Funding is available for national collecting institutions to help them develop and tour their collections nationally and internationally. Funding recipients for 2025–26 are listed below.

Australian National Maritime Museum

Mariw Minaral (Spiritual Patterns)

An exhibition of sculptural and printed works by Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait Islands) artist Alick Tipoti. Guided by the traditional cultural practices of his people, Mariw Minaral brings together some of the finest examples of Tipoti’s unique and intricate linocut prints. The exhibition also showcases his award-winning sculptural works, ancestral masks and various films.

Funding will support the touring of the exhibition to venues in Victoria and New South Wales.

Touring funding: $29,394

Bundanon Trust

Fantastic forms

Fantastic Forms features over 200 works from the Bundanon Collection in dialogue with new large-scale sculptures by Nabilah Nordin, a series of ceramic figures by Stephen Benwell and stop motion videos by emerging Bundjalung artist Rubyrose Bancroft.

Funding will support the touring of this exhibition to venues in South Australia and Western Australia.

Touring funding: $145,580

Museum of Australian Democracy

Behind the Lines 2025

This annual exhibition showcases the best Australian political cartoons from the year, celebrating Australian's unique, vibrant and fearless tradition of political cartooning. Engaging, witty and always humorous, these images offer an astutely observed journey through twelve months in our political life.

Funding will support the touring of the exhibition to venues in Tasmania and Victoria.

Touring funding: $174,613

Behind the Lines 2024

This annual exhibition showcases the best Australian political cartoons from the year, celebrating Australian's unique, vibrant and fearless tradition of political cartooning. Engaging, witty and always humorous, these images offer an astutely observed journey through twelve months in our political life.

Funding will support the touring of the exhibition to venues in Victoria and South Australia.

Touring funding: $37,585

National Archives of Australia

Reception this way: Motels – a Sentimental Journey with Tim Ross

Reception this way is based on the book MOTEL: Images of Australia on holiday by Tim Ross, which was developed in partnership with the National Archives of Australia as an accompaniment to his 2019 touring live show. The content of this book has been expanded to create an engaging photographic exhibition of national interest and relevance.

Funding will support the touring of the exhibition to venues in Western Australia.

Touring funding: $53,315

In Real Life: Inventors, Innovators, and Opportunists

Drawing on the significant design, patent and trademark records held by the National Archives of Australia, the exhibition will include household brand names and lifechanging inventions, celebrating the great and not-so-great inventions and the people and businesses who created them.

Funding will support the development of this exhibition for touring.

Touring funding: $45,000

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

Fighting Spirit: The Art of Boxing

This exhibition explores the story of boxing in Australia told through the lens of art and screen culture. It uses portraits and audio-visual media to capture the fighting spirit of Australia’s boxing greats and reflects the influence the sport has had on Australian society and culture. It features rarely seen footage from the National Film and Sound Archive with artworks from the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

Funding will support the touring of this exhibition to venues in Tasmania and New South Wales.

Touring funding: $109,225

Dreaming Black Screen

This exhibition will explore First Nations storytelling on screen, from early representations through a white lens to collaborations between non-Indigenous and Indigenous filmmakers, to a breakthrough generation of First Nations filmmakers telling their own stories. The exhibition will showcase First Nations filmmakers, their films and career trajectories, and the characters they create to inspire the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander screen creatives.

Funding will support the development of this exhibition for touring.

Development funding: $45,000

National Gallery of Australia

Enjoy This Trip: The Art of Music Posters

This exhibition presents Australian and International music posters from the Gallery’s collection spanning the 1960s to 1980s. The tour will celebrate this era and resonate with local audiences interested in art, graphic design, music and more.

Funding will support the touring of the exhibition to venues in Victoria and Tasmania.

Touring funding: $18,200

National Museum of Australia

Mr Squiggle and Friends: The Creative World of Norman Hetherington

This exhibition celebrates Norman Hetherington’s extraordinary creativity and his creation of Mr Squiggle and his friends, Bill Steamshovel, Blackboard, Gus the Snail, and Rocket.  Alongside an array of puppets, colourful theatrical set pieces, costumes, and artworks from Norman’s broader career, the exhibition captures the joy and creativity that Hetherington encouraged and inspired in generations of Australians.

Funding will support the development of this exhibition for touring.

Development funding: $29,338

Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters

This Indigenous-led exhibition brings to life the creation stories (tjukurpa) of the Seven Sisters, embodying the deep cultural knowledge of First Australians. The exhibition features state-of-the-art digital installations and immersive experiences that transcend language and geography, making the creative narratives accessible to audiences around the world.

Funding will support the touring of this exhibition to India.

Touring funding: $89,115

Defining Symbols of Australia

Based on the National Museum of Australia’s collection, this exhibition presents the history, meanings and significance of eight important Australian symbols in a series of graphic panels that can tour to smaller regional venues that do not have the usual climactic/security controls of larger organisations.

Funding will support the touring of the show case exhibition to venues in New South Wales.

Touring funding: $7,194

National Portrait Gallery of Australia

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2025

This annual exhibition promotes the best contemporary photographic portraiture by professional and aspiring Australian photographers. 
Funding will support the touring of the 2025 exhibition to venues in Queensland and South Australia.

Touring funding: $173,267

Mīal by Archie Moore

This exhibition is a conceptual self-portrait containing 34 panels of various sizes that can be exhibited at a variety of scales with some or all panels on display. Each panel relates to a part of the artist’s body and is named in his Ancestral languages. The exhibition counters expectations of what a self-portrait should be and probes the politics and codification of skin colour, and the racist historical practice of classifying skin tone.

Funding will support the touring of the exhibition to venues in Queensland.

Touring funding: $43,174