Indigenous Languages and Arts program

The Indigenous Languages and Arts (ILA) program will invest over 47 million in 2025–26 to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to express, conserve and sustain their cultures through languages and arts activities around Australia.

Funding

The ILA Program Grant Guidelines include objectives, eligibility criteria, grant opportunities and assessment criteria. The Guidelines can be accessed on the Australian Government's GrantConnect website (search for Indigenous Languages and Arts under grant opportunities). Please note the Guidelines are updated annually and published on GrantConnect.

To apply for grant opportunities through the ILA program, organisations will need to apply using the department's SmartyGrants online portal before the grant opportunity closes. The application form is designed to assist applicants to demonstrate how their proposal meets the objectives of the program and addresses the assessment criteria. All eligible applications will be competitively assessed against the assessment criteria.

Open competitive grant opportunity

The ILA program supports community-led organisations with grant funding administered through an annual competitive grant opportunity.

The 2026–27 open competitive grant opportunity has been postponed and is expected to open in February 2026. The open competitive grant opportunity is designed to support one-off Indigenous languages and arts projects. There is a cap on the amount of funding available and the duration of the project.

Closed non-competitive grant opportunity

The closed non-competitive grant opportunity is by invitation only from the ILA program and is designed to assist community-led organisations with a demonstrated strong track record of delivering high quality ILA program outcomes over the long term as well as ad-hoc projects identified as having a strategic, urgent or specified need aligning with the objectives of the ILA program.

Further information

• ILA program website
• ILA program fact sheet
• ILA program frequently asked questions
• ILA funded Indigenous Language Centres
• Interactive map of Indigenous Language Centres

Contact

Phone: 1800 006 992
Email: ila@arts.gov.au

The following organisations received funding in 2025–26:

• 2025–26 Indigenous Languages and Arts program grant recipients

The following organisations received funding in 2024–25:

• 2024–25 Indigenous Languages and Arts program grant recipients

The following organisations received funding in 2023–24:

• 2023–24 Indigenous Languages and Arts program grant recipients

The following organisations received funding in 2022–23:

• 2022–23 Indigenous Languages and Arts program grant recipients

The following organisations received funding in 2021–22:

• 2021–22 Indigenous Languages and Arts program grant recipients

The following organisations received funding in 2020–21:

• 2020–21 Indigenous Languages and Arts program grant recipients.

The following organisations received funding in 2019–20:

• 2019–20 Indigenous Languages and Arts program grant recipients.

The following organisations received funding in 2018–19:

• 2018–19 Indigenous Languages and Arts program grant recipients.

The following organisations received funding in 2017–18:

• 2017–18 Indigenous Languages and Arts program grant recipients.

The following organisations received funding in 2016–17:

• 2016–17 Indigenous Languages and Arts program grant recipients.

The following organisations were funded in 2015–16:

• 2015–16 full list of Indigenous Languages and Arts—Projects stream funding recipients
• 2015–16 full list of Indigenous Languages and Arts—Languages stream funding recipients.