Regional Arts Touring for Individuals/Groups

Successful applications will be decided by: Minister for the Arts or under the financial delegation of the Secretary or Create NSW CEO.  

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

Pre-eligibility 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. 

Assessment Stage 1 After eligibility is confirmed, the application will be evaluated by a Touring Advisory Panel which consists of members of the Artform Panels against the published criteria and consistent with these guidelines 

Please note that funding allocation follows a competitive process. Evaluations by the Touring Advisory Panel 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, and artform spread to ensure equity across the state and the best outcomes for NSW Government investment. 

Assessment Stage 2  Create NSW will consolidate evaluations and finalise recommendations based on quality of the applications as assessed by the Touring Advisory Panel, demand by artform, availability of funds, distribution across the state and ACFP Strategic Priority Areas.  

The Touring Advisory Panel: 

• May set aside an application if it is assessed as below acceptable in any one of the published criteria. 
• 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. 

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.   
• Request further advice and/or clarification from applicants during the assessment process.   

Publication of grants information

The Grants Administration Guide (Guide) requires that certain information is published in relation to grants awarded no later than 45 calendar days after the grant agreement takes effect (see section 6.5 of the Guide and Appendix A to the Guide).

This information is also open access information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (GIPA Act), which must be made publicly available unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the information.

In accordance with these requirements, relevant information about the grants awarded will be made available on the NSW Government Grants and Funding Finder as soon as possible after the grant agreement is executed.

However, due to the commercial-in-confidence nature of the information provided, and as the grant amount is determined as a percentage of the NSW Qualifying Production Expenditure on an individual and negotiated basis, the amount of funding provided will not be published.

All records in relation to this decision will be managed in accordance with the requirements of the State Records Act 1998 (NSW).

Successful grant applications

• If your application is successful, you will be sent a funding agreement (contract), generally within one month of notification. This outlines the conditions of funding, how you will be paid and your grant reporting requirements.
• Successful applicants may be asked to provide a reference letter from First Nations peers or community groups, as well as adherence to ICIP and Aboriginal Protocols prior to contracting, if appropriate.
• Successful applicants will be asked to provide:
  • an active sole trader or private company ABN (Australian Business Number)
  • a bank account with the same name as your ABN
  • or a Funds Administrator to help you out- this is an administrative body/third party (such as a manager, agent or producing organisation) can receive and administer funds on your behalf. You may be asked for a fee for this service, and it is recommended that you include that fee in your activity budget.
• Contracts will not be issued, and payments will not be made, until all Create NSW/Sound NSW outstanding acquittals have been submitted.
• Successful applicants must acknowledge Create NSW funding in all publicity materials.
• Create NSW staff will review required reporting, outlined below, and may contact you for additional information as part of this process.
• Successful applicants will be required to provide an acquittal at the end of the funding period. If your tour runs over 12 months you will need to provide a progress report at the half-way point in the timeline. 

Please refer to Information for Funding Recipients for more detailed processes for successful applicants.

Feedback on Create NSW project funding application results

Create NSW staff continue to help and support applicants who are preparing new funding applications. However, we have shifted away from providing individualised feedback on past applications to continue to meet service standards for the processing and assessment of applications and to focus on helping applicants with their future submissions.

Program staff will no longer discuss past applications. Applicants applying in future rounds are encouraged to book an appointment with an Arts Funding and Development staff member to clarify any questions related to the application process.

Program evaluation

The grant round will be evaluated to measure how well the outcomes and objectives have been achieved.

We may collect and use information from your application and reports for this purpose. We may also interview you or ask you for more information to help us understand how the tour impacted you and to evaluate how effective the tour was in achieving its outcomes. 

We may contact you up to three years after you receive the final grant payment associated with the grant round for more information to assist with this evaluation. Create NSW and the NSW Audit Office reserves the right to undertake an audit of Program funding and support within seven years.

Tracking, reporting and an independent audit will be a requirement of the funding deed.

Conflict of interest management

Any conflicts of interest will be managed by Create NSW in accordance with the NSW Government Grants Administration Guide.  

A conflict of interest, or perceived conflict of interest, may be identified if Create NSW staff, any member of the Touring Advisory Panel and/or you as the applicant or any of your staff: 

• has a professional, commercial, or personal relationship with a party who can influence the application selection process, or  
• has a relationship with or interest in, an organisation, which is likely to interfere with or restrict the applicants from carrying out the proposed activities fairly and independently, or   
• has a relationship with, or interest in, an organisation from which they will receive personal gain because the organisation received a grant under the grant program.  

NSW Government staff, assessors and other officials including the decision maker must declare any conflicts of interest and ensure they are managed as per the Departments Code of Ethics and Conduct and the Grants Administration Guide.

Organisations working with First Nations people or communities:

Create NSW plays an important role in supporting the NSW First Nations cultural sector through providing direct investment through funding programs, developing strategies and policies for cultural development and advice and guidance to First Nations artists, arts and cultural workers, and organisations.  

Create NSW acknowledges that a strong and vibrant First Nations cultural sector starts with supporting self-determination for the First Nations sector to manage, maintain and preserve First Nations cultures and ensure that the right way to do cultural business is supported, understood and acted on.  

With the Aboriginal Arts & Cultural protocols, Create NSW seeks to work with the First Nations cultural sector to champion a new body of practice that has First Nations self-determination and cultural authority and agency at its foundation.  

Just as First Nations culture is living and continues to evolve, these protocols have been developed to be a living document. Create NSW will continue to work with the NSW First Nations cultural sector to update the protocols annually to ensure that the continued growth and new and emerging areas are covered. These protocols aim to provide guidance to those planning to work with the First Nations communities and/or artists. The protocols can be found here.

Complaint handling, access to information and privacy

Details on how Create NSW handles complaints, access to information and your private information is available here. 

Anticipated assessment outcome date is within one week of the final approval of funding commitments by government. The anticipated assessment outcome timeframe is eight weeks after closing

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