This information forms part of the Youth Music Database

In this section:

• About Grants for young musicians
  • Federal Government
  • State Government
  • Local Government
  • Non-Government and Philanthropic
• Other Grants Lists and Newsletters
• Career Support and Development
• Touring
• Creative Projects
• Support for Indigenous musicians

Federal Government

The Australia Council is the principal arts funding and advisory body of the Australian Government.  It has a number of boards for different artforms, one of which is music.  The Music Board provides grants to individuals and organisations for Presentation and Promotion, Skills and Arts Development, New Work and supports overseas touring through its International Pathways program.  There are also specialist grants for people from a specific background or in a certain stages of their careers. From time to time there cross-artform grants for young musicians, and in this category they currently offer Jump Mentorships and the Artstart program.

The Federal Arts Department (Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts) also has some grants which are relevant to young musicians.  They are particularly directed at contemporary music and Indigenous artists.

State and Territory Governments

There are arts funding bodies in each state and territory.  For links to each of these, see the Government section in the Youth Music Database

Local Government

We can’t possibly list every grant available in the 560 local councils across Australia, but your local council should have some support programs. Many seem to have “cultural” and “youth services” which are seperate, and anecdotally the cultural services tend to provide small grants while youth services are more likely to organise events and other support opportunities for young musicians.

Non-Government and Philanthropic Grants (National)

We know of the following organisations offering grants. Some of their grants will be listed in the sub-pages within this resource.

• The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA)
• The Seed (formerly JB Seed)
• Ian Potter Foundation and Cultural Trust

Grants lists and newsletters

• The Music Council of Australia has a fortnightly Financial Sources bulletin, it’s free and worth subscribing  to.
• APRA has an excellent list of Industry Grants, including some that are listed here
• Our Community has an Easy Grants Newsletter. It does cost money to subscribe but has a broader range of grants (particularly for community organisations) that we can cover.

See also

• Career Support and Development
• Touring
• Creative Projects
• Support for Indigenous musicians

Do you know about more? Contact us