MEDIA Release

Tuesday 10 May 2016

$11.2M invested in Australian artists and arts projects

The Australia Council for the Arts has today announced $11.2 million of investment in Australian arts through its February grants round.

Australia Council Chief Executive Officer Tony Grybowski said this grant round would support a number of exciting and innovative projects, involving a diverse range of artists and organisations across the country.

“I’m pleased to announce 404 projects have been funded in this round for project grants for individuals, groups and arts organisations, and development grants for individuals and groups across all art form areas,” Mr Grybowski said.

“The projects include innovative collaborations, ground breaking ideas, projects bringing together people from diverse backgrounds, and capacity building for emerging artists.

“This year also marks our continued commitment to providing dedicated funding for artists with disability, with the second allocation of $330,000 awarded to 16 projects for individuals and groups.

“The flexible and responsive nature of our new grants program continues to increase access to new artists, groups and organisations, with nearly 40 per cent of applicants in this round having never applied to the Australia Council before and 22 per cent of new applicants being successful.

“This builds on the 20 per cent of first time applicants in the first round of the new program in March 2015 and demonstrates our grants model is working well. Project and development grants are part of a holistic, integrated approach the Council has taken to arts funding through the new model, which also includes core program funding and fellowships.

“This round has also supported more than 30 writers, with close to $1 million granted to poets, authors of young adult and children’s stories, and fiction and non-fiction writers.”

Some of the successful writers include Clare Atkins from the Northern Territory to write a young adult novel, Western Sydney emerging writer Michael Mohammed Ahmad, and established Tasmanian poet Sarah Day.

Several youth arts organisations have also received funding, including Shopfront Theatre for a project involving 500 people participating in a four-day event at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Western Edge Youth Arts in Footscray and Sensorium Theatre in Perth, which produces theatre for young people with a disability, have also been successful in this round.

Australian/Egyptian oud master Joseph Tawadros will spend six months in London to develop a symphonic work with the BBC Orchestra, and Tasmania Performs has received funding to stage Indigenous playwright Nathan Maynard’s play The Season at Ten Days on the Island.

The Third Space has also received funding to create a work for the new National Theatre of Parramatta’s inaugural Telling Tales Festival in October, which will involve an ensemble of Arab Australian performers.”

Mr Grybowski said nearly a quarter of the successful applicants were based in regional or remote areas, ensuring regional audiences benefitted from stories told by their own communities.


Key Facts

•  More than $11 million in grants were awarded in the February round: Development grants for individuals and groups valued at between $5,000 and $25,000; Arts project grants for individuals and groups valued at between $10,000 and $50,000; Arts project grants for organisations valued at between $10,000 and $100,000. The size of the round is due to only two rounds being offered in the 2015-16 financial year and additional funding was available to those rounds after the partial return of funding to the Australia Council in late 2015. As communicated previously, project grant rounds in the 2016-17 year are estimated to provide approximately $6 million in each round.

•  Peers assessed grants for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts; Community Arts and Cultural Development; Dance; Emerging and Experimental Arts; Literature; Multi-art form; Music; Theatre; Visual Arts; and Artists with Disabilities.

•  1,542 applications were received and 404 projects have been supported.

•  The $11.2 million granted in this round includes $5 million to 239 individual artists, $1.6 million for 65 groups, and $4.6 million to support 100 small to medium arts organisations.

•  Applications were received from across the country with 24 per cent of successful applicants based in regional or remote areas.

•  29% of projects chose access and participation and audience engagement as their main focus.

•  113 peers involved in this round represented all states and territories and all art forms. 25% were
from regional or remote areas, 19% from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and 19% identify as being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.

•  22% of successful applicants in this round had never applied to the Australia Council before, building on the 20% of first time applicants in the March 2015 grants round.

•  Applicants could select which arts practice panel assessed their application.

To see the February grant results, go to: https://online.australiacouncil.gov.au/ords/GrantsList

Applications are now open for the next grants round, which closes on 7 June 2016.

For more information go to: www.australiacouncil.gov.au

Karen Smith
Media Manager, Australia Council for the Arts
02 9215 9030 | 0498 123 541