Eight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and organisations will be supported to develop exceptional new work, with funding through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Development Fund.
The Fund supports the development and presentation of new performing arts work and connects visual artists to international audiences and markets.
In Round 1, the Fund offered up to $70,000 per grant to support the creation of new work, with additional funding of up to $10,000 to support access needs of artists and audiences with disability.
Eight recipients will share in up to $441,246 to create work in their communities from the Redlands region to Townsville and the Torres Strait. Artists and companies will develop new cabaret, theatre and dance works, contemporary music and performance art.
In the inaugural funding round:
- The majority of recipients are based outside south-east Queensland
- Funded artforms include dance, contemporary music, theatre and multi-arts.
- $14,000 in access support for three works will deliver Auslan/closed captioning, sensory-inclusive audience experiences, and transport and access requirements for wheelchair users and people with limited mobility.
Eligible project activities from Round 1 commenced from 2 April 2026.
Recipients in Round 1 are:
- Mr Garret Lyon - $67,368 (including $2,000 access support) - The Lubly’s, creative development of a new contemporary, intercultural performance work driven by Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Pasifika artists.
- Ms Monica Stevens - $47,287 - Brown Blouse, a new play set on the hostile goldfields of Far North Queensland in the late nineteenth century, which tells the love story of a young Aboriginal woman and a young Chinese man.
- Sachém Parkin-Owens - $38,966 - Are We Really Strangers?, an audio and visual hip hop project that will produce a new collection of songs for presentation at the 2026 Melbourne International Jazz Festival.
- Mr Laurie Nona - $70,000 - Lagaw Mabaygal Ailan ppl, a collaboration between choreographer Sani Townson and visual artist Laurie Nona for a dance-theatre production for young people that features Torres Strait Islander dancers and projections.
- Miss Susanne Ray – up to $32,985 - Gamilaraay singer-songwriter, Susanne Ray, will launch her new studio album with two live performance events at The Empire Theatre in Toowoomba and The Cave Inn in Woolloongabba.
- Mr Zane Saunders – up to $70,000 – Preface, a performance installation by Jarrowia, Butchulla, and Gunggari descendant, Zane Saunders, which is set to premiere at the 2026 PUNQ Festival in Northern Queensland.
- Ms Zartisha Davis - $39,140 (including $6,500 access support) – Middens, a multidisciplinary performance collaboration with The First Creatives that pays tribute to the midden sites along the Kabi Kabi coastline and will be presented at the 2026 Horizon Festival.
- Wulgurukaba Walkabouts - $75,500 (including $5,500 access support) - Yabu Gugay, a new event developed in collaboration with Yolngu songmen Ngulmiya and Nundhirribala that will be presented at Townsville’s North Australian Festival of Arts (NAFA) 2026.
Image: Zartisha Davis & The First Creatives, Middens, in development performance at Yauar Warai Wandi, Horizon Festival May 2025. Credit: Nics Mindset.