Arts and Cultural Funding Program

4 + 4 Multi-Year Funding

4 x 4 Multi-Year Funding
The 4+4 Multi-Year Funding program is designed to provide long-term funding certainty to high-performing organisations in order to deliver their fundamental arts and cultural purpose.
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Key information

  • Status: Closed
  • Grant amount: From $400,000 to $6,000,000
  • Application opened: 14 June 2024
  • Application closed: 8 August 2024, 11:00 pm

Program objective

This funding program aims to support organisations that demonstrate long-term artistic and cultural leadership. They take risks in programming and/or sector development, providing ongoing employment opportunities for the NSW arts sector. 

In line with the NSW Government’s Creative Communities policy, the Arts and Cultural Funding Program (ACFP) provides core funding to the arts and cultural sector to support the sustainable growth of the industry, with a focus on all NSW citizens being given the opportunity to contribute to and experience arts and culture.

Successful applicants will be expected to deliver on the following ACFP priorities:

  • 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

Grant Value

Applicants can apply for a minimum of $400,000 and a maximum of $6,000,000 each year.  To ensure equity of distribution of funding, it is recommended that you approach your request based on your current level of funding and program delivery, considering CPI adjustments.  

Note: If your organisation is successful in achieving multi-year funding, you cannot apply for any additional ACFP project funding.

Successful applicant agreements will include a provision for negotiation with Create NSW of an annual indexation capped at 3 percent, subject to budget availability.

Top image credit: Sydney Writers Festival Sam Neill, Photographer: Jacquie Manning

This program is administered by Create NSW.

Eligibility

1

Who can apply

To be eligible to apply, an application must demonstrate all the items below: 

  • Your organisation is independent and not-for-profit with the provision of arts and cultural services as the organisation’s primary purpose.
  • Your organisation received $350,000 or more (per annum) of multi-year and/or project funding in the 2023/24 financial year from Create NSW’s ACFP, excluding COVID support, strategic initiative funding, Culture Up Late, Sound NSW, Screen NSW and Create Infrastructure funding. 
  • Your organisation has at least four full-time and/or part-time employees.
  • Your organisation is based in NSW.
  • Your organisation adheres to Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property policies and procedures and Create NSW Aboriginal Cultural Protocols when working with First Nations artists and/or communities
  • Your organisation has a minimum average income exceeding $750,000 per annum (from all sources).
2

Types of projects funded under this grant

Eligible programs include arts and cultural organisations who are delivering a program of activity and have received $350,000 in the 2023/24 financial year from Create NSW ACFP. Organisations can deliver a visual arts or performance program, an annual festival or sector capacity building activity including a devolved grants program.

3

When the project can start and end

This grant is to fund organisations to deliver an annual program on a calendar basis over a multi-year period of up to seven years. 

The project should be started by 1 January 2026 and the project must be completed by 31 December 2028.

4

Who can’t apply

Your organisation cannot apply if it:

  • Is a for-profit organisation.
  • Has a primary focus on filmmaking, screen production, mainstream animation, digital games, or film festivals (funding programs for these areas are managed by Screen NSW). 
  • Has a primary focus on contemporary music (all funding programs for contemporary music are now managed by Sound NSW) [https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/sound-nsw] Nb Multi-arts presenting organisations with a contemporary music stream as part of their annual program, should include the stream in their submitted program
  • Is a local government authority or business unit of a LGA.
  • Is an educational institution (including preschools, primary and secondary schools).
  • Is a national performing arts partnership organisation.
  • Is a state or federal government department/agency, including state cultural institutions.
  • Has an annual turnover of less than $750,000.

Most recent recipients

All recipients (9)

What your application needs to include

1

Prepare your application with this checklist

All applicants must submit the following materials. All materials will form part of the assessment:

  • A completed online application form
  • A detailed strategic plan (see requirements in the application process below). Draft strategic plans will be accepted. Once Board approval is made organisations will be required to submit the final to Create NSW. 
  • A detailed artistic plan for activities in 2025 and 2026 (see requirements in the application process below)
  • Audited financial reports for 2023
  • Balance sheet as at 30 June 2024
  • Projected budgets for 2025 and 2026 including a breakdown of funding sources (budget template provided is optional)
  • Statistical data including employment, audience, and geographic data. (NB. This data is submitted via the online application form).

Create NSW may also use previously submitted acquittal and forward plan data and information to inform the decision making of this funding round.

Resources and templates

2

Address the eligibility criteria

Each applicant, as part of an application response, must confirm that they meet the eligibility criteria.

Applicants that do not address the eligibility criteria in full may be excluded from the application process at the department's discretion.

3

Address the assessment criteria

Applications (including written responses, supporting documentation and strategic plans) will be assessed against the following criteria. To assist applicants, the Essential Criteria are detailed separately below.

Artistic and Cultural Leadership (40%)

  • Demonstrate a key leadership role in the NSW arts and culture ecology
  • Create and share NSW stories/content on a local, national and/or international stage
  • Deliver programming and/or capacity building that provides social as well as cultural value
  • Drive collaboration across the NSW arts and cultural ecology
  • Deliver programming that enables artistic risk-taking and innovation or for service organisations devolved funding and /or development programs to build sector sustainability
  • For service organisations, demonstrate provision of unique services that are needed by a defined arts and/or cultural sector

Diversity and Participation (25%)

  • Prioritise First Nations arts, culture, communities and self-determined practice
  • Ensure access to and engagement with arts and cultural activity for the NSW arts sector and/or audiences
  • Develop and deliver engagement strategies for growth, diversity and participation across NSW, including with strategic priority areas

Career Pathways (10%)

  • Engage, support, develop and promote NSW arts and cultural workers, including creating pipelines for young workers and leaders
  • Demonstrate First Nations self-determination by providing opportunities for First Nations creatives and arts and cultural workers

Organisational Sustainability (25%)

  • Organisations must demonstrate good governance, safe workplaces and strong financial management

After the application is submitted

Successful applications will be decided by: the Minister for the Arts

Applications will undergo a staged assessment process, including assessment against eligibility and essential criteria, as outlined below.

Assessment process

Once your application has been submitted, you will receive an email confirmation from our secure online grants system, SmartyGrants. Applications will be initially reviewed by Create NSW staff to ensure they meet eligibility requirements, and all application materials are acceptable.

After eligibility is confirmed, the application will be evaluated by members of the 10 Artform Panels. Applications will be assessed against organisations of similar financial scale and organisation type, against the published criteria and consistent with these guidelines.

Please note that funding allocation follows a competitive process. Evaluations by the Artform Panels will consider the assessment criteria, the demographics, distribution, organisation type, range and scale. This may include prioritising programs and organisations with outcomes that address ACFP Strategic Priority Areas, geographical spread, artform spread and the Visual Arts, Craft and Design Framework to ensure equity across the state and the best outcomes for NSW Government investment. 

Create NSW will consolidate evaluations and finalise recommendations based on quality of the applications as assessed by the Artform Panels, demand by artform, availability of funds, distribution across the state, the Visual Arts, Craft and Design Framework and ACFP Strategic Priority Areas

Decision Making

Final recommendations will be made by Create NSW and submitted for the consideration of the Minister for the Arts and approved by the Minister.  

Notification of application outcomes

All applicants will be notified within one week of the final approval of funding commitments by government.

Feedback will be provided to unsuccessful applicants only. Successful applicants will meet with Create NSW at the contracting stage.

Assessment process considerations

Applicants should note that: 

  • The NSW Government typically receives far more applications than it can support. 
  • You are not guaranteed funding even if your application meets the published criteria. 
  • If you are successful, your application may not be funded to the amount you requested. 

Create NSW may, at its sole discretion and at any stage of the application process, do all or any of the following: 

  • Require additional information from an applicant.
  • may request applicants to provide clarification or additional information regarding the Eligibility Criteria
  • Change the scope of the requirements of these guidelines.
  • Vary, amend (including by replacement), or terminate the application process. 
  • Re-open an application after the closing date, provided it doesn’t give the applicant an advantage over other applicants. 
  • Consider any non-conforming or late application.  
  • Allow cross-panel consultation on applications.
  • Request further advice and/or clarification from applicants during the assessment process. 

Artform Panels

  • May set aside an application if it is assessed as below acceptable in any one of the published criteria.
  • May consider whether an application needs to be reallocated to another panel for assessment.
  • May ask for a Cultural Review from Create NSW First Nations staff or the First Nations Arts and Culture Artform Panel for applications with First Nations content and engagement. 

Anticipated assessment outcome date is within eight weeks after the closing date

Anticipated date for funding deed execution with successful applicants is within one month of successful notification

Support and contact

You can contact Create NSW staff from 9am-5pm Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) on:

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