Arts Grants in Australia (All States) — 2026

This program provides funding to support arts presenters and producers in the delivery of performing arts, visual arts, contemporary music gigs, and cultural heritage touring activity. Funding assists with costs including artist fees, travel and accommodation, tour management, freight and equipment hire, and community engagement activities.

This program provides funding for Canberra artists, groups and organisations to undertake arts activities including creating new work, professional development, mentoring, residencies, and community arts engagement. Activities can span multiple artforms including dance, digital games, literature, music, theatre, visual arts, and arts-based festivals.

The ILA Program supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to express, conserve and maintain their cultures through Indigenous languages and arts activities. Funding supports conservation and revitalisation of Indigenous languages, language learning pathways, digital recording of languages, and creation and promotion of Indigenous community-based arts activities including dance, theatre, film, literature, music and traditional crafts.

Arts SA funding is available for artists, organisations and the community to support initiatives that demonstrate bold exploration, innovation, and lead to a vibrant ecology of new relationships and networks. Grants are available in 3 program streams: development, projects, and major projects, with funding amounts and eligibility criteria varying depending on the specific grant being applied for.

A prestigious research fellowship scheme supporting world-class researchers to conduct innovative and ground-breaking research in Australia. Provides funding for fellow salary, postdoctoral research associates, postgraduate researchers, and project costs up to $300,000 per year.

A named Australian Laureate Fellowship available to highly ranked female candidates from the humanities, arts and social science disciplines. Recipients undertake an ambassadorial role to promote women in research and mentor early career researchers.

Creative Australia offers targeted training and professional development programs to build the skills and capabilities of artists and arts organisations. Programs support workforce development, adaptation and innovation in leadership, governance, fundraising, business and entrepreneurial skills, and digital arts through coaching, mentoring, workshops, networking activities and formal training opportunities.

The Indigenous Languages and Arts (ILA) program supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to express, conserve and sustain their cultures through languages and arts activities. The open competitive grant opportunity funds one-off Indigenous languages and arts projects delivered by community-led organisations around Australia.

This program provides one-off grants to support the development and presentation of new creative performing arts work by Queensland-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, arts companies, groups and organisations. Funding is available through two streams: performing arts (up to $70,000) and visual arts market development (up to $30,000), with additional funding of up to $10,000 available for disability access costs.

Creative Australia's targeted program to support d/Deaf and disabled artists and creative workers in the arts, digital games and cultural sectors. The initiative provides recognition, professional development, and expanded investment opportunities for d/Deaf and disabled creatives.

A leadership development program supporting workforce development and innovation in climate-focused arts leadership. The program builds skills and capabilities of arts leaders through targeted training and professional development activities.

The IVAIS program funds the operations of Indigenous-owned art centres, art fairs, regional hubs and industry service organisations that support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual artists. Approximately $3.5 million per year is available through the annual open competitive grant round to organisations that help professional Indigenous artists produce, promote and market their art.

The Discovery Projects scheme provides grant funding to support research projects that may be undertaken by individual researchers or research teams. The Discovery Projects scheme objectives are to: support excellent pure basic, strategic basic and applied research, and research training, across all disciplines excluding clinical and other medical research, that addresses a significant problem or gap in knowledge and represents value for money; expand research capacity in Australia by supporting excellent researchers and teams; foster national and international research collaboration; create new knowledge with economic, commercial, environmental, social and/or cultural benefits for Australia; and enhance the scale and focus of research in Australian Government priority areas. Eligibility: An application may only be submitted through the Research Office of an Eligible Organisation listed in the Grant Guidelines. The application must nominate at least one Chief Investigator (CI); the fir

The Linkage Projects scheme supports projects which initiate or develop long term strategic research alliances to apply advanced knowledge to problems, acquire new knowledge and as a basis for securing commercial and other benefits of research. There will be one assessment round for Linkage Projects for funding applied for in 2026. Please refer to the Important Dates document for detailed information about the assessment round dates. The Linkage Projects scheme objectives are to: support internationally competitive research projects and teams on challenges or opportunities of relevance to research end-users; foster the establishment and strengthening of research alliances between higher education organisations and research end-users; enhance the scale and focus of research, including in Australian Government priority areas. The intended outcomes of the Linkage Projects scheme are: new or strengthened collaborations and research alliances between universities and research end-users; new

The ILA Program supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to express, conserve and maintain their cultures through Indigenous languages and arts activities. Grant funding allocated through the ILA Program supports activities that: Conserve, revitalise and sustain Indigenous languages and Create, promote and celebrate Indigenous community-based arts activities. Eligibility: To be eligible for an ILA program grant, your organisation must: have an Australian Business Number (ABN) be registered for the purposes of GST - if your business has a gross annual income minus GST of $75,000 (or $150,000 for non-profit organisations) have an account with an Australian financial institution be one of the following entity types: an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 and are compliant with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s (ASIC) requirements regarding director ID n

The ILA Program supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to express, conserve and maintain their cultures through Indigenous languages and arts activities. Participation in the Closed Non-Competitive Grant Opportunity, including the Strategic Grant Opportunity is by invitation only and will support the Indigenous languages and arts sector to: strengthen and grow the Indigenous languages sector by directly contributing to the Australian Government’s priorities for Indigenous languages strengthen and revitalise Australian Indigenous languages provide funding stability for Indigenous language centre (ILC) operations provide funding stability for language activities delivered to support the broader languages sector support secure and sustainable employment and skills development for the Indigenous language sector fund strategic activities addressing identified Indigenous language and arts priorities Eligibility: Participation in the Closed Non-Competitive Grant Opportunit

Creative Australia is offering fully funded scholarships for artists and arts workers to participate in transformative leadership programs ranging from 5 days to 10 months. Programs focus on systems thinking, ethical decision-making, and adaptive leadership practice, with support for travel expenses and access needs available on a limited basis.

Creative Australia's $1 million investment in leadership development programs supporting emerging artists, mid-career managers, established leaders, and board members across Australia. The program offers multiple pathways including open-access labs, scholarships to industry-led programs, targeted workshops, and grants for governance training.