Released 12/12/2024
The first round of ACT Government Arts Activities $5k-50k funding for 2025 have opened and artists are encouraged to apply. Applications for Up-to-$5K funding are also open for the 2024-25 financial year.
Twelve successful recipients from the previous 2024 Arts Activities Round 2 include Canberra artists working in literature, music, digital games, screen, dance, theatre and visual arts.
Among the recipients, Thomas Coen Bonson received funding to develop and promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inspired jewellery, celebrating culture and wearable art, for exhibition during NAIDOC Week 2025. Bridget Baskerville funding will assist her to take up residency at ZK/U, Centre for Art and Urbanistics in Germany, to develop artwork in response to the impact of human intervention on Berlin waterways. Nick Delatovic will use his funding through the program to create VHDXS, a new two-channel video collaboration with Sydney-based artist Daniel Mudie Cunningham. A new album of Australian Flute Concertos will be recorded by successful recipient Sally Walker in collaboration with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.
Minister for the Business, Arts and Creative Industries, Michael Pettersson congratulated the successful applicants.
“The continuation of this type of support for Canberra’s unique creative industries is essential in establishing ourselves as Australia’s Arts Capital. This funding enables creative individuals to be innovative and develop and grow their art as well as nurturing our region’s creative and diverse arts sector.”
The ACT Government arts funding supports artists in developing their skills and practice, assist their careers and employment and enables them to engage with audiences through exhibitions and performances in the ACT, interstate and internationally.
Arts Activities ($5k to $50k) funding is open twice a year and provides funding to Canberra-based artists and arts groups for one-off projects. Applications are peer assessed.
Up-to-$5K funding is open for applications throughout the financial year. Applications to the current round of $5k to $50k Arts Activities funding close on 5pm, Friday 28 February 2025.
For more information go to www.arts.act.gov.au/funding/arts-activities-funding.
Quotes attributable to Thomas Bonson:
“I am deeply honoured to have been selected for funding in this round, as it represents a significant milestone in both my artistic journey and the broader recognition of Indigenous wearable art. The funding will be pivotal in enabling the development of the creation of new jewellery pieces, which will be unveiled at an exhibition during NAIDOC Week 2025 at ANCA Gallery. This is a major step in sharing my work with a wider audience, not only within Canberra but nationally. This exhibition will provide an important platform for celebrating and promoting Indigenous culture through wearable art. I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity to further elevate my profile as Canberra's only qualified First Nations Jeweller and to engage both the local and broader communities in this unique cultural experience."
Quotes attributable to Nick Delatovic:
“I’m extremely excited to be funded to create VHSXS. This project will see the development of a new two-channel video work in collaboration with NSW-based video and performance artist Daniel Mudie Cunningham. This collaboration is not only a significant artistic endeavour but also a crucial step in the growth of my practice, audience and career. It’s exhilarating to stretch and challenge my arts practice and put my work in front of new audiences with this project. The best part about having appropriate funding support is being able to properly pay the top-notch Canberran artists that I’m working with.”
Quotes attributable to Bridget Baskerville:
“I feel incredibly grateful to the ACT Government for supporting me to undertake a residency with ZK/U Centre for Art and Urbanistics in Berlin, Germany during 2025. As an early career artist this residency is a significant step in the development of my visual arts practice and research. ZK/U will provide me the opportunity to connect with and receive critical feedback from other creatives in an international setting, and this is extremely valuable at this early stage in my career. I am blown away by the support as this funding will enable me to travel to Berlin to develop and exhibit a new body of work, potentially influencing the trajectory of my practice.”
Quotes attributable to Sally Walker:
“I am deeply grateful to the ACT Government for their visionary support of my project. This funding will enable the creation of the first-ever recording of Australian flute concertos by an Australian artist in partnership with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.
The recording will highlight the ACT as a vibrant hub for the arts and showcase the incredible talent of Australian composers, including Canberra’s Christopher Sainsbury, whose work draws on the lost songs of the Dharug people, as well as national icon Elena Kats-Chernin and talented up-and-coming composer Alex Turley.
I am also delighted that the album will pay homage to the lost Flute Concerto by early Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks, for which I’m honoured to have been granted permission to transcribe her ‘Concerto Romantico’ and bring it to life in this recording.”
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Michael Pettersson, MLA | Media Releases