First Nations NSW Artists and Organisations Hub

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge the Aboriginal peoples and traditional owners of the land we now call New South Wales, and we celebrate the history and contemporary creativity of the world's oldest living culture.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised this website may contain images, voices, videos and names of people who have passed on.

Welcome to your dedicated hub for key information and resources related to First Nations arts and culture in NSW

Create NSW warmly welcomes you to the dedicated First Nations hub. All your key information related to First Nations arts and culture in NSW is here. You will find helpful resources to start your application and understand cultural protocols.

Create NSW acknowledges the ongoing cultural enrichment and worldviews that NSW First Nations artists, creatives and organisations provide to the cultural landscape of NSW.

Current funding opportunities and events

Smoke, Arts Northern Rivers, 2024 Image by Kate Holmes.

Creative Nations

$10,000- $75,000 for individuals

$20,000 to $100,000 for organisations

Creative Nations is a dedicated funding program for First Nations-led arts and cultural projects. Creative Nations supports projects that sustain and strengthen First Nations arts and culture including contemporary artistic practice, community‑led storytelling and truth‑telling initiatives.

For Projects commencing from 1 Sept 2026 until 30 June 2027

Applications close 25 May 2026

Apply

Saplings, Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), Image Credit: Clare Hawley.

Regional Arts Touring Round 1

Up to $75,000 for individuals

Up to $120,000 for organisations

Funding is open to a diverse range of innovative NSW art and cultural programs that appeal to audiences of any age to take their show on the road - from theatre and children’s shows, classical music, comedy and dance, to literature programs, touring visual art and museum exhibitions.

Applications close 25 May 2026

Apply

Project Funding - Arts and Cultural Funding Program

Professional Development - Next Steps - Up to $10,000 for individuals
Cultural Access - Priority Area Projects - Up to $75,000 for Individuals and $100,000 for organisations
Creative Steps - New Work - up to $75,000 (for individuals/groups) to develop or present new creative work

Learn more

Downing Centre First Nations Art Commissions EOI

Downing Centre Public Art EOI

Five site-specific public art opportunities are available for NSW First Nations artists as part of the Downing Centre refurbishment.

First Nations artists are invited to create site-specific artworks for public areas of the courthouse, with key themes including strength and resilience, connection to Country and Culture, family and community, and shared histories. One artist or artist group will be selected for each location.

Expressions of Interest close Friday 8 May 2026

Express your Interest

Stolen Generations Keeping Places Keller House Public Art EOI

First Nations artists are invited to honour Stolen Generations Survivors through powerful truth-telling public 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.

Expressions of Interest close Thursday 23 April 2026

Express your Interest

Quick Response Fashion Grants

Grants up to $10,000 for emerging fashion designers and creatives to purchase equipment or pursue professional development opportunities.

Tranche 4 closes 24 April

Tranche 5 closes 29 May

Individual First Nations Artist

First Nations Arts and Cultural Organisation

First Nations funding recipients

NAISDA

One of the 25/26 Creative Nations funded projects is Creative Futures – Shaping the Next 50 Years of First Nations Dance, delivered by NAISDA in partnership with BlakDance and Carriageworks, as part of NAISDA’s 50th anniversary.

This First Nations–led initiative brings together national and international choreographers, cultural leaders and dancers through residencies, performance, research and a symposium-in-action.

artwork, black and white photograph of capes hanging on a wire fence

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Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay artist Dennis Golding will create and present a new work Picking Up the Pieces at the 25th Biennale of Sydney. Drawing on personal lived experience growing up on Gadigal Land (Redfern Sydney), Golding’s work will be a focal point of the Biennale of Sydney in 2026, addressing themes of Indigenous displacement, community bonds, and cultural resilience. Together with a community activation program and creative workshops, the work shares an important perspective of contemporary urban Aboriginal life in Sydney.

2025-26 Creative Nations

8 Creative Nations Projects
$565,981 Total funding
More than 100 artists and arts workers engaged
6 of the 8 projects (75%) are from regional NSW

Recipients

Blak Circle Community Collective
‘Creative Futures: Shaping the Next 50 Years of First Nations Dance’ celebrating 50 years for NAISDA – NAISDA Dance College
Darky Deaves Art
Dharawal artefact-making workshops for intergenerational knowledge transfer - Gujaga Foundation Ltd
Marella: Voices from the Hidden Institution
'Telling our Stories' Freedom Ride Memorial Project
Wilgabah Cultural Site: Cultural Mapping Pilot Program
Yaala Leadership Program

2024-25 ACFP Round 1

20 Creative Nations Projects
$1.4 million total support for First Nations artists and organisations
1 in 8 Artists engaged are First Nations
In total, 259 First Nations artists and arts workers employed across all projects

2024-25 ACFP Round 2

8 Creative Nations projects
Highlights include:
Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay artist Dennis Golding's new work "Picking Up the Pieces"
Pilpalaana Thari: Reviving the Canoe Scars of Kinchega “The Tree That Was Scarred”