connection.
• Make sure you understand the CACD panel expectations. Your project should be with, by and for community. Their voices should be present throughout your application and reflected in your support material.
• Include details about safety and wellbeing for collaborators, participants, and audiences. This may involve trauma-informed practice, cultural safety, or psychosocial considerations.
• Show how you will put these considerations into practice - through plans, risk assessments, or budgeted and confirmed consultation. 

Budget 

• Break down large lump sum amounts into clear line items.
• Include superannuation where required.
• Do not introduce new information in the budget; it should support and align with the rest of your application.
• Ensure all artists, collaborators, consultants, and participants are paid appropriately and show this clearly in the budget.
• Avoid artificially reducing your request. Asking for less than you need can undermine your project’s viability—especially regarding artist fees.
• Include access costs where relevant. 

Viability 

• Use the activity section to clearly outline your project step by step.
• Build a timeline that has room to breathe, including realistic pacing and contingency time. 

Quality 

• Provide relevant information about your track record, and explain how this project builds on, extends or diverges from your previous work. Show the progression, journey or “next step” in your practice.
• Support this with letters of support, reflections, evaluations, or impact reports where appropriate. 

Use of AI 

• While AI can be helpful for drafting or editing, assessors consistently find that applications relying heavily on AI lose the artist’s unique voice. This can weaken the sense of passion, urgency, and connection that peers look for.
• AI‑generated text can also be vague, overly complex, or full of jargon, which may affect the application’s viability.
• Ensure you clearly express what you will do, how you will do it, and why it matters to you - in your own voice. 

Advice for future applicants: 

• Be careful when using AI to write your application.  

Reliance on AI can compromise your ability to express your passion, practice, and the timeliness of your activity. If using IA, edit to allow for the artist’s unique voice and style to come through. 

• Describe your creative process and give the assessors a strong sense of your expected project outcomes.  
   
• If your proposal includes high levels of unconfirmed funding, provide a contingency plan that shows how you can augment and deliver your project if that funding does not come through. 
   
• If your application’s budget includes box office income, include information on how your target has been calculated. You could provide estimates but explain your calculations. Be realistic about your estimates and take into consideration venue capacity, ticket prices, and your past box office history. 
   
• Projected box office should be recorded as unconfirmed income. 
   
• Be specific about who your intended audience is and how you will reach them. 
   
• Where relevant, describe the impact your project will have on the sector, audiences, and communities. 
   
• When writing your application, think about the assessors who will read it, noting they might not necessarily be familiar with your work. Emphasise why your project matters, who it benefits and, where relevant, how an audience will engage with it. 
   
• If your project takes place overseas, explain how this will impact your practice, and any other Australian creatives, collaborators or audiences. 
   
• Pay all collaborating artists, creatives and participants, including yourself, fairly. Where possible, use relevant industry awards and rates of pay. 
   
• Break your budget down clearly and in detail. Provide context and rationale for large or unusual budget items. 
   
• If you choose to contribute your own finances to your application income, contact an Artists Services Officer to discuss how to best include this information in your budget.  
   
• Demonstrate an awareness of superannuation and award rates when putting your budget together. Include the details of superannuation, Workcover and other oncosts for all contracted staff. Have a separate line item for each. You can find more information on Creative Workplaces’ website.   
   
• Outline the potential risks involved in delivering your project and provide a risk assessment plan in the support material where relevant.    
   
• Show how you will look after the wellbeing of all artists, participants, audiences, and communities involved in the project. 
   
• If your project involves pre-professional or early career artists, explain what processes and methodologies you have in place to support them, including a discussion of their remuneration. 
   
• If your project includes environmental themes, consider whether you need to include a First Nations’ perspective as part of your application. 
   
• Provide relevant support letters from collaborators and partners detailing their commitment to the project, support for your practice, and/or impact of your work. Letters of support from presenters should list all financial and in-kind contributions as included in your budget. 
   
• Include up-to-date, strong, and relevant support material. 
   
• Ensure you have up to date information on access costs. This might include fees for interpreters, audio describing or captioning. 
   
• If you are looking to fund the next stage development of your project, you may want to include footage from the latest one even if it was an early stage. This way, peers can visualise what is described in your application and get a better understanding of your project.  
   
• Make a compelling argument for the ‘Impact’ criterion and back up any claims you make by providing adequate detail and evidence. Consider the impact on your own practice, your collaborators or partners, participants or audiences, communities, or the broader sector. For more information, please view this short video.    
   
• If your proposal involves working with First Nations artists, communities, stories or subject matter, you must provide evidence of genuine consultation and consent. It is essential to implement and adhere to our First Nations Protocols and demonstrate the practical application of these in your budget by including appropriate fees for Elders and/or consultants. You can find the Protocols here.  
   
• If you are engaging with children provide evidence that you are following all relevant child safety protocols and regulations. Include a risk assessment and other relevant documentation in your support material.  
   
• Please contact Artists Services to discuss a future application to Creative Australia.   

Advice for future applicants: 

• Communicate how this project or process is experimental – consider if this is the best assessment panel to apply to. Learn more about the assessment panels here.
• Strong applications, either through form, process or outcomes, showed how the work was experimental and emerging, and appropriate to this panel.
• Make a compelling argument for the ‘Impact’ criterion and back up any claims you make by providing adequate detail and evidence. Discuss the specific impact of your project. Consider your own practice, your collaborators or partners, participants or audiences, communities, or the broader sector. For more information, please view this short video.   
• If your proposal involves working with First Nations artists, communities, stories or subject matter, you must provide evidence of genuine consultation and consent. It is essential to implement and adhere to our First Nations Protocols and demonstrate the practical application of these in your budget by including appropriate fees for Elders and/or consultants. You can find the Protocols here.   
• When collaborating or engaging with First Nations knowledge holders or communities, show how the artistic and financial benefits, and overall impact will be equitably distributed. Identify where artistic leadership lies.
• Adequate payment is essential for cultural, especially First Nations, consultants. Identify where the figure you have quoted in the budget has come from – is it directly from the artist, Elder, land council or community group? Where relevant, refer to the NAVA freelance cultural advisor rates benchmarking document found here
• If you are engaging with children provide evidence that you are following all relevant child safety protocols and regulations. Include a risk assessment and other relevant documentation in your support material.
• For existing works or long-term projects, argue the importance of this specific showing or stage in the experimentation. Why again? Why this? Why now?
• If you are applying for a second or subsequent stage development, outline the learnings from the first stage and describe what the benefit of this next stage will be.
• Ecology and environmental rejuvenation projects were popular. The strongest ones deeply embedded engagement and collaboration with the relevant First Nations communities on that Country from the early stages of the project planning. Look into the protocols for using Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property on this here, especially principle eight.
• If your project involves community engagement or participation, provide evidence of community consultation and support – community and/or partner support letters are crucial in this regard. Show your track record in this area of work and outline your community engagement strategies.
• Where relevant, be specific about your audience and reach. Who is the work for and how do you plan to reach your audience? It can be helpful to include a marketing plan or budget line for marketing support.
• Allocate sufficient time for development, rehearsal or open callout periods in your Activity Timeline. This speaks to viability.
• Balance writing about the conceptual or artistic underpinning with the artistic process or experimentation and use plain language. This is a balance of the how and the why.
• For projects with a lot of international travel explain how the travel is necessary to the project or its delivery.
• Strong applications spoke to the longer-term vision of the project or this stage of development.
• In AI based projects, outline the frameworks you’ll be working in and the nature of the collaboration. Stronger applications also engaged with the IP, ethical and environmental implications of the project.
• Strong applications showed a pathway to audience or presentation.
• Clearly outline what your project goals are. If this is for research and development, tell us what you hope to achieve, why and how this fits into a bigger picture. If this is audience facing, outline what you hope the performance/presentation context will look like and what the audience experience might be.
• Please contact Artists Services to discuss a future application to Creative Australia.     

General Feedback  

The peers recognised the wide range of strong applications that: 

• Showed strong intergenerational collaboration and sharing, with meaningful roles for Elders, senior artists, and emerging artists.
• Demonstrated clear community support, backed by evidence.
• Explained why the knowledge, stories, or issues being shared are timely and important.
• Allowed the genuine, unique voice of the applicant to come through. 

Advice for future applicants: 

Cultural Integrity & Protocols 

• Make sure the voice of the First Nations artists being supported are central and clearly present throughout the application.
• If you are applying on behalf of an individual or group, provide evidence of:
• Their consent for you to apply.
• How the artist(s) will retain ownership of their cultural and intellectual property.
• CVs and letters of support for key artists where relevant.
• Where appropriate, show how cultural protocols are embedded in your project. Include relevant permissions or cultural authority in your letters of support. 

Viability and Budget 

• Start with a clear project summary: who you are, what you want to do, and how you will do it.
• Make a compelling argument for the ‘Impact’ criterion and back up any claims you make by providing adequate detail and evidence. Discuss the specific impact of your project. Consider your own practice, your collaborators or partners, participants or audiences, communities, or the broader sector. For more information, please view this short video.   
• Your peer panel includes people with different artform experience and expertise. Make sure you explain your project clearly and without jargon so everyone can understand it.
• Make sure you complete the ‘activity details’ table so your project is shown step by step.
• If you are engaging with children provide evidence that you are following all relevant child safety protocols and regulations. Include a risk assessment and other relevant documentation in your support material. 
• Include fees for everyone involved, including yourself.
• Break down the budget clearly and explain your rates. Avoid large lump sums.
• Your budget should align with the rest of your application. It shouldn’t introduce new activities or information not mentioned elsewhere. 

Support Letters & Support Material 

• Check that all support material links work, do not require a login, and protect the privacy of assessors.
• Ensure support material strengthens your application by demonstrating community backing, strong support for the project, cultural permissions, and/or track record. 

Advice for future applicants: 

General advice 

• Explain why this project, why now, and why you are the right person for this project. Detail the timeliness and importance of your project, and what experience you have to speak to the subject with authority.
• Address how your project sits within your genre, readership, audience and sector. Show the assessors your awareness of how your project will contribute to the literary ecosystem or how it is carving out new space.
• If your project involves First Nations artists, communities or subject matter, provide evidence of genuine engagement, consultation and consent. Your application must follow the First Nations Protocols, including appropriate fees for Elders and cultural consultants, and letters from any First Nations partners involved in the project.
• If your project centres around Australian site-specific histories, geographies or ecologies, it is assumed you would be including or engaging with First Nations perspectives in your research. Prioritising respectful storytelling practices and acknowledging your project’s connection to place, communities and histories can enhance your application.   
• If your project is a part of an ongoing program, such as a journal or festival, consider the long-term sustainability of your model and address this in your application.
• If publication is a stated outcome of your project, provide details and evidence of publisher interest. For self-publishing, explain your rationale and distribution plan.
• Be clear about the stage of development your project is currently in, and how the funding will progress the project. If the work is already well-developed, explain why funding is still needed (and what the next step is).
• If your project concerns sensitive issues or you are working with vulnerable individuals or communities, speak to the safety and wellbeing of those involved, including yourself. 

About you 

• These grants are intended for professional writers. Make sure your application clearly demonstrates professional practice and a track record appropriate to the program.
• Don’t assume peers will know who you are or your earlier work. Include your CV/bio in the support material and outline your track record. Demonstrate that you have the capacity and experience to deliver your project.
• Include any partners in your application. If working with a publisher, editor or mentor, list these as partners, explain why they’re the right fit for this project (relevant experience, genre knowledge, and what they will contribute) and include letters of support. If planning to commission or engage writers, detail who you intend to work with to show the assessors you have a plan. 

Impact 

• Make a compelling argument for the ‘Impact’ criterion and back up any claims you make by providing adequate detail and evidence. For more information, please view this short video. 
• If proposing a festival, podcast, magazine or journalism project, highlight the artistic value and literary impact of your project. Clearly define your audience, show the benefit of your project, and include an audience engagement plan or data demonstrating audience reach.
• If you're project is focusing on the creation of new work, consider what skills you will develop and make sure you outline these. 

Activities and Planning 

• Complete the activity timeline. It's ok for your proposal to only include one or two activities. For example, you can simply apply for time and funding to write. You don't need to add extra activities just to make your project seem more worthwhile.
• Your activity timeline should show how you'll manage each part of the project. Be realistic about the time, money and effort needed to deliver the activity.
• Provide relevant contingency plans. This is important for the viability of your project. 

Budget 

• Ask for the amount you need to deliver your project successfully.
• Break down your budget and explain your expenses.  Show how you have calculated a rate, include quotes for flights, what lump sums will be covering.
• Pay all artists fairly, including yourself. Ensure your wages reflect the time you are giving to your project. Where possible, use relevant industry rates of pay or equivalent industry standards.
• If you are using ASA, MEAA or IPEd rates, be careful about the rate you choose and be clear about how you are applying it. For example, freelance writing rates are not applicable for extended periods of long-form writing. If you have found a middle-ground between industry rates and ABS rates, explain your reasons behind this.  Underquoting rates may risk the viability of your project. 

Support material 

• Letters of support and confirmation should be recent and relevant to your current project. It is essential that key partners have provided a letter. Provide evidence of consultation and consent from experts or consultants where appropriate.
• Consider how your letters of support can champion your writing or current project. Demonstrate that you are engaged with the literary community.
• If your project involves community engagement and participation, explain your community engagement processes, and provide evidence of community consultation and support.
• Include writing samples from the work are proposing in your project. Consider including samples from the work-in-progress alongside excerpts from published work. Allowing the peers to see the quality of your writing is crucial for your application.
• If you’re early-career and don’t yet have a strong excerpt from the proposed work, consider including other materials that demonstrate craft and readiness (e.g., outline, treatment, character work, or planning materials), alongside any writing sample you can provide.
• Do not supply excess support material. Take careful note of the maximums stated in the published guidelines. 

Advice for future applicants: 

• Before selecting this panel, be clear on how your project fits the Multi-Artform  definition, and explain this in your application.
• Where relevant, show who the potential audiences are for your multi-artform works. Explain how you will reach them, including details of potential presenters. Where will the work go? How will it be shared?
• The strongest applications were ambitious and timely. There was a sense that the ideas were ready and the goals were clear.
• Use plain language to clearly explain the project; why this project, why now, how it will be made?
• Make a compelling argument for the ‘Impact’ criterion and back up any claims you make by providing adequate detail and evidence. Discuss the specific impact of your project. Consider this in terms of your own practice, your collaborators or partners, participants or audiences, communities, or the broader sector.
• For more information on the ‘Impact’ criterion, please view this short video.     
• Evidence of strong project partners and collaborators can be key to your project’s viability.
• For emerging artists, describe where you are at in your practice or career and how this project will propel you further.
• If you are pitching an early-stage creative development of a new work, letters of support from potential project partners or presenters may be beneficial for viability.
• Peers appreciated when partnerships felt integral to the project and clearly strengthened it. This spoke to the vitality and impact criteria.
• Applicants for international projects should consider if their project will have any benefits to Australian artists and/or audiences at this or any later stage.
• A risk assessment plan is recommended if you plan to go overseas.
• Assessors found that applications that relied on AI do not allow for the artist’s unique voice and style to come through – and often did not properly answer the question asked. If you use AI to draft your application, make sure your answers reflect the application itself by editing.
• Provide a clear, well-planned activity timeline. The assessors want to see how you will plan, manage and deliver your project.
• If your proposal involves working with First Nations artists, communities, or subject matter, you must provide evidence of genuine consultation and consent. It is essential to implement and adhere to our First Nations Protocols and demonstrate the practical application of these in your budget by including appropriate fees for Elders and/or consultants. You can find the Protocols here.   
• If you are engaging with children provide evidence that you are following all relevant child safety protocols and regulations. Include a risk assessment and other relevant documentation in your support material.
• If you are working with vulnerable communities or sensitive subject matter, show that you have proper processes, project partners or consultants to provide advice and support. Outline your safety frameworks for participants. 

Support Material 

• Strong artistic support material is crucial – both recent work that is relevant – but also sketches, mock-ups and draft materials for works in development.
• Provide artistic support materials of your collaborators – especially if you are working with international artists.
• Letters of support from project partners need to describe what support is being provided, be it cash or significant in-kind resources.
• Provide CVs and/or brief bios. Do not assume the peers know your practice, your recent works as well as those of your key collaborators.
• Make sure links are working and accessible (not password-protected or requiring a login).
• Note the maximum amounts of support material stated in the grant guidelines.
• Letters of confirmation from partner organisations should detail any financial or in-kind contributions.  

Budget 

• Pay your artists and collaborators fairly and include superannuation. If individuals are not being paid at industry standard rates, explain why in the budget notes.
• Break down large budget items. Show your costings are realistic and researched.
• For small projects at an early development stage, in-kind resources and support can often prove value and viability.
• It is recommended you provide a contingency narrative for any large, unconfirmed grants. Explain how your project will be affected and how you will augment it to fit the reduced income.
• Explain how the project's outcomes show impact or value compared to the requested funding. The budget should be aligned with the scale of the project.
• Ensure your budget reflects your activity timeline to support your application and show viability.
• Please contact Artists Services to discuss a future application to Creative Australia. 

Advice for future applicants: 

General advice 

• Answer each application question directly and clearly, using plain language. Keep your responses focused and avoid unnecessary detail.
• Complete every section of the form, including timelines, partners, budgets, and support material.
• If your proposal includes marketing or PR, outline the planned activities, expected results, and justify the cost.
• If relevant, include audience/follower numbers and your engagement plan in your support material to show a strong understanding of your audience or market and how you’ll reach new listeners or communities.
• We advise you not to rely on AI to write your application. Reliance on AI can compromise your ability to express your unique artistic voice, passion and urgency, and the timeliness of your proposed activity.
• If your proposal involves working with First Nations artists, communities, or subject matter, you must provide evidence of genuine consultation and consent. It is essential to implement and adhere to our First Nations Protocols and show the practical application of these in your budget by including fees for Elders and/or consultants. You can find the Protocols here. 
• If you are engaging with children and/or marginalised communities provide evidence that you are following all relevant child safety protocols and regulations. Include a risk assessment in your support material and provide evidence of consultation and consent.
• Please contact Artists Services to discuss a future application to Creative Australia. 

Artistic Rationale and Impact 

• Clearly describe the artistic authenticity and originality behind your work, not just the logistical or promotional elements you are requesting funding for.
• Clearly address “Why this project, and why now? Why these producers and/or collaborators”. This helps assessors understand the project’s impact and strategic timing. Many album recording applications look the same – highlight your project’s unique angle.
• Explain how the project builds on your past practice or earlier releases.
• Clearly articulate the expected artistic outcomes of your project.
• If proposing a larger project, such as a festival or music platform, or working with large groups of collaborators, explain why you are the right person to undertake this project. Outline how you will manage the collaborators and show your capacity to deliver the project by breaking it down into smaller steps to make a focused, cohesive application.
• Make a compelling argument for the ‘Impact’ criterion. This should include why the project matters artistically and culturally, and why it’s important for your career. Back up any claims you make by providing adequate detail and evidence. For more information please view this short video. 
• Show the value of funding for your project. What will funding allow you to do or how will a grant elevate this project? If funded previously, highlight what the impact of this new funding will be. What new directions will this grant take your project?
• When proposing a podcast, highlight the artistic value and impact of your project. Clearly define your audience, show the benefit of your project and include an audience engagement plan. 

Activities and Travel 

• Show a clear and detailed project plan. Ensure you have completed a realistic activity timeline and budget. Outline how you will deliver the project.
• If your project involves travel, explain why you have chosen the locations and what value they add to your project. Utilise the full potential of each location.
• Include contingencies in your budget if your project includes international travel. The contingency can accommodate changes in currency exchange rates and travel expenses.
• If your activity includes international activity, especially the US, make sure you have the correct visas in place and mentioned in your application. Your viability score may be affected negatively if this information is missing.
• If your project includes large-scale public-facing engagement, ensure you provide a clear risk management plan and evidence of adequate insurance coverage. 

Budget 

• Pay all artists and collaborators fairly, including yourself. Demonstrate best practice by paying at, or above, industry standard rates and include superannuation. Applications with no artist fees and superannuation or exclusively volunteer labour may be less competitive.
• Don’t list wages or fees as in-kind support.
• Self-contribution or match funding is not needed for Arts Projects grants.
• Include every income source in your budget: other grants, co-funding, in-kind support, and especially include your estimated earned income or sales, including merchandise and record sales.
• Break down large or unusual expense items, showing how you arrived at each cost.
• Make sure you are asking for enough in your grant request. Asking for less will not improve the likelihood of being funded. Make sure the budget is realistic, fair and achievable. 

Support Material 

• Ensure your support material is specific, relevant and tailored to your application. For example, if touring, include videos of live shows.
• Don’t repeat what’s already in the body of your application. Keep your support material clear and focused.
• Ensure all support material URL links work properly and avoid sites that require logins or subscriptions to view and listen.
• Make sure to include artistic support material from the lead artist or samples from the work in progress. Ensure you prioritise your own music over collaborators in support material.
• Demos and mixtapes are good to show potential, but lead with your strongest, highest-quality work in your support material, and include a range of music samples that shows your artistic breadth.
• Your application will be assessed by peers that come from the sector, justify all claims with evidence in your support material. Provide proof of confirmation and letters of support from key collaborators, partners or presenters.
• Including letters from non-collaborating artists in the support material can show community or sector support for your project.
• Reliance on AI-generated video clips can bring your application down. Do not feel obliged to include video clips if you only have audio samples at present.
• Label your support material clearly and do not exceed the maximums stated in the application guidelines. 

Advice for future applicants:  

• Consider your reader. Peer assessors have art form expertise but may not be familiar with your work. Be clear, introduce yourself and your practice, and use plain language in your written responses.
• Avoid buzz-phrases. Any claims you make must be backed up.
• Do not rely on AI tools to write your application. Assessors found applications that relied on these tools did not allow for the artist’s unique voice and style to come through. 
• Explain how your project is relevant and timely. 
• Frame your project by asking yourself: Why this? Why me/us? Why now?
• Avoid overreach. You do not need to do everything at once. Remember that you can apply for a discrete project under this grant category. Assessors appreciated applications that clearly outlined specific outcomes and impact.
• If you are applying for a second or subsequent stage of creative development, briefly outline the learnings and developments from the first stage to contextualise the project.
• Where relevant, be specific about your audience and reach. Who is the work for and how do you plan to reach your audience? It can be helpful to include a marketing plan or budget line for marketing support.
• When addressing sensitive issues or topics, ensure you address the safety and wellbeing of all artists, participants, audiences or communities. Set out your plans and precautions and include fees for any consultants in the budget.
• If your project involves community engagement or participation, provide evidence of community consultation and support. Community and/or partner support letters are crucial in this regard. Demonstrate your track record in this area of work and outline your community engagement strategies.
• If your stated project outcomes relate to social impact, tell us how this will be measured and evaluated. 
• For works based on existing, living people – provide evidence of support and consent for those stories to be told.
• Do not assume the impact of your project is self-evident.
• Make a compelling argument for the ‘Impact’ criterion and back up any claims you make by providing adequate detail and evidence. Discuss the specific impact of your project. Consider your own practice, your collaborators or partners, participants or audiences, communities, or the broader sector. For more information, please view this short video.  
• If your proposal involves working with First Nations artists, communities, or subject matter, you must provide evidence of genuine consultation and consent. It is essential to implement and adhere to our First Nations Protocols and demonstrate the practical application of these in your budget by including appropriate fees for Elders and/or consultants. You can find the Protocols here.  
• If you are engaging with children provide evidence that you are following all relevant child safety protocols and regulations. Include a risk assessment and other relevant documentation in your support material. Creative Workplaces resources can be found here Children and young people in the arts.
• Please contact Artists Services to discuss a future application to Creative Australia.    
  
  Budget
• Ask for the amount you need to deliver your project well. Asking for less can affect the viability of your project.
• Break down large budget items and provide detail in the description fields provided.
• Pay all artists and consultants, including yourself, appropriately. Demonstrate best practice by paying at, or above, industry standard rates and include superannuation.
• Explain how fees have been calculated (e.g., are they based on an award rate, on a quote, etc.?).
• Ensure you name any consultants in your budget.
• Explain how you’ve come to your box office calculation projections. 
• Show calculations for any royalties in your income. 
• Breakdown contingency costs and explain why these are needed. 
• Access costs that support the participation of carers, artists with disability or other groups that require additional support to make art are eligible expenses. Some examples are childcare costs, community engagement costs, capital expenses and accessible travel.  

 Support material 

• Back up the written components of your application by providing artistic support material which is relevant to your project. Where possible, provide material that is indicative of the proposed project. If this is not possible, include examples of previous work that may be comparable in scope.
• Check that your URLs work. Assessors will not access any URLs that require them to log in to or sign up to an online platform. Not being able to access your artistic support material can affect the assessment of your application against the ‘Quality’ criterion. 

Advice for future applicants: 

• The most competitive applications were well structured and told a coherent story that stated: why this project, why it needs to happen now, how it will be made, and what the applicant wants their audiences to feel. 
• Do not assume the assessors are familiar with you or your practice. Introduce yourself, explain your practice and provide support material that backs up what you have written.    
• Use plain language and avoid jargon. 
• Strong applications demonstrated a clear understanding of the visual arts sector in relation to their application and its contribution to a larger cultural conversation.
• Applicants applying for film, television or documentary projects that sit outside of a visual arts context should seek funding from Screen Australia or the relevant screen or film funding agency in their state or territory.
• If your project involves multiple artforms, be sure to articulate why you have chosen to apply to the Visual Arts panel. 
• Curators requesting support for the development of a new exhibition should provide a curatorial vision or rationale. Why these artists? Why this work? 
• Make a compelling argument for the ‘Impact’ criterion and back up any claims you make by providing adequate detail and evidence. Discuss the specific impact of your project. Consider your own practice, your collaborators or partners, participants or audiences, communities, or the broader sector. 
• For more information on the ‘Impact’ criterion please view this short video.   
• Respond directly to the question “What do you want to use the funding for? Describe what you will do, how and when you will do it.” 
• Explain clearly why international travel is important or necessary. 
• If your project involves community engagement or participation, explain your engagement processes and, where relevant, authorship of the final piece of work. Support letters are important to show evidence of community consultation and support.
• Outline safety frameworks for participants, especially when working with vulnerable people or children. Include this in the application or attach it as supporting material. 
• If you are engaging with children provide evidence that you are following all relevant child safety protocols and regulations. Include a risk assessment and other relevant documentation in your support material. 
• Make sure you complete the activity timeline section in the application form. It is important for assessors to understand the steps you are going to take to deliver your project and its viability. This includes cultural or community consultation stages. 
• If you are working with First Nations communities, artists, stories, or content, you must comply with the Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts. Provide evidence of genuine consultation and consent with the specific people and communities you are engaging with, provide relevant letters of support, and include the costs of cultural consultation in your budget.   
• Contact Artists Services to discuss future applications to Creative Australia. 

Budget 

• Provide a detailed, well-considered, and transparent budget. Break down large sums and use the description field to provide details of how you arrived at each expense.  
• Pay all artists and consultants, including yourself, appropriately. Demonstrate best practice by paying and citing industry standard rates, plus superannuation. If individuals are paid at different rates, explain why in the budget notes. 
• Use the description field to provide information on how you costed a budget item e.g. via a quote.
• Include access costs in your application and budget for them appropriately. Be sure any item designated as “access” is for the provision of services that ensure people with disabilities to move, communicate, and participate without barriers.  
• If you are including accessibility measures, be sure these are accurately represented in the budget and speak to their actual costs. 
• Include contingency funds in your budget, especially if your application involves international activities.
• Clearly explain the role of any organisations you are partnering with and outline the support and financial contribution they are bringing to the project.  

Support Material 

• The artistic support material you provide should be the best and most relevant examples of your work.  
• Use support material to help assessors visualise the work and understand the outcomes of your project. Providing a visual “preview” of the work can help assessors to better understand what you are proposing. 
• When supplying images of your work, include them all in one PowerPoint or PDF file. Please do not attach multiple separate JPEG files. 
• Ensure all your files include your individual or group name so that assessors can review with ease
• Ensure confirmation letters clearly state what each partner (individual or organisation) will provide, such as fees, labour, or in-kind support. 
• Please make sure your URL links work, can be opened easily and do not require assessors to login to a third-party site.