Wollongong Multicultural Festival Grants

This grants program will make funds available to individuals and not-for-profit community groups for multi-cultural music, performing arts, visual arts, crafts and other local cultural initiatives for festival presentation.

Funding through this program is open to:

• Residents of the Wollongong Local Government Area
• Community and cultural development organisations based in the Wollongong Local Government Area
• Physically and socially isolated communities
• Groups from diverse backgrounds.

Artists and communities who are culturally and linguistically diverse, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are encouraged to apply.

Applications will not be accepted from:

• Government departments or agencies
• Profit-making individuals or organisations
• Applicants who have not acquitted a previous grant from Wollongong City Council.

Applicants must identify and declare any actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest (if applicable) in accordance with Council’s Code of Conduct PDF, 614.07 KB .

Activities that could be supported through this program include:

• Live music
• Dance performance
• Roving performers
• Workshops or demonstrations including arts, crafts, music, dance, costume, games
• Stall and activities including cultural food demonstrations
• Creative festival or site dressing.

Funding can be used for skills development and festival content creation to showcase the vibrancy and heritage of Wollongong’s cultural diversity. This could include costs for:

• Development of new work
• Choreographer, director, or creative mentors (must be nominated at time of application)
• Community engagement projects
• Rehearsal space hire
• Costumes, equipment for development or contemporisation
• Artist fees.

Applications which highlight community cultural development processes and community engagement, upskilling individuals, organisations, and community groups and / or contemporising existing works will be highly regarded.

Applicants for this program must:

• Meet the conditions explained in the 'Who can apply' section of this page
• Encourage community participation and involvement in the upcoming cultural festival
• Be available to perform at the Wollongong Multicultural Festival on Saturday 21 October 2023
• Commit to working with a choreographer, director, or mentor to either contemporise or improve creative skills and performance
• Attend at least two x two-hour festival development workshops in May and July 2023
• Provide a budget for the project (including quotes from choreographers, creative mentors, equipment and hire costs)
• Complete a short acquittal at the end of the project.

Funding will generally not be provided for the following projects:

• Activities that take place outside the Wollongong Local Government Area
• Activities by artists or arts organisations that are party-political or whose purpose is primarily political, government departments or agencies, foundations or grant making bodies, or have a primary focus on fundraising
• Activities by artists or arts organisations or applications that seek to exclude or offend parts of the community
• Activities by artists or arts organisations that have an outstanding debt to Wollongong City Council or that have failed to comply with the terms and conditions of any previous funding agreement with Wollongong City Council
• Projects that will financially benefit a profit-making individual, organisation or Government Department
• Applications from current Wollongong City Council employees, their immediate families and Council contractors
• Applications from artists who are currently supported by Wollongong City Council through a funding program for the same concept and / or activity
• Where applications are received by Wollongong City Council after the published closing date.

No more than $2,000 (excluding GST) is available to each successful application.

Successful applicants will be advised of the final amount approved for their project.