Writers’ festivals that are organisations are eligible to apply. For the purposes of this investment, a writers’ festival is defined as a series of contained literary programming run over a defined time period.  

To apply, your festival must: 

• take place in Australia, in either regional areas or capital cities
• be majority Australian owned and controlled and be physically located in Australia
• have been in operation in for a minimum of three continuous years and delivered at least two festivals prior to application
• pay writers appearance fees. 

Recipients of Creative Australia Multi-Year Investment are eligible to apply but may not be prioritised depending on available funding. 

Who can’t apply 

You can’t apply to this fund if: 

• you are an individual writer, illustrator, moderator or other festival participant
• your organisation is based outside of Australia
• your festival does not pay writers appearance fees
• you have an overdue report for another Creative Australia investment
• you owe money to Creative Australia
• you have applied for the same activities in another Creative Australia investment. 

What can be applied for 

• travel costs including ground transport for writers and illustrators
• accommodation costs for writers and illustrators
• appearance fees for writers and illustrators
• per diems for writers and illustrators. 

This fund will prioritise investments in the above expenses for writers and illustrators from the following groups: 

• First Nations authors and illustrators
• children’s authors and illustrators
• authors and illustrators travelling from regional locations to major cities
• authors and illustrators travelling to regional festivals
• early‑ to mid‑career writers. 

Activities must take place in Australia. 

Access costs are legitimate expenses and may be included in your application. We encourage applicants to ensure that their program is accessible to everyone. Budgets may include costs associated with making activities accessible to a wide range of people (e.g. presentation or delivery activities using Auslan, translation to other languages, captioning, audio description, temporary building adjustments, and materials in other formats). 

If you are working with d/Deaf people or people with disability in your application, you may apply for access costs associated with the use of an interpreter, translation services, specific technical equipment, carer or support worker assistance. Please contact an Artists Services Officer to discuss your specific needs. 

What can’t be applied for 

You can’t apply for: 

• travel and accommodation expenses and appearance fees for writers based internationally
• activities that have already taken place
• the same activities supported by another Creative Australia investment.  

Your application must comply with the following protocols if relevant to your publishing program. We may contact you to request further information during the assessment process, or if successful, as a condition of your funding. 

Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts 

All applications involving First Nations artists, communities or subject matter must adhere to these Protocols, provide evidence of this in their application and support material. More information on the First Nations Protocols is available here. 

Commonwealth Child Safe Framework 

All successful applicants are required to comply with all Australian law relating to employing or engaging people who work or volunteer with children, including working with children checks and mandatory reporting. Successful organisations who provide services directly to children, or whose funded activities involve contact with children, will additionally be required to implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. 

Assessment process 

Applications to this initiative will be assessed by industry advisors with relevant experience. Final decisions will be made by Writing Australia based on this advice.   

For more information on how we assess applications please visit our Assessment page. 

Assessment criteria 

Under each criterion are bullet points indicating what industry advisors may consider when assessing your application. You do not need to respond to every bullet point listed. 

1. Viability 

Advisors will assess the viability of the proposed activities; with consideration to planning; wellbeing of those involved; protocols; and budget. They may consider: 

• the calibre and track record of your organisation, partners, and collaborators
• realistic and achievable planning and resource use, including relevant plans for travel
• appropriate payments to participating writers and moderators. 
   

2. Equity 

Advisors will assess the extent to which priority groups or activities are supported. They may consider: 

• the potential of the proposed activity to promote diverse writers and illustrators, and/or engage diverse audiences
• the geographical (e.g. regional and remote) coverage or depth of engagement proposed
• evidence of your relationships and conversations with partners and communities, to support an increased reach
• support for authors in line with the priorities of the fund, that is:
  • First Nations authors and illustrators
  • children’s authors and illustrators
  • authors and illustrators travelling from regional locations to major cities
  • authors and illustrators travelling to regional festivals
  • early‑ to mid‑career writers. 
     

3. Impact 

Advisors will assess the expected outcome/s of the proposed activities for the applicant or targeted participants. They may consider: 

• proposed impact for the engaged writers and illustrators
• proposed impact for the audiences who engage with the event
• potential for writers to develop new readerships or meet existing market demand 
• potential for additional experiences offered to writers, e.g. workshops, networking opportunities with other writers, and opportunities to attend other festival sessions. 

Applications must be submitted via Creative Australia’s Application Management System.  

You must be registered in our application management system a minimum of two business days prior to the closing date. 

Example application questions: 

• a title for your project
• a summary of your project
• a brief description of the applicant (organisation)
• an outline of your project/activities and what you want to do
• a timetable or itinerary for your project or activities
• a description of the anticipated outcome/s your project delivers
• an explanation of how the funding will be used, with a budget that itemises project costs
• supporting material as relevant to your project, information about your organisation; letters of support from participants, partners and communities; marketing plan; programming intention or strategy. 

Additional material must be submitted to support your application. We will review support material to understand your program and viability of your proposal. Do not assume that those who are reading your submission, know your festival and consider this when deciding what should be included. 

We strongly recommend you curate your support material to be relevant, targeted and easily accessible.  

Our preferred method of receiving support material is via URLs (weblinks) that link to content that is targeted and relevant to your submission.    

Creative Australia will not view any URLs that require log in or to sign up to a platform. Please do not provide links to applications or documents that require users to log in or pay for access.  

If you are linking to sites or files that are private or password protected, please provide the password in the password field on the application form.  

You can provide up to three URLs and three file uploads.  

You can include a maximum of:  

• 10 images, and/or 
• 10 pages of written material (for example, letters of support and project plans).  

If you provide material that exceeds these limits it may not be reviewed as a part of the assessment process.  

If you cannot supply support material via URLs, you may upload support material to your application in the following formats:  

• images (JPEG, PowerPoint) 
• written material (Word, PDF).  

We do not accept support material submitted via post. Support material received by post will not be assessed and will be returned to the sender. If you think you will have difficulty submitting your support material online or need advice on what type of material to submit, please contact an Artists Services Officer. 

Learn more about support material via the Creative Australia website. 

1. Information about your organisation and/or collaborators 

This could include background information on your organisation or collaborators on a website or media clippings. You may include significant festival history and previous programming success. You may want to include evidence of your relationships and conversations with partners and communities in response to the Equity assessment criteria. You must include your rates for author appearance fees and per diems. 

If uploading as a Word or PDF, this document should not exceed one page. 

2. Letters of support  

Individuals, groups or organisations can write letters in support of your project. A support letter should explain how the project or activity will benefit Australian writers, festival participants or the broader community. It can also detail the support or involvement of key project partners, or evidence of consultation. 

If relevant to your activity, letters of support must provide evidence of appropriate permissions and support from First Nations organisations, communities, and Elders. Please refer to the First Nations Protocols for more information. 

You can include up to two letters of support, with each letter not exceeding one A4 page. 

3. Marketing plan  

Please provide a high-level marketing plan outlining the key selling points for your activities and the strategies for marketing and engagement. The purpose of this document is to explain how you will effectively engage with your audience for the course of programming. The document should not exceed one to two pages.  

4. Programming strategy and/or intention 

Please provide a high-level programming strategy and/or intentions document. The purpose of this document is to: 

• demonstrate realistic and achievable planning in response to the Viability assessment criteria
• demonstrate a commitment to diverse programming. 

Explain how you will curate a program supporting authors in line with the priorities of the fund, that is: 

• First Nations authors
• children’s authors and illustrators
• authors and illustrators travelling from regional locations to major cities
• authors and illustrators travelling to regional festivals
• early‑ to mid‑career writers. 

You may wish to include any short and long-term goals related to festival growth and audience development. This document should not exceed one to two pages.