Create NSW Feature stories

Dennis Golding still vividly remembers playing with a beaded wooden maze at the Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) in Redfern as a child. Decades later, that familiar object and the memories it holds became the inspiration for his powerful large-scale installation  Connecting Back , for the 2026 Biennale of Sydney. The work reflects on personal and collective experiences of dispossession, displacement while celebrating the enduring strength of community.

Launching today, NSW writers, illustrators, and playwrights can apply for a major new literary fellowship program, backed by $500,000 funding from Create NSW. The new Stories Matter: NSW Literary Fellowships signals a major commitment to strengthening the state’s literary ecosystem, ensuring NSW’s diverse voices and stories are celebrated and elevated globally.

The NSW Government’s trailblazing Createability program has selected 16 talented interns to embark on paid internship roles with 14 arts, screen and music industry organisations - the largest cohort of interns and host organisations the program has ever seen.  

NSW artists, producers and arts and cultural organisations can now apply for funding with Create NSW’s 2026 Regional Arts Touring Round 1 and 2026 Arts and Cultural Funding Program (ACFP) Project Funding programs opening today.  

First Nations artists are invited to honour Stolen Generations Survivors through powerful truth-telling art, to be embedded in the deeply significant site of Keller House, the heritage-listed home to the Stolen Generations Keeping Place in Parramatta North’s cultural precinct located on the lands of the Burramattagal people, a clan of the Dharug. 

NSW authors, playwrights, illustrators and other literature creatives are invited to unlock a transformative opportunity to live and work in the heart of Sydney, at a subsidised, below-market rental rate, thanks to a new initiative The Rocks Creative Terraces Affordable Residencies Program. 

The historic Northern Rivers Conservatorium has officially commenced a new chapter with a triumphant community event, marking the completion of a multi-stage flood restoration and upgrade project. 

New funding is set to boost grassroots arts, culture and creative activity across Western Sydney. 

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. 

Powerful First Nations-led arts and cultural projects will deliver long-lasting outcomes for artists and communities across NSW, supported by more than $560,000 through the 2025/26 Creative Nations Project Funding program.