Young Arts Projects
ArtsNational Young Arts
ArtsNational Young Arts philanthropy enhances arts opportunities for young people in Australia.
ArtsNational Societies offer opportunities to students, young artists and performers in their local area, through grants to individuals, schools and community-based groups. From pre-school to tertiary, city to regional and remote, already skilled or just beginning, in literature, music, dance, photography, design, two or three dimensions, traditional culture and more, ArtsNational helps ensure young people have avenues to discover and develop their abilities, to participate and appreciate the arts by being involved in a variety of ways.
Current ArtsNational Young Arts Projects Fund:
- Scholarships to a conservatorium
- Provision of musical instruments
- Exhibitions showcasing secondary school student achievements in Visual Arts education
- Workshops and masterclasses
- Arts experiences for young people with sensory impairment
- Arts related opportunities for young people suffering financial disadvantage or geographic isolation
- Initiatives to preserve the cultural skills and language of indigenous Australians
- Excursions to museums, galleries and historic buildings
Image: Charlotte Robinson, a 24-year-old emerging expressionist painter who won the 2022 Young Adult Prize from ArtsNational Perth.
Young Arts Funding Makes a Difference
For over 20 years, significant financial support has been contributed to Young Arts projects from ArtsNational member Societies across the continent, with total annual contributions often exceeding $80,000 per annum.
Most ArtsNational Societies offer a Young Arts program supporting a mix of both individuals and community groups. Young Arts programs are selected by each individual Society to support programs delivered in their local communities.
Below is some information on past Young Arts programs that have been supported by ArtsNational Societies across the country.
For information about supporting or selecting a Young Arts recipient for your local ArtsNational Society, please contact your Society Chair, or email info@artsnational.au
2024
In 2024 over $100,000 was donated to support local programs primarily focused on supporting young arts and artists. Click on the state below to see the details of the projects supported.
ACT
| Society Location | Supported Organisation | Amount Funded | Brief Project Description and Outcomes |
| Canberra | Canberra Glassworks | $3,000 | Supporting two students who were recipients of scholarships for the 2024 Glass Blowing Master Class |
| Molonglo Plains | Marie-Cecile’s School of Music | $1,000 | 2 scholarships to support continuing music tuition for gifted and disadvantaged students |
NSW
| Society Location | Supported Organisation | Amount Funded | Brief Project Description and Outcomes |
| Armidale | New England Conservatorium of Music | $2,050 | Funding to support ‘NE Sings’ a music education program for up to 900 kids across the whole NW and NW region, incl remote schools |
| Armidale | NE Regional Art Museum (NERAM) | $2,050 | Supporting pre-schoolers to gain enrichment in Art in series of workshops |
| Armidale | Armidale Waldorf School | $2,000 | Support for annual Winter Solstice Festival – open to the whole community |
| Armidale | Your Tutor Armidale | $900 | Support for creative writing and bookmaking workshop to assist primary and secondary kids with non-English-speaking background |
| Blue Mountains | Katoomba Public School | $2,000 | Fund three workshops with Jo Clancy from Wagana Dancers (Kindergarten to Yr 6) |
| Blue Mountains | Leura Public School | $700 | Support for art materials for two creative art projects, an extension art class and a lunchtime art club |
| Blue Mountains | Blue Mountains Art Fest | $400 | Prize to be shared by four winners in Youth Art section |
| Hunter | Cessnock East Public School | $1,000 | Towards their Stage 3 Biennial bus excursion to Sydney Opera House |
| Hunter | Cessnock High School | $500 | Annual Visual and Performing Arts Scholarship Award |
| Hunter | Mount View High School | $500 | Visual and Performing Arts Scholarship Award |
| Kur-ing-gai | Australian Children’s Music Foundation | $3,000 | Funds support the attendance of a music teacher at an underprivileged school, La Perouse Public School |
| Molonglo Plains | Marie-Cecile’s School of Music | $1,000 | 2 scholarships to support continuing music tuition for gifted and disadvantaged students |
| Murray River | Bright Birds Program | $1,000 | Funding supports this social enterprise organisation offering training, support and employment to young artists with a disability |
| Newcastle | Newcastle Music Festival | $1,900 | Funds to Rising Stars Project towards a concert recital at Adamstown Uniting Church by four outstanding young musicians aged under 21. |
| Shoalhaven | City of Shoalhaven Eisteddford | $1,300 | Funds distributed as multiple awards to individual performers in the Eisteddford. |
QLD
| Society Location | Supported Organisation | Amount Funded | Brief Project Description and Outcomes |
| Brisbane | Royal Qld Art Society | $1,000 | Young Artists Award for artists aged 30 and under |
| Brisbane | QLD Symphony Orchestra | $2,500 | ‘Young Instrumentalist’ prize – funds divided into 7 individual cash prizes for secondary school musicians to perform at Finalists’ Recital at QSO studio |
| Brisbane River | Artist Rosemary Tamas-Cao |
$2,000 | ArtsNational Brisbane River Award supporting outstanding young artists |
| Brisbane River | Milperra School | $1,000 | Providing art classes as therapy for children who have experienced complex trauma as refugees |
| Brisbane River | Heal Service | $1,000 | Arts program in three Queensland high schools which use Expressive Therapies (art, music, dance, drama) to restore physical, emotional and cognitive functioning for children and young people who have experienced war, displacement and trauma |
| Gold Coast | Griffith University Arts Faculty | $2,000 | Supporting outstanding academic students |
| Noosa | The Peregian Dance Centre | $3,000 | Funding competition costs and extra classes for three students, all of whom have excelled and one achieving entry to the Dutch National Ballet academy at the end of the year. Two previous sponsored students are now members of the Queensland Ballet and the Australian School of Ballet respectively. |
| Noosa | Sunshine Butterflies | $500 | Supporting this local disability support centre annually for the purchase of art materials. |
| Noosa | Forty under Forty local art comp | $1,000 | Funds allowed the winner, Jasmine Veronique to market her work, improve her skills and mount an exhibition. |
| Noosa | Local High School | $500 | Bursary awarded to a student to help them pursue studies in Art, Film and Music |
| Sunshine Coast | Chancellor Park School Junior Choir | $2,500 | Purchase T Shirts for the children and help pay for them to attend eisteddfods |
SA
| Society Location | Supported Organisation | Amount Funded | Brief Project Description and Outcomes |
| Adelaide | Adelaide Youth Orchestra | $6,000 | Supporting the lost instruments program, conductor training program. |
| Adelaide | Centre for Creative Photography | $3,000 | Supporting the ArtsNational Adelaide Scholarship for a promising but financially disadvantaged students (matched dollar for dollar by CCP) |
| Fleurieu | Victor Harbor Primary School | $200 | Funds to assist in the purchase of musical instruments including second hand, for the school’s music program |
| Fleurieu | Rotary Club of Victor Harbor | $100 | Prize for best emerging Young Artist in the Fleurieu region as part of the Rotary Club of Victor Harbor Art Show. |
TAS
| Society Location | Supported Organisation | Amount Funded | Brief Project Description and Outcomes |
| Hobart | ArtsNational Young Artists Photographic Competition | $5,000 | Open to a wide variety of schools and tertiary institutes. Entries are uploaded by students and judged by two professional photographers. This year 33 entrants, 10 finalists, 5 prize winners. |
| Hobart | Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra | $5,000 | Music in regional schools – TSO performs for children in different areas taking an age-relevant experience to regional schools around Hobart |
| Hobart | Terrapin Puppet Theatre | $5,000 | Provides a creative experience for young students (and also aged care residents) in a school touring program |
VIC
| Society Location | Supported Organisation | Amount Funded | Brief Project Description and Outcomes |
| Geelong | Smith Family | $1,500 | Smith Family young arts programs region, incl remote schools |
| Melbourne | Firestation Print Studio | $2,000 | Printmaker grant to successful applicant Amy Grover a graduate of Printmaking from RMIT. The grant for a 6 month residency at FPS studio (community based organisation). |
| Melbourne | Polyglot Theatre | $2,500 | Inspired by artwork, play and imagination of children they create imagined worlds for children to actively participate through touch, words, play, encounter, theatre and film. |
| Mornington Peninsula | Dromana Secondary College Drama department | $1,500 | Supporting annual drama production for the 3rd year now |
| Mornington Peninsula | Balcombe Grammar Creative Arts Department | $500 | Supporting the display of student work |
| Murray River | Bright Birds Program | $1,000 | Funding supports this social enterprise organisation offering training, support and employment to young artists with a disability |
| Yarra | RMIT | $2,000 | Prize for Outstanding Student Master of Fine Arts |
| Yarra | St Martins Theatre | $2,000 | Funds to support young people studying aspects of theatre |
| Yarra | Australian National Academy of Music | $2,000 | Grant to support a student studying at ANAM |
| Yarra | GLAAS | $1,000 | Support for a young indigenous man to complete his Certificate 4 in glass making. |
WA
| Society Location | Supported Organisation | Amount Funded | Brief Project Description and Outcomes |
| Perth | West Australian Youth Orchestra (WAYO) | $5,000 | Support young musicians with music lessons, access to instruments and repair and maintenance of equipment. |
ArtsNational Young Arts Awards
The Pauline Hopkins Cup, plus a $300 bursary, is awarded annually in recognition of an ArtsNational Society that has provided an exciting initiative or outstanding Young Arts program in their community.
The AICCM Innovation Award of $300 will be awarded annually in recognition of an ArtsNational Society judged to have a unique activity featuring advanced and original ideas with creative thinking. AICCM, Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material, is acknowledged as an ArtsNational Associate.
Every ArtsNational Society with a Young Arts program is encouraged to enter the awards.
Please complete the ArtsNational Young Arts Application Form obtainable from: info@artsnational.au