Arts and Culture Fund

The Arts and Cultural Fund is helping to support the work creatives do with small financial boosts. The fund will help creatives develop great work, grow their creative practice, and contribute to the local creative atmosphere - and this helps the whole community.

Baw Baw Shire Council knows that the arts make our lives fuller. Council’s long-term vision for a “connected and cultural enriched community” shows that they want the arts to be an important part of living life in Baw Baw Shire. 

We are looking for applications that can achieve one or more of the below goals:

• Helps to grow creative projects in the community, adds value to the local creative community and/or to own individual work;  
• Helps to develop the local arts community; 
• Gives the wider community the chance to experience and/or participate in the arts;  
• Creates opportunities for creatives to work together with other local creatives, residents and local community groups on projects. 

This fund aims to help creatives in their work, focusing on their professional development and building on their creative work. It also achieves a key goal set out in the Baw Baw Creative Communities Strategy 2023 – 2029 to Explore the opportunity to implement a new community arts grant scheme that supports innovative practices and programs.

The fund will support projects which achieve one or more of the following criteria: 

• Delivers creative projects or initiatives that meet goals in Baw Baw Shire Council’s Creative Communities Strategy.
• Boosts the professional development or practice of creative practitioners and groups who reside and/or undertake their work primarily within the municipal boundary of Baw Baw Shire.
• Shows broad community benefit.
• Builds on the creative industry of the area and demonstrates clear benefit to the local creative sector.

Drayton.C, Haughton.J, McLennan.J, Van Dyk Hamilton. R, Three Kurnai Women sculpture, Drouin Civic Park, 2023.

• Eligible applicants can apply for a monetary grant of up to $2,000.
• You can only apply once in a 12-month period funding year (round 1 & 2 make up the funding year).
• We will only accept one submission per project, per funding year.
• You can apply for any amount of money up to $2,000.

Please be aware - if you are successful, you may not be given the entire amount of money requested. The amount given is at the discretion of the decision panel.

• Residents of Baw Baw Shire or creative practitioners with a creative practice primarily located in Baw Baw Shire. 
• Organisations and community groups partnering with local creative/s to develop a creative project which will boost the creative practitioner's work and have broad community benefit. 
• Projects which are located and delivered in Baw Baw Shire.
• Residents looking to build their professional development in the creative industries. 
• The fund strongly encourages applicants from the creative industries serving youth and/or the First Nations community.
• Applicants under 18 years of age can apply but must have proof of consent from a parent/guardian. We will need to confirm in person with a parent/guardian should you be successful.

There will be two funding rounds between October 2024 and June 2025. 

We will be holding an online Application Health Check session on Thursday 31 October, 5.45pm. This session will be for anyone applying to ask any questions they have before submissions are due at 5pm AEST Monday 11 November 2024.

Click on the following links to access the full Applicant Guide(PDF, 1MB), the Help Guide for Applicants or the Application Form.

For more information you can contact Melissa Forlano Coordinator Arts & Culture on 03 5624 2583 or via email.

Caminiti.J, Corymbia Dreaming, Drouin Civic Park, 2022.