Image Alicia Fox Photography Curious Legends Whale Song a multimedia outdoor theatre procession that celebrates the humpback whale migration season.
Create NSW provides grants, funding and support for arts and cultural organisations, professional artists and arts and cultural workers across NSW, helping to grow the arts for everyone to enjoy.
Find out how Create NSW’s Arts and Cultural Funding Program is supporting artists, arts and cultural organisations and communities across NSW.
Arts and Cultural Funding Program - Recent Outcomes
2025/26 Regional Arts Touring
Thirteen exceptional touring productions and exhibitions will travel across regional NSW over the coming years, showcasing the state’s extraordinary breadth of arts and cultural talent for audiences of all ages.
One of the tours supported is Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP)’s Award-winning production Saplings, returning the work to regional and Western Sydney communities whose stories helped shape it. Written by award-winning Yuwaalaraay playwright Hannah Belanszky, Saplings explores young people’s experiences with the law and justice system and is led by a team that includes 80 per cent First Nations young creatives and performers. The regional NSW tour is part of ATYP’s largest national tour to date, travelling to 11 venues over seven weeks in 2026 with songwriting workshops embedding local youth voices into the production.
Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) Saplings by Hannah Belanszky Photography by Clare Hawley
Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) Saplings by Hannah Belanszky Photography by Clare Hawley
2025/26 ACFP Project Funding Outcomes
Creative Nations First Nations-led Projects
8 First Nations-led projects supported, engaging more than 100 artists and arts workers
$566,981 total investment
Media release
Powerful First Nations-led arts and cultural projects will deliver long-lasting outcomes for artists and communities across NSW, and empower First Nations artists and communities to connect, share truth-telling stories and pass cultural knowledge to younger generations.
NAISDA First Nations dancer sprinkling sand on a dark stage Creative Futures reflects what NAISDA stands for at fifty; future-focused, collaborative, and guided by cultural authority and protocols. It places NAISDA at the centre of a national conversation about the future of First Nations contemporary dance: how it is created, supported and shared with integrity. This project comes at a pivotal moment, as demand for First Nations dance continues to grow nationally and internationally, while the frameworks guiding ethical collaboration are still evolving. By taking these questions out of theory and into the artform itself, Creative Futures invites artists, organisations, companies and audiences to learn together through practice, shaping sustainable pathways for the next fifty years of Contemporary Indigenous Dance.
Kim Walker AM, NAISDA CEO speaking about the project supported by the funding
Professional Development - Next Steps
- 44 local artists and arts workers supported
- $396,847 total funding
Media release
Next Steps funding delivers career-enhancing opportunities for NSW artists to take up creative residencies, mentorships, research projects or participate in local and international creative development programs.
Janie sitting with her head resting on her hands This is an exciting opportunity for me to gain insight and experience from a leading regional theatre company and develop increased capacity in place-based, community engaged theatre. I also hope to strengthen cross-regional collaboration and relationships, inspiring new creative opportunities I’ll be able to share within the vibrant theatre culture in Newcastle.
Janie Gibson - supported to undertake a mentorship in directing and creating original theatre in a regional context with Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA) in Lismore.
2-year Multi-year Funding Outcomes
Supporting the creative ecosystem of NSW
Receiving core operational funding until 2027
Sharing in $3,766,220
More than a third of all organisations receiving multi-year funding for the first time
4 First Nations arts and cultural organisations funded to deliver powerful and meaningful outcomes for NSW Aboriginal artists and communities
8 Western Sydney organisations, sharing in $985,000 per annum, engaging 345 artists and cultural workers
Engaged or employed by funded organisations
2024/25 Project Funding Programs - Round 2 recipients
Dennis Golding Redfern [The Block]. 2018. Photograph. Image by artist
Image Credit: Dennis Golding. Redfern [The Block]. 2018. Photograph. Image by Artist
Impact of 2024/25 Project Funding Round 2
2024/25 Arts and Cultural Funding Program Project Funding Round 2 investing $3,290,325 across 4 programs
Create NSW will support 104 projects, across all artforms, including 30 projects led by or engaging with diverse communities
- 268 in regional NSW
- 236 in Western Sydney
- 792 in metro Sydney
31 projects in regional NSW sharing over $1 million (31 per cent) of the project funding investment
These projects will translate into new and vibrant cultural experiences that connect diverse communities and tell untold, yet important stories
An estimated audience of more than 2.9 million people who will have the opportunity to enjoy and connect with diverse stories and experiences
Kurinji Collective, 'The Jungle and the Sea' Belvoir Image Sriram Jeyaraman
Round 2 Project Spotlight - Kurinji Collective
Having created extraordinary Sri-Lankan Australian Theatre epics (Counting & Cracking, Jungle and the Sea), the Kurinji Collective will build a South Asian actor collective that creates and performs work to reflect the richness of South Asian culture in Australia and redefines Australian storytelling. Led by award-winning writer, director and producer S. Shakthidharan, Kurinji Collective will create a new work and tour acclaimed shows internationally to build a unique South Asian Australian theatre form that is renowned globally.
2024/25 Project Funding Round 1
2024/25 Arts and Cultural Funding Program Project Funding Round 1 investing $7,007,137 across 4 programs
Create NSW will support 193 programs across all programs and artforms, including 73 new creative works.
From 479 eligible applications received.
Total investment in First Nations arts and cultural activity
829 - regional NSW
511 - Western Sydney
721 - metro Sydney
Projects employ 259 First Nations artists and arts workers.
12.5% of all artists
Project Funding Programs - Round 1 Recipients
Dancer leaps touches his toes mid air in front of outdoor crowd Ghana Road Show (GRS) offers a vibrant, joy-filled experience that celebrates West African arts and culture through the work of African creatives. With this project grant, we’re excited to reimagine the work for theatre settings, expanding its reach beyond street parades and outdoor festivals. This evolution deepens Black artistic agency while fostering meaningful cultural exchange and dialogue across diverse audiences in NSW and beyond.
Lucky Lartey, Dancer and Choreographer, The Ghana Road Show
Project Funding total by Artform Board
| Artform Board | Total Funding |
|---|---|
| Classical Music, Opera, Choral | $295,121 |
| Community Arts & Cultural Development | $1,072,610 |
| Dance & Physical Theatre | $764,859.07 |
| Digital & Experimental, Immersive & Light Art | $710,511 |
| Festivals | $199,195 |
| First Nations Arts and Culture | $1,394,699.65 |
| Literature & Writing | $463,221 |
| Museums & History | $103,922 |
| Theatre & Musical Theatre | $1,186,128.05 |
| Visual Arts | $816,872 |
Historical magazine covers displayed on a wall for an exhibition Through powerful truth-telling, Secrets of Dawn honours Coota Girls Survivors and all Stolen Generations Survivors who, despite efforts to eradicate First Nations people and culture through assimilation, have resisted and persisted through truth telling, healing and self-determination. With this funding for the Secrets of Dawn exhibition tour, we can share this healing and truth-telling experience to Coota Girls Survivors and other Stolen Generations Survivors, their families and descendants, broader First Nations communities across NSW, and non-First Nations supporters across Eora Nation, Wiradjuri Country and Gumbaynggirr Country.
Meagan Gerrard (Gamilaroi and Wailwan) and Alex McWhirter - Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation
