Currently 7 active paid grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Australia, across AI, arts, film, journalism, research, tech and cross-disciplinary practice. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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The Copyright Agency Cultural Fund's Fellowship for Non-Fiction Writing awards AUD 80,000 to one mid-career or established Australian author to research and write a substantial new work of literary non-fiction. Eligible forms include memoir, biography, history, criticism, arts and science writing, and environmental and political writing. ELIGIBILITY: mid-career or established Australian authors with a demonstrated publication record and publisher interest in the proposed work; Australian residents only. APPLICATIONS open 20 April 2026 and close 17 August 2026, 1:00pm AEST. Apply via the Cultural Fund fellowship page.
The Copyright Agency Cultural Fund's Author Fellowship awards AUD 80,000 to one established Australian author to create a significant new work for publication. ELIGIBILITY: established Australian authors with critical acclaim and confirmed publisher interest in the proposed work; Australian residents only. This is a separate fellowship from the Cultural Fund's Fellowship for Non-Fiction Writing, though administered on the same cycle. APPLICATIONS close 17 August 2026, 1:00pm AEST. Apply via the Cultural Fund fellowship page.
Three Helpmann Fellowships of up to AUD 7,500 support ambitious, self-directed projects that advance the artistic and professional development of emerging creatives. Fellowships are open across all eligible disciplines, to individuals and to collectives, and funding can go to larger-scale creative projects, tailored professional development, or a combination of both. Previous fellowships have supported the creation of new work, exhibitions and performances, residencies and internships, touring and recording, specialised training, and long-term professional development; each fellowship is shaped by the recipient rather than a fixed programme. ELIGIBILITY IS NARROW AND GEOGRAPHIC: applicants must be current residents of South Australia and either final-year students or graduates within five years of a supported degree at Adelaide University, the University of Adelaide, Flinders University, or the University of South Australia. Honours students and graduates (up to five years after the final year of study) are eligible where honours was undertaken directly following the undergraduate degree. Masters and PhD candidates and graduates are not eligible unless they qualify through their undergraduate or honours study. Final-year students may apply provided the funded activity takes place after studies are completed and within the activity timeframe. Applications are assessed on artistic merit, alignment with career development, feasibility, commitment to learning, and level of ambition. The online application requires a CV (max two pages), an official academic transcript, a budget on the Helpmann template, a timeline, project confirmations, letters of support from an academic and an industry referee, and four to six images or one to two audio-visual work samples. An online information session runs 4 August 2026 at 6pm ACST, and the Program Manager, Toni Wills, takes online or in-person application chats (info@helpmannacademy.com.au). Applications opened 15 July 2026 and close 31 August 2026 at 11:59pm ACST, for activity occurring 1 January to 31 December 2027. Free to apply.
Creative Australia's principal open-round project grant for arts organisations and the most directly relevant Australian scheme for mounting festivals, exhibitions and public programmes. The guidelines explicitly list festivals, productions, exhibitions, performances, touring, publishing, recording, collaborations, research and community engagement as supported activity. Organisations may propose either a single project or an entire programme of projects, which can extend to a full artistic programme for a given calendar year or longer, so this can function as de facto annual programme funding. The category is artform-agnostic and routinely supports media arts, digital culture, experimental sound and art-and-science work; activity delivered online is explicitly permitted. NOTABLE: international organisations are eligible where the project demonstrably benefits practising Australian artists, their work, or Australian audiences, so a non-Australian festival can apply if it is programming Australian artists. The applicant must be a legally constituted entity: incorporated association, company limited by guarantee, or government statutory authority. Registration in the Application Management System must be completed at least one business day before the closing date. The round closes 1 September 2026 at 3pm AEST.
Supports reciprocal international exchange between Australian practitioners or organisations and confirmed overseas partners, which makes it the right instrument for co-hosted convenings, labs and cross-border programme partnerships rather than one-way touring. Supported activity types are creative collaboration and development, cultural exchange and knowledge sharing, and labs and practice-exchange models, mapping closely onto media arts residencies, art-and-science research exchanges and digital culture symposia. Eligible costs include artist fees, travel, accommodation, production expenses, marketing, access costs, and childcare or carer support. International organisations are eligible where the project benefits Australian artists or creative workers, and a confirmed international partner is mandatory and must confirm participation in writing. The reciprocity requirement is substantive: the strongest applications embed mutually beneficial exchange rather than simply presenting an Australian artist abroad. Creative Australia's published assessment feedback notes top-ranked applications foregrounded First Nations self-determined or diasporic-led activity and demonstrated sector-wide impact. It is competitive: 157 eligible applications in the March 2026 round yielded 33 grants, about a 21 percent success rate. Contemporary music practitioners are excluded and directed to Music Australia programmes. Closes 13 October 2026 at 3pm AEDT.
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.
Queer Screen's Mardi Gras Film Festival in Sydney is one of the largest queer film festivals in the world. Submissions reopened in July 2026 via FilmFreeway; the final deadline is historically mid-October (around 15 October 2026, unconfirmed). Audience awards; modest submission fees.