Queensland Arts Project Fund Round 1 recipients announced

Round 1 of the Queensland Arts Project Fund will support Queensland-based individuals, organisations and groups to develop and deliver new creative works – enlivening galleries, stages, studios, digital and community spaces from the Gold Coast to the Far North.  

$1,790,627 will be shared by 37 successful applicants through the Queensland Arts Project Fund’s first round, supporting a broad range of activities and art forms including robotic puppetry, immersive concerts and digital storytelling.

The Fund is delivered through three streams: a general stream providing up to $70,000 for projects, an individuals stream providing up to $20,000, and two-year matched funding of up to $150,000 for exceptional large-scale projects.

Additional funding of up to $10,000 has been made available to applicants through the Fund to support access needs of artists and audiences with disability.

In the inaugural funding round:

• More than half of successful applicants are based outside of Brisbane
• Independent artists represent a third of all successful applicants
• Seven applicants share in more than $45,000 in funding to support artists and audiences with disability, ensuring arts projects are more inclusive.

Eligible project activities from Round 1 will commence from 2 March 2026.

Recipients in Round 1 of the Queensland Arts Project Fund are:

• Metro Arts Limited - $80,000 – including $10,000 access support – to deliver QUEENSLAND FIRST program dedicated to supporting Queensland artists in the creation and premiere of innovative contemporary works.
• Dead Puppet Society Limited - $73,648 – including $4,000 access support – to develop and deliver ECHO, an innovative robotic puppet performance that explores the complexities of our relationship with artificial intelligence and robotic bodies.
• Studio1 Brisbane Limited - $70,000 to deliver Workroom Program 2026, a year-long initiative designed for independent, emerging, and mid-career dance and physical theatre artists in South-East Queensland.
• Flinders Shire Council - $43,485 to deliver the finale of Festival of Outback Skies in May 2026, a celebration of inclusiveness, musical diversity, and Yirendali culture.
• Dots+Loops - $75,200 – including $7,200 access support – to deliver NONSTOP 2026, which supports the commissioning and presentation of new work by Queensland artists as part of a contemporary music festival at Brisbane Powerhouse and a creative Fellowship Program for early career artists.
• Ms Leah Shelton - $51,439 to deliver WANTED, a bold and provocative production exploring themes of gender, violence, and resistance, in collaboration with UK-based Director, Ursula Martinez.

• CPL - Choice, Passion, Life - $60,277 – including $5,647 – to deliver the Artel Professional Mentoring & Training Project (APMT) supporting artists with disability to create new work and develop advanced printmaking skills, culminating in a public exhibition.
• Mount Isa City Council Owned Enterprise Pty Ltd - $70,000 to deliver the Maltha Waru Arts Celebration, a week-long event uniting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across the Mount Isa region to showcase culture, music, dance, and wearable art.
• NorthSite Contemporary Arts Limited - $66,001 to deliver ‘Spirit Ark: Arone Meeks Retrospective’, an exhibition celebrating the extraordinary life and legacy of the late Kuku Midiji artist, Arone Meeks, a trailblazer in contemporary Aboriginal art and cultural leadership.
• Dr Vanghoua Anthony Vue – $18,323 to deliver ‘The Great Kerbside Nation Building Project’, a creative initiative that investigates Logan’s unique kerbside culture.
• Ensemble Q Australia Inc - $24,140 to deliver ‘Step Inside the Music’, which will present two world-premiere compositions as part of a one-day fully immersive concert, that includes live performances and mentorship of emerging composers.
• Karul Projects Dance Theatre Pty Ltd - $70,000 to deliver ‘Blak Bodies on Blak Country’, led by the newly established Karul Ensemble, which will focus on the creative development and presentation of a dance film and photography series.
• Mr Clint Bolster - $63,023 to develop ‘Betty, Booff & Joan’, an intergenerational theatre work that weaves memory, laughter and connection, culminating in a public performance at Redlands Performing Arts Centre.
• Dr Althea Beetson - $70,000 to deliver ‘Blak Day Out 2026’, an Indigenous-led, one day music festival at The Princess Theatre, Brisbane in August 2026.
• Somerset Storyfest Limited - $30,724 to deliver ‘Birds of the Balonne’, a community art installation and literacy engagement program celebrating the natural beauty and biodiversity of the Balonne region.
• JUTE Theatre Company - $72,000 – including $2,000 access support - to deliver the Ubuntu Theatre Project, delivering bold new works from emerging African Australian artists.
• Monument Digital Pty Ltd Trading As Assembly of Elephants - $67,395 to develop and deliver TOXICITY, a theatre project featuring two new Australian plays, Popping Lead Balloons and Rowan's Story, that will be performed at Redlands Performing Arts Centre with accompanying workshops for young people.
• The Lighthouse Toowoomba: The Child Writes Fund Limited - $70,000 to develop and deliver ‘Seasons of Storytelling: The Write Gallery 2026’, a year-long regional arts program presenting four term-based exhibitions led by Queensland artists and authors.
• Mx Marilena Hewitt - $19,810 to deliver the creative direction, design, editing, and production of print publication, '00-02 Energy', the second book in the PLATYPUS Essentials series.
• Southern Cross Soloists - $61,963 to develop and deliver ‘Caleb and the Sand Goanna’, a new storytelling and music project designed for young and family audiences, set to premiere at QPAC in 2027.
• Ms Justene Williams - $7,600 to develop and deliver new digital work and live performance elements to enhance 'A Theatre of Non-Acts', a solo exhibition by Justene Williams that will transform QAGOMA’s three gallery spaces into an immersive, multidisciplinary experience.
• Dr Natasha Budd - $70,000 to develop and deliver ‘Onomatopoeia', a new circus work for children and families that transforms language into vivid, physical experiences and supports positive education outcomes.
• Mrs Kirtley Walker-Halstead - $20,000 to develop and deliver a new chamber music and theatre work in collaboration with Cairns-based composer and pianist Dr Katrina Pring.
• Ms Melissa Western - $4,814 to develop ‘Beauty Proof’, an intergenerational performance work exploring the intricate intersection of beauty, genetics, and value across generations.
• Ms Emma Che Raethke - $19,843 to develop and deliver ‘Backstitch’, a new performance work exploring the stories woven into the fabric of our clothing.
• Mrs Deborah Spann - $18,000 to develop and deliver a new project to showcase and mentor the talent of up to 40 young musicians aged between 13 to 20 years through the recording, mixing, mastering, and release of the inaugural ‘Brisbane Teenage Fanclub’ album in 2026.
• Ms Emma Reid - $7,285 to develop and deliver ‘Wantok 2026’, which presents a series of non-verbal, music-based performing arts experiences, created for, by, and with children and young people with intellectual disabilities.
• Dr Louise Martin-Chew - $20,000 to develop and deliver ‘I Was Here: Stories of Remarkable Queensland Women’, a nonfiction writing project that will share the untold stories of Queensland women whose creative practices have significantly shaped the state’s cultural identity.
• Danielle Teveluwe - $70,000 to develop and deliver ‘Roots’, her next EP under the stage name Sunny Luwe.
• Miss Daniele Constance - $29,984 – including $9,984 in access support – to develop HEAT BODY TERRAIN, a new multidisciplinary dance work that explores heat through the dual lens of disability and climate change.
• Ms Wendy McPhee - $13,780 to develop and deliver ‘Reimagining Jean’, a creative development that explores themes of loss, chaos, and rediscovered power to be performed as a solo alongside a chorus of older women from the local community.
• Arts Nexus Inc - $33,160 to develop and deliver ‘A Bend Too Many’, a community digital storytelling project that captures and preserves the history and contemporary significance of the Gillies Highway in Far North Queensland.
• La Boite Theatre - $60,853 – including $6,500 in access support - to develop and deliver ‘Assembly’, an artist development initiative, nurturing emerging talent through mentorship, training, collaboration and new work creation.
• Australian Vocal Ensemble - $65,000 to develop and deliver ‘Just for Dreaming’, which brings Queensland stories to life through new vocal works inspired by the words of Trent Dalton.
• THAT Production Company - $70,000 to develop and deliver the world premiere of the new Australian play ‘Goodbye, Eli Anderson’ by Queensland playwright Grace Wilson, in collaboration with Ipswich Civic Centre, QPAC and Australian Theatre for Young People.
• Multicap Limited - $68,400 to develop and deliver the Nelson Park Cultural Collaboration—a public art installation celebrating community inclusion and cultural storytelling.
• Gold Coast Music Network - $54,480 to develop and deliver CREATE. MAKE. RELEASE, which supports eight diverse young musicians (aged 12–18) to record and release original singles under the mentorship of Aboriginal producer and artist Danielle Teveluwe.

Image: Starcatcher Building, Dead Puppet Society. Credit: Dean Hanson

Last updated:

16 February 2026