Queensland Arts Project Fund FAQs

1. If I am applying as in individual, can I use the funds to engage and pay myself as the professional artist for the project?

Yes, you can.

2. If I am an individual, can I apply to the 2-year project stream?

You can apply to this stream provided you can demonstrate a strong track record in delivering projects at a similar scale and provide all the additional relevant support material.

3. Can an individual, who also works for an organisation, apply under the Individuals stream for funding to deliver a project in conjunction with that organisation?

In this scenario, the organisation appears to be a principal beneficiary of both applications and Arts Queensland would treat the application from the individual as if it were from the organisation. That would mean both the organisation and individual could not apply in the same round, nor could that closely associated individual apply for funding if the organisation had been successful in the last round.

Please contact Arts Queensland if you believe this might apply to you.

1. Can individuals apply to the General or Two-Year Project streams?

Provided they meet all the other eligibility criteria for a stream, individuals can apply to all three streams of QAPF.

2. Can I use my own personal ABN to apply on behalf of a Group if it doesn’t have an ABN? If so, am I applying as an individual or as a group?

For the Project Funding stream, in this instance you should select within the applicant details section that you are applying as a group/collective/artist run initiative. The application form will then direct you to select ‘individual’ in the applicant name section.

The name you provide should match the name on your ABN, and if you are successful, the bank account we pay your funding into, will need to be in the same name under which you applied.

3. Can I apply for different projects in the same round as an Individual (under my own personal ABN) and as an organisation from a business that I own (under my organisation’s ABN)?

In this instance you will only be able to apply once to the round.

4. My organisation has upcoming reports due for Arts Queensland grants – do I need to complete this reporting before I submit my application?

You must submit all reporting by the contracted due date to be eligible to apply.  If you have overdue reporting or have not provided any additional information requested by Arts Queensland in relation to the reports you have submitted, you will be ineligible to apply.

If you have any overdue reporting when you are notified of success, you will need to complete this before your funding deed is issued and your first payment made.

If you are the owner or Director of an organisation that has overdue reporting, you may also be ineligible to apply, even if that application was made under a different ABN. Please contact Arts Queensland if you think that may apply to you. 

5. Can my organisation apply for QAPF if we are already receiving funding through other AQ funding streams?

You can apply if you have previously received, or are currently receiving, project or core funding from Arts Queensland. However, you cannot apply if:

• you were successful in QASP Round 7
• you have already received funding for the same activity through a different fund
• you have received more than $1million in grants in total from Arts Queensland in the 12 months prior to the round closing date
• your funding agreement specifies you can’t apply to any other Arts Queensland funding programs.

6. If our staff or ensemble/cast/band are not all based in Queensland, can we still apply?

To be eligible you must have a business address and staff based in Queensland. The expectation is that the majority of your employees and the artists involved in the project are permanently based in Queensland, however it is not an eligibility requirement that all employees/artists be Queensland-based.

7. Are Local Governments able to apply to QAPF?

Queensland’s Local Government Authorities and Indigenous Councils are eligible to apply.

1. My project includes film-making. Am I eligible to apply?

The Fund will not support the creation or presentation of new work where the immediate or longer-term objective is for the work to be shown in cinemas, TV or digital content channels.

However, if you are a visual artist working in the medium of film or video, and the context for the exhibition of the work is in a gallery or installation, you are eligible to apply.

Similarly, if you are making a live performing arts piece that includes pre-recorded film, then the film components of the performance are eligible for support.

Musicians can request funding towards a music video as part of a larger project that creates and releases a song or album (i.e. the song or the album is the new work the grant is focussed on), however a request to create only a music video is unlikely to be competitive.

2. What is meant by a ‘nationally or internationally significant artist or company’?

Developing and/or presenting new work with a ‘nationally or internationally significant artist or company’ has the potential to:

• grow new audiences for the applicant
•  enhance Queensland’s cultural reputation via the applicant’s association with the artist/company
• develop the skills and artistic practice of the Queensland artists involved.
  

The national or international artist or company should have a strong critical reputation and have good name recognition to people familiar with the artform, or reasonable recognition by the general public in Australia or their home country.

3. Can I apply for funding to do workshops?

A project involving just workshops would not be eligible as the objective of the Fund is to support the development and presentation of new work. However, you can apply for support to deliver workshops that help people to engage with or promote the new work.

Examples could include:

• A masterclass for local dancers to accompany a dance performance in a regional town.
• Curriculum-aligned drama workshops for schools to accompany a new play based on a classic book.
• Delivering music workshops with your interstate collaborators to emerging musicians.
• Poetry workshops with a seniors' group to accompany the publication of an anthology of contemporary Queensland poets.

1. Applications must not request 100% of project or core operating costs. Can in-kind contributions be the only co-investment or does there need to be cash co-investment secured to fulfil the eligibility criteria?

In-kind contribution is counted for the purposes of eligibility, however your application to the Individual or General streams will be more competitive if you have cash income as well.

If you are applying to the two-year project stream, you need to show confirmed cash income equivalent to at least 30% of the project’s total costs to be eligible.

2. Can we include the in-kind value of volunteer time, and other in-kind costs as part of our budget?

You can include these in-kind costs within your budget. The Budget includes an in-kind section for these costs, and you should enter the different types and value of in-kind support you receive on different budget lines. Remember, in-kind costs will ultimately balance, with an equal income and expenditure value ultimately delivering a ‘net zero’ cost.

In the ‘Notes to Budget’ section, please provide details on how you have calculated the value of volunteer time.

3. What award or rate should we use to calculate the value of volunteer time?

You should use the most appropriate award or industry standard for your organisation and the role when calculating and valuing volunteer time. For example, the hourly rate for a volunteer front of house person may be lower than the rate for a volunteer lighting board operator.

You can include this information in your ‘Notes to Budget’ question or in ‘Any other information to support income, expense or in-kind estimations’ upload.

4. My application is being auspiced, can I include auspice fees in my budget?

You can include auspice fees. Please provide information about what services are included in the fee so that peer assessors can see they are reasonable.

If you are a person with disability and require support to manage your grant and complete your reporting due to your disability, you can include auspice costs in either the main project budget or in the additional access costs.

5. If I have a disability, can I apply for the cost to help me financially manage and acquit the grant?

You can include this in either the main project budget or in the additional access costs section.  You may also like to consider being auspiced if this suits your needs better. See Question 4 above.

6. The assessment criteria says I should include Contingency Costs but they are listed as an item that is ineligible for Arts Queensland Support. Isn’t this a contradiction?

Prudent budgeting should include an amount to cover unexpected new costs or increases in existing costs. You should include this in your budget, however you can’t ask for Arts Queensland support towards contingency, so there should not be anything in the AQ contribution column against a contingency line in Expenditure.

7. If I am successful, do I need to open a separate bank account to manage the grant?

As part of the terms of your deed of funding with Arts Queensland, you must hold all funding paid to you by Arts Queensland in separate account an account with an Approved Financial Institution.  Any interest you earn on the funding forms of the overall funding.

1. Support material for this stream includes supplying audited or certified financial statements or project budgets that show sound management of past grants/funds – what does this entail?

You can supply audited or certified financial statements or audited or certified project budgets.  These don’t have to be your most recent audited financial statements. However, they do need to demonstrate sound management of past grants/funds. Certified statements/project can be signed by your Chair or CEO as being true and correct, or if you are an individual, by your accountant.

1. In what instances should I provide evidence of consultation with, or support from, communities or groups?

If your application speaks on behalf of, suggests engagement with, or plans to deliver outcomes for particular groups within a community, evidence of consultation and endorsement from those groups is required for your application to meet eligibility criteria.

Here are some examples of what you must provide to support assessment of eligibility:

• Working with a particular community group in your project - provide a letter from someone with authority for, or within that group confirming support for the project and agreement to work with you.
• Undertaking activity that will take place in a remote and/or discrete Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community - provide evidence (email, letter, video) that a community member with authority supports the activity and gives permission for the activity to take place in that community.
• Developing or presenting work that tells the story of a community (geographic, cultural, lived experience) of which you are not a part - provide evidence (email, letter, video) that a community member or organisation with authority gives permission for you to tell the story of that community and endorses the planned process for community involvement.
• Are developing or presenting work that tells the story of an individual who is not a historic or public figure.
  

These are the minimum expectations for eligibility; the assessment criteria require you to demonstrate best practice when working with diverse communities.

2. When will I need to provide evidence of appropriate consent and permissions for Intellectual Property (IP) or Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP)?

If you are incorporating IP or ICIP that is not your own into your project you must have appropriate permissions to do so.

The guidance below refers to the minimum expectation of what you need to supply to meet the compulsory support material requirement for eligibility.

The eligibility guidance is not legal advice. We recommend you speak to Arts Law for advice relating to IP or ICIP.

Intellectual Property (IP)

If you require the permission of a rights holder to deliver your project, you must provide evidence of that permission and include any associated fees in your budget. For example, if you are performing a radical reinterpretation of a play that is under copyright, attach in your application your agreement with the playwright’s agent that shows agreed royalties to be paid.

Arts Law has excellent resources that explain IP in an arts context.

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP)

If you are an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person with the cultural authority to use the ICIP, please state that in your application.

If you do not have authority to use the ICIP, you should provide a statement from the ICIP owner/s that provides their consent for use of the ICIP.

Your evidence of consent and permission should include:

• who the traditional owners and custodians of the ICIP are
• how they wish to be credited and acknowledged as the Traditional Owners and custodians of the ICIP or moral rights holders in any publications or collateral
• any restrictions on the use of the ICIP
• if Traditional Custodians/communities will be paid for the use of the ICIP, and how much.

Creative Australia has published Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts. For more information on ICIP please visit the Arts Law website.