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

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. 

Thirty-nine venues across NSW will share in $2.89 million of grant funding to support the growth of live entertainment under the second round of the NSW Government’s Live Performance Venue Grant Program. 

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. 

The latest round of the NSW Government’s Uptown Grant Program is now open, with hospitality operators and small businesses from across Greater Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong encouraged to apply.

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.

From laying down tracks and promoting new music, to launching industry-led programs and resources to build capacity of artists and organisations, the state’s music scene will benefit from an investment of almost $3 million in funding from Sound NSW, through grants designed to help empower artists, music professionals and organisations and grow the local contemporary music sector.

Almost $400,000 in arts and cultural funding will propel the careers of 44 local artists and arts workers to expand their networks, artistic knowledge and creative practice through professional development grants.