Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport media releases

Art and culture lovers will enjoy more vibrant arts festivals and entertainment offerings across NSW, thanks to a new initiative aimed at expanding the NSW cultural events calendar, especially throughout the winter and summer months.    

Create NSW and Western Sydney Arts Alliance have once again partnered to support independent artists and grassroots arts, culture and creative organisations across Western Sydney, with the launch of the 2026-27 Creative Western Sydney Micro Grants Program.   

Create NSW, Screen NSW and Sound NSW, in partnership with Accessible Arts, are inviting creative industries organisations across NSW to join the largest Createability Internship Program ever as champions of accessible employment for Deaf and Disabled creative practitioners.

Expressions of Interest are now open for creative industry organisations across regional NSW with new innovative partnerships that create opportunities or deliver outcomes for local artists and communities.

Western Sydney organisations interested in delivering new opportunities that strengthen the region’s arts, culture and creative sector are invited to apply for funding through the $2 million 2026-27 Western Sydney Strategic Partnerships Program.  

NSW’s artists and cultural producers can now apply for funding to support them in taking their exciting live shows, exhibitions and arts and cultural programs on the road for regional NSW audiences to enjoy.

The NSW Government is supporting the growth of vibrant local businesses and entertainment precincts across Greater Sydney, Lower Hunter, Greater Newcastle, Central Coast, the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, as part of the latest round of the Uptown Grant Program delivered by the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner.

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.  

Four of Sydney’s leading night-time destinations – Chinatown in Haymarket, Burwood CBD, Canley Heights and Canley Vale – have now been accredited under the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner’s Purple Flag program, providing the tick of approval that these areas are welcoming and vibrant precincts thriving after dark.