Grant Therapy April/May Edition
Touring Queensland Fund, Create NSW Project Rounds and Other Creative Grants
Looking for arts grants in Queensland, New South Wales or across Australia in April and May 2026?
Each month, Grant Therapy highlights current creative industry grants and shows you how to strengthen your application by embedding wellbeing, sustainability and strong governance.
Funding is not just about securing investment.
It is about delivering the work safely, sustainably and without burning out your team.
April and May are a particularly strong period for artists and arts organisations, with Arts Queensland, Create NSW and Creative Australia all offering opportunities that are open now or opening across this window. (Arts Queensland)
Below are current opportunities for artists and arts organisations in 2026, along with practical inclusions to help you stand out.
Touring Queensland Fund Round 2 2026
Funder: Arts Queensland
Key dates:
Opens Monday 23 March 2026
Closes Tuesday 5 May 2026 at 2pm
Notification date: mid July 2026
Projects must start after 7 September 2026. Arts Queensland says the fund supports touring of high-quality artistic work across Queensland, including regional communities, and offers up to $100,000. (Arts Queensland)
Touring grants are never just about the itinerary. They are about how realistic, safe and sustainable the tour actually is.
Strengthening Your Touring Queensland Fund Application
Include a touring wellbeing plan with structured rest periods and realistic travel scheduling.
Address touring fatigue, bump-in and bump-out compression, and the pressure points that come with small teams working across multiple locations.
Allocate a modest budget for debrief sessions, telehealth support or Mental Health First Aid training for tour leads.
Demonstrate clear communication processes, cultural sensitivity and practical contingency planning for regional delivery.
Touring increases fatigue risk. Naming and managing that risk strengthens your proposal.
Create NSW: Cultural Access – Priority Area Projects 2026
Funder: Create NSW
Key dates:
Opened 13 April 2026
Closes 25 May 2026 at 2:00 pm
Individuals and groups can apply for $10,000 to $75,000
Organisations can apply for $20,000 to $100,000. Projects must start after 1 September 2026 and be completed by 31 December 2027. (NSW Government)
This round is one of the more important NSW opportunities in this period, especially for projects led by or engaging with priority communities.
Strengthening Your Cultural Access Application
Be very clear about who the project is for and how they are involved in shaping it.
Include psychological safety, accessibility and culturally safe delivery as active parts of the project design, not just values statements.
Budget for supported participation where needed, including debrief spaces, access support, facilitation care or referral pathways.
Show that inclusion is being resourced properly through staffing, timeline design and governance.
Inclusion requires structure, not just intention.
Create NSW: Regional Arts Touring Round 1 2026
Funder: Create NSW
Key dates:
Opened 13 April 2026
Closes 25 May 2026 at 2:00 pm
Individuals and groups can apply for $10,000 to $75,000
Organisations can apply for $20,000 to $120,000. Create NSW also requires applicants to contribute at least 10% of total tour income through cash or in-kind support, and funding requests must not exceed 90% of total tour income. (NSW Government)
For regional touring projects, assessors will be looking closely at feasibility, partnerships and how well the tour has been thought through.
Strengthening Your Regional Arts Touring Application
Include a realistic touring schedule that reflects travel time, recovery time and venue logistics.
Show how communication, artist care and issue escalation will work while teams are on the road.
Address local partnerships and regional engagement in a way that feels genuine, not like a metro project being dropped in.
Use the risk section properly. Touring fatigue, workload compression and limited local capacity are real risks, and assessors know that.
A strong tour plan shows not just where the work is going, but how the people delivering it will be supported.
Create NSW: Creative Steps – New Work 2026
Funder: Create NSW
Key dates:
Opened 13 April 2026
Closes 25 May 2026 at 2:00 pm. This funding supports the creative development and presentation of new work by individual artists and arts and cultural workers. Groups, organisations and partnerships with legal status cannot apply through this stream. Projects must start after 1 September 2026 and be completed by 31 December 2027. (NSW Government)
This is a strong fit for artists developing new work who need support for research, development or presentation and want to show a thoughtful pathway from idea to outcome.
Strengthening Your Creative Steps Application
Demonstrate a clear creative process, not just a good idea.
Show that your timeline is realistic and that you understand the practical workload required across development, rehearsal, presentation and evaluation.
If the work is emotionally demanding, collaborative or community-facing, name the support structures around it.
Include a simple but credible sustainability story: what this project builds, opens or strengthens beyond the immediate outcome.
Creative ambition lands better when it is paired with practical delivery confidence.
AusArt Day Micro Grants 2026
Funder: Creative Australia
Key dates:
Applications opened 2 April 2026 at 9am AEDT
Applications close 2 June 2026 at 3pm AEST
Individuals and collectives can apply for up to $5,000
Small-to-medium organisations can apply for up to $10,000. These micro-grants are for the creation of digital content for an AusArt Day fundraising campaign, and applicants must be practicing Australian artists or small-to-medium arts organisations with an annual operating budget under $5 million. (Creative Australia)
This is a slightly different kind of opportunity, but for the right organisation it could be very useful, especially if you are building visibility, a campaign narrative or donor engagement around a creative cause.
Strengthening Your AusArt Day Micro Grant Application
Treat the content plan as seriously as the fundraising goal.
Be specific about what content you will create, who it is for and how it will support giving.
Show that the campaign has a strong story and a clear audience, rather than relying on generic social content.
If your project is community-led or values-driven, make that visible. Fundraising is stronger when people understand what they are being invited into.
Good campaign content is not fluff. It is infrastructure.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Development Fund Round 2 2026
Funder: Arts Queensland
Key dates:
Opens Monday 11 May 2026
Closes Monday 22 June 2026 at 2pm
Notification date: end of August 2026
Activity start date: after 26 October 2026. The fund is open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, groups and organisations in Queensland and supports new creative performing arts and visual arts work. (Arts Queensland)
This round sits just at the end of the April–May window, but it is absolutely one to prepare for early if it is relevant to your practice or organisation.
Strengthening Your Application
Start early on partners, permissions, timelines and cultural governance.
Make sure the project is clearly grounded in community, artistic purpose and appropriate support structures.
Budget properly for the people doing the work and avoid under-costing delivery.
If the project involves community-facing, intergenerational or emotionally significant work, include care, facilitation and follow-up as part of the design.
A strong application shows artistic strength and cultural responsibility together.
Quick Response Grants
Funder: Regional Arts NSW
Regional Arts NSW advises that Quick Response Grants are available monthly from February to November, with individuals able to apply for up to $3,000 and organisations up to $5,000. These are designed for professional development and small opportunities that arise unexpectedly. (Regional Arts NSW)
If you are in regional NSW and something relevant has come up quickly, this is worth having on your radar.
Strengthening Your Quick Response Application
Be direct. These applications are often strongest when they are simple, timely and clearly justified.
Show why the opportunity matters now, what it will unlock and why you cannot reasonably wait for a larger round.
Keep the budget lean, accurate and proportionate.
Quick-response funding is often about momentum. Make it easy for assessors to see the opportunity and the value.
What April–May Is Really Telling Us
This period is less about applying for everything and more about being strategic.
Across Queensland, NSW and national opportunities, assessors are looking for more than artistic merit. They want to know the project is feasible, well-managed and responsibly delivered. That means your application gets stronger when it includes realistic timelines, thoughtful staffing, risk awareness and clear support structures around artists, workers and communities. (NSW Government)
In other words, wellbeing is not separate from delivery. It is part of good governance.
Need Support With Your Grant Application?
If you are preparing an application and want to strengthen your governance, risk planning or wellbeing framework, contact Hey Mate.
We support artists and arts organisations across Australia to embed sustainable delivery practices into funded projects.
Funding the idea is important. Protecting the people delivering it is essential.