84 arts projects will share in over $1.7 million thanks to the Regional Arts Fund.

A woman and three teenagers creating art on the wall and floor using colourful tape.
Wagga Wagga City Council, Tape It 2652. Collaborative drawing at Tarcutta Village. Photo by Ash Smith Photography. Supported by a 2023 Regional Arts Fund Project Grant.

The projects are expected to reach almost 1 million Australians both live and online and generate over 1,000 new employment opportunities for artists and arts workers in regional and remote areas.

The Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund supports sustainable cultural development in regional and remote communities in Australia. It is managed by Regional Arts Australia and organisations in each state and territory. Some of the latest recipients of Project Grants include:

  • The Almiraj Sufi and Islamic Study Centre will present Wide Desert Listening, whichartist Sufi Oz will perform with Barkindji/Malyangapa songman Leroy Johnson to celebrate and explore the cultural heritage of Broken Hill in New South Wales.
  • Barkly Regional Arts will deliver a year-long series of community arts workshops in Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, throughout 2025.
  • Musical Theatre Australia will embark on its inaugural tour of the award-winning musical A Girl’s Guide to World War in 2025, bringing high-quality musical theatre to audiences across Queensland.
  • Ngapala Artist Development Project will support First Nations artists to visit Ngapala Arts in Copley, South Australia, to run workshops with Ngapala Artists.
  • Radical Fields End of Season Harvest is a socially-engaged contemporary arts and cultural event on Dja Dja Wurrung Country in Glenlyon Victoria.
  • Hard As Puck - Producer Development will assist filmmaker Chanel Bowen to produce a feature documentary ‘Hard as Puck’, following Para-Ice Hockey players in Western Australian as they vie for a place on the first-ever Australian team.
  • The Cocos Batik Revival Project aims to reclaim and revitalise Batik, an important cultural practice for the Cocos Island community.
  • 2025 lutruwita/Tasmania Touring Program Van Diemen’s Band will deliver 22 performances across Tasmania.

A full list of recipients can be found on the Regional Arts Fund page.

Through the National Cultural Policy – Revive a place for every story, a story for every place, the Regional Arts Fund received an additional $8.5 million over 4 years from 2023-24.

The next round of Project Grant funding is expected to open for applications in February 2025 for projects commencing from July 2025.