Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups

ARTS PROJECTS FOR INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS

Our Arts Projects program funds a range of activities that deliver benefits to the arts sector and wider public, including national and international audiences. Grants are available from $10,000 to $50,000. Supported activities must last no longer than three years from the proposed start date.

Please read through the following grant guidelines. You can find a case study of a recently-awarded Arts Project grant here. If you need help with your application, contact a Grants Officer now.

Closing dates The Australia Council offers three grant rounds each year for this category.

In 2018, the grant rounds will close on:

 Tuesday 6 February for projects starting after 1 May 2018  Tuesday 5 June for projects starting after 1 September 2018  Tuesday 2 October for projects starting 1 January 2019 Each round closes at midnight on the closing date.

Technical and administrative support will not be available after 5pm on the closing date.

Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application approximately 12 weeks after the closing date.

Who can apply Only individuals and groups may apply to this category. You must be a practicing artist or arts worker and an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident.

Applications for funding to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts panel must come from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals or groups.

Who can’t apply You can’t apply for a grant if:

 you received a grant, or administered a grant, from the Australia Council in the past and that grant has not been satisfactorily acquitted  you owe money to the Australia Council  you have already made three applications to categories listed under Australia Council Grant Programs this calendar year (funding proposals submitted to categories under Other Grants and Opportunities are not counted as one of your three applications) We will not accept applications from legally constituted organisations in this category.

What can be applied for We fund a range of activities, for example:  the creation of new work  practice based research  creative development  experimentation  collaborations  touring  festivals  productions  exhibitions  performances  publishing  recording  promotion and marketing  market development activity

What can’t be applied for You can’t apply for the following activity:

 projects or activities that do not involve or benefit practicing artists or arts workers  projects or activities that do not have a clearly defined arts component  projects that have already taken place.

Peer assessment As part of the application process, you will be able to choose which peer panel you want to assess your application. The peer panels available are:

 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts  Arts and Disability (7 February 2017 closing date only)  Community Arts and Cultural Development  Dance  Emerging and Experimental Arts  Literature  Multi-art form  Music  Theatre  Visual Arts If you are unsure which peer panel to choose to assess your application, please contact a Grants Officer now. Assessment criteria You must address three assessment criteria in this category. For the third criterion, you will be asked to choose between four options.

Under each criterion are bullet points indicating what peers may consider when assessing your application. You do not need to respond to every bullet point listed.

First criterion

Artistic merit

Peers will assess the artistic merit of the work or works at the centre of your proposal.

They may consider:

 vision, ideas and artistic rationale  level of innovation, ambition, experimentation or risk-taking  rigour and clear articulation of creative process  significance of the work within area of practice  contribution to diverse cultural expression  timeliness and relevance of work  quality of previous work  responses to previous work from peers or the public. Second criterion

Viability

Peers will assess the viability of your proposal.

They may consider:

 relevance and timeliness of proposed activity  skills and ability of artists/arts professionals involved, and relevance to activity  realistic and achievable planning and resource use  appropriate payments to participating artists  role of partners, including confirmation of involvement  the diversity and scale of income and co-funding, including earned income, grants, sponsorship and in-kind contributions  adherence to relevant cultural protocols  evidence of considered consultation and engagement with participants, audiences and communities. Third Criterion

The third criterion tells us how your proposal may meet one of the aims in our Strategic Plan to support the arts in Australia. When responding to this criterion, you must choose one of four options that best reflects the primary outcome of your proposal:

Creation

Peers will assess your contribution to the creation of new work. They may consider how the proposed activity:

 develops or extends the applicant’s creative practice  contributes to diverse artistic expression within the applicant’s area of arts practice  builds or develops national or international collaborations  creates opportunities for the development of the arts or artists involved  where relevant, engages young people in the creation of work. or

Audiences

Peers will assess your contribution to audience engagement.

They may consider how the proposed activity:

 demonstrates a strong audience engagement strategy  increases or diversifies audiences  satisfies existing audience demand  delivers long term benefits for audiences  where relevant, increases the experience by Australians of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture. or

Access and Participation

Peers will assess how your proposal improves access to, and participation in, the arts.

 increases and diversifies participation in arts and culture, particularly among diverse cultural groups and regional/remote communities  increases the experience by Australians of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture  engages with, and delivers benefits for, the participants  where relevant, provides valuable artistic experiences for children and young people. or

International

Peers will assess the contribution of your proposal to the international profile of Australian arts.

 engages international audiences with Australian art  develops international partnerships and collaborations  develops international markets for Australian art  meets existing international demand for Australian art. Application form Apply for Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups online here

The types of questions we ask in the application form include:

 a title for your project  a summary of your project  a brief bio of the artist or group applying  an outline of your project and what you want to do  a timetable or itinerary for your project  a description of the outcome your project delivers  a projected budget which details the expenses, income and in-kind support of the project  supporting material as relevant to your project, including an artistic example, bios of additional artists, and letters of support from participants or communities.

Support material

You may submit support material with your application. The peer assessors may review this support material to help them gain a better sense of your project. If you need advice on what type of support material to submit, please contact the grants team.

We do not accept application-related support material 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 the grants team.

There are three types of support material you may submit:

1. Artistic support material

This should include relevant, recent examples of your artistic work.

2. Artist information

You can include a brief bio or curriculum vitae (CV) for yourself and any additional artists or key collaborators involved in the project.

Bio and CV information for all artists and key collaborators, including yourself, should be presented as a single document no longer than two A4 pages in total.

3. Letters of support

Individuals, groups or organisations can write letters in support of your project. A support letter should explain to the assessment panel how the project or activity will benefit the applicant or the broader community (and if applicable, how the project or activity will benefit community participants).

You can include up to five letters of support, with each letter not exceeding one A4 page.

What type of support material do we accept Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (web links).

You can submit up to three URLs, which may include video, audio, images, and written material.

Please note that these URLs can include a total of:

 10 minutes of video and/or audio recording  10 images  10 pages of written material (for example, excerpts of literary writing). To find out more about support material, including how to submit late confirmations after the closing date, and advice on how to get examples of your work online click here.

If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material with your application in the following formats:

 Video (MP4, QuickTime, and Windows Media)  Audio (MP3 and Windows Media)  Images (JPEG and PowerPoint)  Written material (Word and PDF)