Arts and Cultural Funding Program FAQs

The NSW Government’s Creative Communities policy included a commitment to make improvements to the ACFP. In response to feedback from the sector, gathered during policy consultation sessions, meetings and through hundreds of written submissions, the new model, commencing June 2024, is a simpler, fairer, faster funding program. It has been designed to meet the needs of all artists, organisations and arts and cultural workers in NSW, regardless of where they’re from, and which artform they represent.

The new program will deliver:

• Easier application, reporting and acquittal processes, to simplify the applicant experience
• Fair and transparent process, with competitive assessment and a greater focus on priority groups, diversity, access and inclusion
• Longer-term funding to ensure greater stability and financial security for organisations and individuals
• Stronger collaboration across sector organisations
• More timely decisions and reduced complexity to deliver faster outcomes

The new investment model is designed to match the needs of the sector across all artforms, career-stage and organisational size to support long-term growth and sustainability.

These reforms create a simpler, fairer, faster, more transparent funding program.

The complex structure of funding programs has been streamlined, with clearer scope and objectives. Funding application and reporting processes have been simplified and will involve less paperwork.

A new competitive multi-year program responds to calls for more transparency and fairness. Organisations can apply for longer term funding (from two years, up to eight years), to help organisations grow, build successful business models and create long-term career pathways.

There is greater focus on professional and skills development for individuals and  increasing access and inclusion for programs and projects from priority areas.

Support for the development of new work is also a new funding category within the reformed program.

The more streamlined program will replace the current program from June 2024.

The way funding is structured and assessed creates a fairer model to improve diversity and increase sector engagement, with a focus on five priority areas: First Nations stories and communities, Western Sydney and/or regional NSW, the next generation of creatives and audiences, broad and inclusive communities and content and Accessibility and Equity.

With the new competitive multi-year funding program, all eligible organisations across, every region of NSW, are able to secure long-term funding through an open and transparent process.

Project funding targeted to engage priority groups will ensure artists, arts workers and audiences reflect the diversity of the people of NSW. Organisations and individuals applying for Cultural Access Project Funding (one-off grants up to $100,00) must engage one or more priority areas (which includes Western Sydney and/or regional NSW) to be eligible. 

• First Nations stories and communities
• Western Sydney and/or regional NSW
• Next generation of creatives and audiences
• Broad and inclusive communities and content
• Accessibility and Equity

Longer-term funding giving our creatives more financial stability and security.

Annual Organisational Funding has been replaced by 2-year Multi-Year funding, enabling organisations to plan and deliver longer-term programs that contribute strategically to growth. 

A 4-year and new 8-year (4+4 year) competitive multi-year program has been introduced. This longer-term investment helps organisations achieve greater stability and sustainability.

Everyone working in the arts and cultural sector across all artforms, career-stage and organisational size, will benefit.

All artists, organisations and arts and cultural workers in NSW can access the funding level best suited for them.

A focus is for First Nations self-determined leadership in arts, culture and creative industries.

A focus on priority areas – First Nations stories and communities; Western Sydney and regional NSW communities; the next generation of creatives and audiences; accessibility and equity and broad and inclusive communities and content – will ensure funding outcomes reflect the diversity of the people of NSW.

In response to calls for more financial stability and security for creatives, not-for-profit arts and cultural organisations will be able to apply for increased funding over longer timeframes (two, four and up to eight years), creating greater organisational stability and enabling greater sector growth.

Small to medium arts and cultural organisations will benefit from longer timeframes to plan, create and deliver programs, to stimulate more longer-term employment opportunities.

A focus on sector capacity-building and sustainability programs and support for education and training and employment and career pathways, will help foster long-term creative careers.

Individual artists can apply for:

• Next Steps - professional & skills Development (for individuals) – grants up to $10,000
• Creative Steps – new work development (for individuals) – grants up to $100,000
• Cultural Access – projects for individuals and organisations led by or for priority area groups – grants up to $100,000

First Nations artists can apply for:

• Creative Nations - projects for First Nations organisations and individuals – grants up to $100,000

No. The Small Project Grants – Quick Response program (grants up to $5,000) has been replaced by new Next Steps - professional and skills developmentgrants of up to $10,000, with 2 competitive rounds per financial year.

Professional and skills development grants are for activities including skills development courses and workshops, conference attendance, for example. Grants can cover program, travel and associated costs.

No. The feedback we received from the sector was the annual funding category was not fit-for-purpose, as the 12-month timeframe wasn’t long enough to plan, create and deliver high-quality work.

Not-for-profit arts and cultural organisations will now be able to apply for competitive multi-year organisational funding, with more funding over longer terms (starting from two years, up to eight years). 

There will be one last round of annual funding, opening for applications in July 2024 for calendar year 2025. This is to ensure there are no gaps in funding opportunities whilst the program transitions to a 2-year program.

Organisations that are not funded through multi-year organisational funding can apply for Cultural Access projects for individuals and organisations led by and/or support priority area groups (one-off grants up to $100,000) to deliver a specific program, project or artwork that engages with one or more NSW Government priority areas.

The focus on priority areas ensures organisations have an opportunity to support artists and audiences in these areas.

Annual organisational funding has been replaced by the new Multi-year Funding program. 

Multi-year funding provides increased funding over longer terms.

There are three streams of multi-year funding: 8-year* (4+4 year), 4-year and 2-year.

The rounds will be programmed so that unsuccessful applicants to 8-year can apply for 4-year, and unsuccessful 4-year can apply for 2-year funding.

The last round of annual funding, (open for applications in July 2024) covers for calendar year 2025. This is to ensure there are no gaps in funding opportunities whilst the program transitions to a 2-year program.

*Only organisations currently receiving Create NSW organisational core funding equal or above $350,000 per annum will be eligible to apply for 4+4year (8-year) funding.

No. The reform program will ensure organisations are assessed against similar organisations of scale.

Small to medium arts and cultural organisations will benefit from longer timeframes to plan, create and deliver programs.

Multi-arts presenting organisation with contemporary music streams as part of their annual program should include this stream in their submitted program. If contemporary music is the primary focus of your program you should apply to Sound NSW. 

If you are using film as a medium to deliver Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) or other artforms, this can be included in your multi-year arts and cultural program.

However,  the same activity or program cannot be funded by both Screen NSW and the Arts and Cultural Funding Program.

No. Federal partnership agreements provide a crucial investment of over $60 million per annum to the NSW arts ecology and will not be subject to change.

National Partnership Frameworks includes NSW National Performing Arts Partnership Framework (NPAPF) organisations, the Arts Law Centre of Australia and NSW Visual, Arts, Craft and Design Framework (VACDF) organisations funded jointly by Creative Australia,  Create NSW and other states.

Applications will be assessed by 10 Create NSW Artform Boards.

There are 10 Artform Boards with around 15 members on each board.

The artforms are:

• First Nations Arts and Culture 

First Nations artistic and cultural expression is based on traditional and contemporary practice. Arts and culture are intrinsic to contemporary First Nations society and an important part of the social fabric of NSW’s First Nations communities.

• Classical Music / Opera / Choral/ Ensemble
  • Classical Music is a form of music developed from the European tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries. This panel will include contemporary classical and ensemble groups including percussion.
  • Opera is a staged drama set to music, made up of vocal pieces with instrumental or orchestral accompaniment.
  • Choral is a group of people who sing together.
• Community Arts and Cultural Development

Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) involves artists working collaboratively with communities through art and culture.

• Dance and Physical Theatre

Dance includes all forms of dance from ballet to contemporary dance. Physical Theatre includes all forms of physical theatre from circus, acrobatics to storytelling through physical movement.

• Digital and Experimental, Immersive and Light Art
  • Digital & Experimental - combining or involving two or more artforms using experimental approaches, artistic risk-taking, and including the development of cutting-edge contemporary practice. Encompasses new artform development. Digital artforms includes application of new forms of technology and existing forms such as podcasts.
  • Immersive artforms are those that envelop the participant in a total experience, engaging multiple senses and often blurring the lines between the artwork and the real world and could include virtual reality and Infinity rooms.
  • Light Art is a visual art form in which light is the main if not sole medium of creation. It includes projection mapping using projectors to create images and videos on surfaces, often buildings or landscapes.
• Festivals

Festivals are an event that celebrates a program of a specific artform or various artforms through live performances, workshops, and exhibitions, often across multiple locations.

• Literature / Writing

Works of fiction, literary non-fiction, children’s and young adult literature, poetry, writing for  performance, graphic novels, and literary digital and new media work.

• Museums and History

A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development which acquires, conserves, research, and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study, and enjoyment. History is the analysis and interpretation of the human past enabling us to study continuity and changes that are taking place over time.

• Theatre and Musical Theatre

Theatre: all forms of theatre from performance, playwriting, directing, new work, devising and adaption of the canon. 
Musical Theatre: a genre of theatre in which singing, dancing, and composing play an essential role.

• Visual Arts 

Visual Arts includes design and craft. Applications submitted to the Visual Arts Board often include but are not limited to elements of sculpture, performance, painting, installation, ceramics, video, and printmaking.

The Artform Boards will be appointed through an open Expression of Interest EOI process.

See Artform Board FAQs

Yes, the membership of the Artform Boards will be refreshed with the new program. Create NSW invited everyone in the sector to consider joining an Artform Board by submitting an Expression of Interest, (until 17 July 2024). 

We want fresh perspectives, from people who are representative of our diverse state, with different ages, career stage, geographic and cultural heritage.  

See Artform Board FAQs

Sound NSW defines contemporary music as new and original music. Artists creating all kinds of new and original music are eligible to apply for support, except for creators of contemporary classical, contemporary opera, work for ensembles, experimental and sound art, or community arts projects. Artists creating or presenting these sorts of works are eligible to apply for support via the Arts and Cultural Funding Program (ACFP). More information about the ACFP can be found here [Arts and Cultural Funding Program | NSW Government].  

The establishment of Sound NSW in 2023 allowed for an expansion of programs to increase support for contemporary music beyond the NSW government funding that existed through the Arts and Cultural Funding Program (ACFP).  

Create NSW, through the ACFP, continues to support contemporary music with a focus on contemporary classical, contemporary opera and ensembles, experimental and sound art as well as community arts projects. 

Sound NSW now provides funding across more genres within the contemporary music industry to support activity for NSW artists, businesses, live music venues, organisations and professionals. As a contemporary music development office, Sound NSW works with the broader music industry ecosystem to embed long-term sustainability within music businesses and artists' careers, as well as increasing the profile of NSW talent locally and globally.

At a minimum, applicants must be a not-for-profit arts and cultural organisation. Each applicant, as part of an application response, must confirm that they meet all the eligibility criteria for the funding program.

Refer to Guidelines for 4-year Multi-year or 2-year Multi-year funding to ensure your organisation meets all the eligibility criteria before starting an application.

To find indicative dates for Multi-year funding, please refer to the Funding Calendar

The first iteration of 8-year funding will be 3+4 years to align with future rounds of Creative Australia funding, ensuring smoother processes, avoiding duplication and allowing organisations to plan sustainably into the future.

Organisations whose contracts extend beyond 31 Dec 2025 will continue to receive funding under the terms and conditions of their contracts.

The rounds will be programmed so that unsuccessful applicants to 8-year can apply for 4-year, and unsuccessful 4-year can apply for 2-year funding.

If you are required to have your accounts audited or reviewed, you should provide your audited or reviewed accounts as part of your Multi-year application.

If you are not required to have your accounts audited or reviewed, then you should provide a copy of a Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss statement as approved at your Annual General Meeting for the 2023/24 Financial year or 2023 calendar year.

For information on ACNC financial reporting requirement can be found here

For information on Fair Trade financial reporting requirements can be found here

See: Multi-year funding Templates and Guides

The Strategic Plan help guide and template are not mandatory. These resources have been provided to help organisations cover the main elements that a strategic plan would usually include and give some hints and tips on what to consider when preparing your Strategic Plan.

If your organisation already has a Strategic Plan that has been endorsed by your Board, you do not necessarily need to modify or create a new plan. However, you may decide to include an appendix to an existing plan.  For example, the appendix may include items such as a risk register, or provide more information about how your organisational goals align with the ACFP strategic priority areas.

The Strategic Plan must cover your organisation’s activity from 2026-2028 (or 2025 – 2028). Please see the Strategic Plan Guide and template for details that should be included in a strategic Plan. (add hyperlink)

Your strategic plan should include:

• Vision and mission
• Strategic priorities in relation to your mission and/or vision
• A summary of your achievements and outcomes
• Examples of your past work and critical and audience responses to it
• Future programs and projects you intend to deliver over the next four years
• An analysis of your internal and external operational conditions
• A risk assessment
• Strategies and goals
• Audience and/or sector development activity
• Support for arts and cultural worker career pathways/mentorships
• A description of your organisation’s governance, including your board or governing body and key staff
• Description of how your organisation supports and safeguards modern workplace conditions and standards. for example, it is required that commercial events staged using, in whole or in part, public funding received from Create NSW implement a $250 minimum fee for musicians. This fee is based on a '3-hour call', as set out in the live performance award and endorsed by the fair work ombudsman.
• A financial summary, with explanation of your financial model and identifying variations to income and expenditure greater than 10%
• A summary of your marketing and communication plans, including channels, audiences and objectives.

Yes, you can provide a draft Strategic Plan with your application and note the expected endorsement date. If you are successful, we may contact you to provide confirmation of the final endorsed plan.

You should provide a budget for the business unit/entity and this should be break-even, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The most recent audited accounts, to be uploaded, should be for the whole of Council. The figures entered into SmartyGrants should also be for whole of Council. 

In response to sector feedback during the Creative Communities policy consultation, Create NSW has simplified application and reporting requirements. Applicants no longer need to provide Letters of Support and no additional support materials are required.

Evidence of key partnerships and how your program of activities or services deliver on your organisational goals should be evident in your Artistic and/or service program, your Strategic Plan and your free text responses to the application form questions. If you want to provide evidence of community support you may decide to add quotes or case studies to illustrate your Strategic Plan. Your Strategic Plan can also incorporate images and testimonials, but Artform boards are unlikely to review additional materials added via hyperlink.

Multi-year funding grants have specific support material requirements. Refer to the relevant program guidelines (4-Year and 2-Year) and application form for information on support material limits and requirements. If you submit support material above the recommended limits, be aware that this material may not be considered by the Board members in the assessment of your application.

We ask for a 2025 budget so we can better understand your current income and expenses. Your 2026 budget will reflect your first year of funded activities. We only request 2025 and 2026 because budgeting further in advance is currently difficult for organisations to predict. If you are successful, there will be another reporting round where you provide a budget for remaining years (2027 and 2028) of the contract.

For the 4-year Multi-year application, you need to provide a Balance Sheet as at 30 June 2024 and your most recent audited accounts.

If successful, you will be required to submit your audited accounts for the period ending 30 June as well as a Balance Sheet as at 31 December and a Profit & Loss (P&L) statement for 1 January to 31 December.  We would not expect the six months 1 July to 31 December to be audited separately, but we would expect to see the P&L and Balance Sheet for the 12 months to be certified in some way, either by the treasurer or chair as a true and accurate record.   

Devolved funding is a grant provided by, or received from, a funding program delivered and managed by another organisation on behalf of Create NSW.

Some ACFP funds are devolved to Service Organisations to support arts and cultural activities at a local and regional level. Service Organisations have broad networks across the arts sector, within specific artforms or regions and communities, and may include devolved funding programs in their applications for 4-Year Multi-year funding.

If you are a service organisation and you wish to deliver a devolved grant as part of your programming, you will need to include the devolved funding in your total amount requested for 4-Year Multi-year funding and outline your planned grant program. For example, if an organisation is applying for $100,000 for its multi-year program and $10,000 of devolved funding to deliver a grant program, the organisation’s total request in its application would be $110,000.

Please note that:

• Only Service Organisations applying for 4-Year Multi-year funding are able to apply for devolved funding.
• Devolved funding programs may or may not be supported or supported in part, as part of the application process.
• Service Organisations delivering devolved funding should ensure practices and procedures in place for the administration of the grants consistent with the key principles and requirements of the Guide (link), with appropriate adaptations as necessary.
• Service Organisations delivering devolved funding should have the capacity to deliver this funding independently of Create NSW, through a grants administration system of their choosing, and have the operational capacity to do so.
• If approved to deliver a devolved funding program, Create NSW may request more information about the program prior to contracting or negotiate terms of engagement as part of the funding agreement.

You cannot receive project funding and Multi-year funding for the same time period.

For example, if you are successful for project funding for a project with an end date of December 31 2025, then you will be eligible to receive 2 or 4 year Multi-Year funding, with activities commencing January 1, 2026.

If you have been successful for project funding and the timeline overlaps with a successful 2 or 4-year Multi-Year funding period, Create NSW will work with you to vary your project timeline and/or budget and funding agreement.

If you are successful for Multi-Year funding, you cannot apply for project funding during the funded period, with the exception of the Regional Arts Touring program. 

Multi-year funding contributes towards an organisation’s costs of delivering programming and a wide range of arts and cultural activity as outlined in the guidelines. The application for 4-Year Multi-year funding also requires submission of a Strategic Plan. Successful applicants that receive 4-Year or 2-Year funding will not be able to apply for Create NSW Project grants but will be able to apply for Regional Arts Touring funding.

This means that activities supported by Regional Arts Touring should be included in your application for Multi-year funding to demonstrate the full scope of your activities. The income and expenditure should also be included in your budget. However, you should make clear in your application, Artistic and/or service program and/or Strategic Plan what activities are supported by Regional Arts Touring funding.

For Create NSW 4-Year and 2-Year Multi-year funding programs, the annual funding amount requested from Create NSW in your application must not be more than 80% of the total program costs (total expenses). All applications must include a minimum of 20% income from other sources and 4-year funding also needs to include a financial partnership/s.

As Regional Arts Touring funding can be applied for in addition to Multi-year funding, this amount can be included in your minimum 20% from other sources if applicable.

Income you can include from other sources may include any, or all, of the following:

• Box office or entry fees
• Fees for services you provide
• Workshop fees that are paid to you
• Income from resources such as renting out your space
• Funding from Creative Australia or other Federal government agencies
• Funding from other NSW government departments such as health, education etc
• Funding from local government
• Funding from donations and sponsorship 

Financial Partners provide financial benefit/s for the applicant organisation to diversify income and support organisational sustainability and viability.

Financial Partnerships are part of the eligibility and assessment criteria of 4-Year Multi-year Funding.

To meet the eligibility requirement, there must be a financial partner to provide financial benefit/s to the applicant.

The financial contribution may be sourced by partnership, philanthropy, sponsorship, grants of financial donorship, co-presentations or sharing of hard and soft infrastructure (space, staff or skills):

• partnership – a reciprocal and ongoing financial relationship between two parties (such as a not-for-profit and a business) that involves the exchange of benefits. This can include co-producing or presentation, shared ticket sales, shared resources such as marketing costs and/or personnel.
• philanthropy – the planned and structured giving of money, time, information, goods and services to improve the wellbeing of humanity and the community.
• sponsorship – a business agreement between an organisation and a business with the aim of mutual benefit—material and organisational. Sponsors can provide cash and/or in-kind support in exchange for benefits such as tickets to performances, access to new audiences and markets, or naming rights.
• financial donation – an unconditional voluntary transfer of money to an organisation or individual where the donor doesn’t receive any benefit, as a condition of the gift.
• grants – financial assistance from one organisation (usually a government entity or a grant making foundation) to another by means of direct contributions, subsidies, co-payments or similar.

The following forms of support are not eligible/considered to be financial partners:

• cultural gifts
• in-kind or contra support
• loans
• pro-bono services
• endowments
• prize money
• bequests.

Financial Partners may be a wide range of local, national or international organisations and businesses, including:

• other NSW Government agencies, such as Department of Health, Education
• other small-to-medium not-for-profit arts, cultural or creative organisations (excluding other recipients of Create NSW 4-Year Funding)
• NSW State Cultural Institutions
• Trusts and foundations
• screen, film or contemporary music companies or organisations
• for-profit organisations or businesses.
• individuals.

Note: Definitions based on those in glossary of Creative Partnerships Glossary - Creative Partnerships Australia

Multi-arts presenting organisations with contemporary music streams as part of their annual program should include this stream in their submitted program. If contemporary music is the primary focus of your program you should apply to Sound NSW.

If you are using contemporary music to deliver Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) or other artforms, this can be included in your multi-year arts and cultural program and may be supported by Arts & Cultural Funding Program (ACFP) funds. However, contemporary music only events or activities cannot be supported with ACFP funds, and the same activity/program cannot be funded by both Sound NSW and the ACFP.

If you are using film as a medium to deliver Community Arts and Cultural Development (CACD) or other artforms, such as experimental, digital immersive and light art, this can be included in your multi-year arts and cultural program.

However, the same activity or program cannot be funded by both Screen NSW and the Arts and Cultural Funding Program.

If film or screen production/presentation is the primary focus of your program you should apply to Sound NSW.

In this scenario, think about what you need across the time frame of the funding (2026-2028) and average it across the years. This could mean having extra funds (surplus) in the first year and breaking even in the third year. For example, if you are planning a major production or exhibition in Year 3, demonstrate how you strategically plan to use the surplus you build in year 1 and 2 to support the additional costs in year 3. This approach should be backed by a clear narrative in the strategic plan. It should also be explained in your financial modelling / financial summary and in the notes to the budget. Please note: Create NSW multi-year funding is generally not able to be carried forward to another year. Any unused funds would become a surplus that is added to your equity. Also, if you are a local government business unit, you must present a break-even budget