2023-2024 Cultural Grants Program - Round 2

The Aboriginal Affairs NSW Cultural Grants Program supports Aboriginal community organisations across NSW to celebrate Aboriginal culture and hold key cultural events and activities.

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Key information

Status: Closed
Grant amount: From $500 to $20,000
Application opened: 15 January 2024
Application closed: 26 February 2024, 11:00 am

Program objective

The AANSW Cultural Grants Program objectives are to:

support Aboriginal communities to strengthen, protect and maintain traditional and contemporary expressions of Aboriginal culture
support key contemporary Aboriginal cultural events and activities
contribute to Aboriginal community wellbeing and healing, through the use of Aboriginal culture and community connection
facilitate sharing of Aboriginal cultural knowledge and skills between generations.

Please see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for more information regarding program objectives.

This program is funded and administered by Aboriginal Affairs.

Eligibility

Who can apply

Eligible entities

To be eligible you must be:

an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Community-controlled, not-for-profit organisation working with Aboriginal communities in NSW, and one of the following organisation types:
- an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
- a company incorporated in Australia under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
- a Local Aboriginal Land Council under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983(NSW)
- an Incorporated Association (incorporated under state legislation, and commonly have ‘Association’ or ‘Incorporated’ or ‘Inc’ in their legal name)
- an Incorporated Cooperative (incorporated under state legislation, and commonly have ‘Cooperative’ in their legal name)
- an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust; OR
an Aboriginal sole trader or business whose primary business activity relates to cultural expression or revitalisation (noting projects must not be profit-making in nature); OR
an unincorporated Aboriginal community group with a not-for-profit auspice organisation of one of the following organisation types:
- an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
- a company incorporated in Australia under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
- a Local Aboriginal Land Council under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW)
- an Incorporated Association (incorporated under state legislation, and commonly have ‘Association’ or ‘Incorporated’ or ‘Inc’ in their legal name)
- an Incorporated Cooperative (incorporated under state legislation, and commonly have ‘Cooperative’ in their legal name)
- an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust.

Applicants must also:

be able to enter into a funding agreement with AANSW and have an Australian bank account
have public liability insurance of at least $10 million per claim or be willing to purchase it and include the cost of insurance as part of the project budget.

Unincorporated groups

If an unincorporated Aboriginal group wishes to apply under the 2023-2024 Cultural Grant Program, they will need to partner with a not-for-profit organisation to receive and administer the funding. An organisation may only act as an auspice for one grant project in each round.

Types of projects funded under this grant

Projects must take place within NSW, and applicants must deliver a service to Aboriginal communities within NSW.

When the project can start and end

The project should be started by 1 July 2024 and the project must be completed by 30 June 2025.

What costs you can apply for

Funding must be used for projects that meet the objectives of the Cultural Grants Program. The following are examples of the types of activities that may be considered for funding, where they are aligned with the program objectives:

women’s or men’s gathering on Country
a culture and wellbeing camp for Aboriginal youth
creation of a digital installation showing Aboriginal history of the local community
a statewide regional music and cultural festival
a series of online and/or face-to-face workshops.

Note: Where events are ticketed, any income generated from ticket sales must be included and expended within the program budget.

Funding can be used for:

purchase of consumables – such as catering, equipment items and materials for activities (excluding alcohol) – for the purposes of the project or event
hiring equipment to be used for the period of the project or event
engaging contractors such as facilitators, trainers and teachers
eligible costs associated with holding key statewide and/or regional Aboriginal sporting and cultural events
purchasing minor equipment for event activities up to the value of $5,000 (please refer to the FAQs for guidance on minor equipment)
administering the project, with up to 10% of the requested AANSW funding amount able to be used for this task or as auspice fees where there is an auspicing arrangement.

Eligible sole trader/business applicants may include up to 10% of the requested AANSW funding amount to cover remuneration costs. Refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for more information.

Who can’t apply

You are not eligible to apply if you are:

an individual
a non-Aboriginal group or organisation (except for eligible auspice organisations auspicing an unincorporated Aboriginal community group)
federal and state government agencies and bodies, including NSW public schools and hospitals
unincorporated organisations or groups without an eligible auspicing organisation
organisations that have not met project requirements, including acquitting and reporting for any grant funding received from AANSW in the previous 2 years
organisations with redress sanctions as described in the National Redress Scheme.

What costs you can't apply for

Funding cannot be used for:

costs for individual sporting teams or cultural groups to attend competitions or events
capital costs – any type of building, construction, major equipment or capital works including renovations to a building, housing-related costs or the purchase of land
purchase of vehicles
wages, salaries and on-costs for ongoing staff
sitting fees, travel allowances or costs associated with membership of boards/councils
activities that may create an ongoing dependency on cultural grant funding, such as funding that is required over multiple years
costs that are not directly associated with the delivery of the project
activities related to NSW Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout, which has a separate funding program
activities related to NAIDOC Week events, which has a separate funding program
international travel costs (proposals for domestic travel costs need to demonstrate the benefits of travel to the project, organisation and community)
operational and business-as-usual costs
merchandise such as backpacks, gift vouchers etc.

AANSW and the Aboriginal Languages Trust administer a range of other grant programs throughout the year, and applicants may be referred to apply to another program if it is considered a more suitable source of funding.

Most recent recipients

What your application needs to include

Prepare your application with this checklist

The below documents are required before you submit your application:

Letters of support from the local Aboriginal community (e.g. from local Aboriginal Elders/groups, community groups or potential participants). Letters must be current and specific to the project. A letter of support provided by an alliance/consortium should clearly demonstrate support of the membership base of the alliance/consortium.
Certificate of currency for public liability insurance (or a budget that includes the purchase of public liability insurance).
Evidence of the value of goods and services (except the cultural components/services) for budget items such as hiring of venue, accommodation, catering, and hiring and/or purchase of equipment.

It is also recommended that applicants provide the following:

evidence of successfully delivering other projects
detailed project plans.

Video response to application questions

Applicants can choose to submit a video response to application questions on project objectives and outcomes. AANSW regional staff are available to support applicants with recording and preparing a file for upload if required.

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.

Address the assessment criteria

The 2023-2024 AANSW Cultural Grants Program is non-competitive program where applications are assessed individually against the assessment criteria without reference to the comparative merits of other applications. Only applications that are deemed to meet all assessment criteria will be recommended for funding.

Applications will be assessed by the Grant Assessment Panel in the order they are received.

Assessment will be based on the following criteria:

Criterion 1: Project quality

Description of criterion: The project aligns with the program aim and objectives.