Currently 6 active paid grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Australia, across AI, arts, film, research, tech and cross-disciplinary practice. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Every entry is funded, no exposure-only calls. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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Canon Oceania's annual Grants Program, marking 20 years, supports schools, not-for-profits and community groups across Australia and New Zealand to tell their stories, reach wider audiences and deliver lasting results. CATEGORIES: Education, Community, Environment, and First Nations/Cultural. AWARD: each recipient receives 5,000 in local currency, split as 2,500 cash and 2,500 in Canon product; more than 50,000 awarded across the region. PROCESS: applications close 11:59pm AEST/NZT Sunday 14 June 2026; the wider community votes on finalists in July, and winners are announced in August. APPLY (Australia): https://www.canon.com.au/about-canon/community/grants ; APPLY (New Zealand): https://www.canon.co.nz/about-canon/community/grants .
Fellowships for Australian artists to live and work at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris for three months, undertaking a specific artistic project using the city's institutions, exhibitions, archives, libraries, collections and artistic resources. Four fellowships are offered per year. Fellows receive rent-free access to the Power Institute's dedicated living/working studio at the Cite, $13,000 AUD towards travel and living costs (paid roughly 6 weeks before travel), and access to the Cite's facilities and global community of artists plus the broader Paris art infrastructure. Fellows pay a refundable bond and utility costs, and on return must share outcomes via a report, public event and/or exhibition. ELIGIBILITY: open to all artists who are Australian citizens or Permanent Residents; applicants cannot have previously held a Cite Internationale des Arts residency (via the Power Institute or any other organisation). Awarded by a committee chaired by the Director of the Power Institute in consultation with the Cite, judged on the strength of the project, the benefit of pursuing it via a Paris residency, and the potential to further the applicant's professional development. Applications open 20 May 2026 and close midnight, 30 June 2026; applicants notified September 2026.
Fellowships for Australian researchers to live and work in Paris for three months on a specific research project in art and visual culture, using the city's archives, collections and research networks. Two fellowships are awarded per year: Fellowship 1 for University of Sydney staff members or PhD candidates, and Fellowship 2 for all other researchers (PhD candidate level or higher, including university-based researchers at any career stage, independent researchers, museum or gallery curators, and archivists or collection specialists). Each fellowship includes a $20,000 AUD grant for travel and living expenses (paid roughly 6 weeks before travel), support in finding accommodation, and access to Paris's archives, collections and research networks. On return, fellows must share outcomes via a report and/or public event. ELIGIBILITY: open to all researchers in art and visual culture who are Australian citizens or Permanent Residents; applicants cannot have previously received a Power Institute fellowship (such as at the Cite Internationale des Arts). Awarded by a committee chaired by the Director of the Power Institute, judged on the quality and originality of the project, the relevance and accessibility of the Paris-based research resources (and why the work cannot be done remotely or from the home institution), and the potential to further the applicant's professional development. Applications open 20 May 2026 and close midnight, 30 June 2026; applicants notified September 2026.
Believers funds the people, projects and programs creating the conditions for young people's creativity to flourish at scale. Creativity is meant in the broadest sense: artists are creative, but so are scientists, debaters, community builders and dancers, and a project can be anything from a summer camp to a robotics competition to a co-working holiday house for artists. Blackbird looks for inventive, dynamic experiments that encourage young people to be curious, to explore, to be lifelong learners, and to build community and become high-agency people, backing projects that are 0-1 (just starting) or 1-10 (scaling or iterating) rather than established groups. Examples: a neighbourhood community science lab, a hacker house, a hardware garage makerspace, a travelling STEM roadshow, or an after-school arts or coding club. ELIGIBILITY (no flexibility): individuals, groups or organisations established in Australia and/or New Zealand; projects taking place in AU/NZ; projects completed within 12 months; projects whose core focus is primarily creative outcomes; and organisations with less than AUD 1.5M in revenue. WHEN TO APPLY: Believers is open year-round, with EOIs and applications reviewed and progressed on a rolling basis; the program closes when all funds are disbursed or at the end of the FY27 period (30 June 2027), whichever comes first. Expressions of interest for Believers Fund III open on 30 June 2026.
Protostars is a micro-grant program for young people with passion projects: Blackbird gives people under 25 in Australia and New Zealand AUD 1,000 to work on strange, quirky, ambitious and audacious passion projects. A passion project can be anything, from metaverse art exhibitions, battle bots, space drones, theatre shows, films and opera podcasts to a travelling STEM roadshow or an app. The grant comes with a program and community: recipients join a cohort for 8 weeks of weekly catch-ups, learning from each other and special guests, building in public, and virtual or in-person coworking sessions, plus an in-person dinner and an end-of-program showcase, and ongoing access to the wider Protostars community (funding, networking and social opportunities). ELIGIBILITY: aged 18-25, based in Australia or New Zealand, and have a passion project. INTAKE: Protostars runs in seasonal cohorts; the most recent documented intake (Season 12) ran 15 January to 1 March 2026. Check the program page for the current intake window before applying.
Rolling Expression of Interest call for the Grainger Museum's Creative and Research Residency Program at the University of Melbourne. The programme encourages enquiry into the Grainger Museum Collection and Archive in creative, academic and open-ended ways to deliver research, artistic, learning and/or public-facing outcomes. KEY OBJECTIVES: deliver creative and/or academic research aligned with the museum's aims; research and take inspiration from the Grainger Collection and Archive; engage with University of Melbourne students and/or participate in academic symposia. WELCOMED THEMES: creative enquiry and responses to the Grainger Museum Collection, Archive and building; discipline-focused research into the Grainger Archive; and musical instruments, composition and technology. APPLY at any time by emailing a brief CV and a 1-page proposal (aim and scope, intended collection/archive focus areas with accession numbers if applicable, proposed dates and timelines) to grainger@unimelb.edu.au with subject line 'Grainger Museum Residency Program application'. Reviews twice a year, in April and September. The museum encourages applicants to contact them to discuss the project idea before submitting.