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First Nations Arts Business Fund (batches 4-10) and First Nations Commissioning Fund Round 4 recipients

23 Sep 2024

First Nations Arts Business Grants

  • Bowie Solutions – $9,255 to support business planning. Bowie Solutions aims to preserve Torres Strait Islander heritage through offering arts-related services, presentations, workshops, on-Country immersions and NDIS care packages.
  • Buda:Dji Aboriginal Development Association Aboriginal Corporation - $9,720 to support business related training and coaching. Buda:Dji Aboriginal Development Association Aboriginal Corporation is part of the Djabugay Aboriginal Corporations (DAC) suite of not-for-profit, Aboriginal community organisations that provide business activities, products and services on behalf of, and for the interests of the Djabugay people.
  • Dialogue Office Australia Pty Ltd - $9,000 to support business planning. Dialogue Office is a First Nations-led social design organisation that works in collaboration with communities, artists and built environment specialists to translate cultural narratives and stories of place into tangible spatial outcomes.
  • Salt Water Murris Quandamooka Art Gallery - $9,050 to support business-related training and coaching. Salt Water Murris operates to support and strengthen Quandamooka art and to generate new art practices.
  • Malkarri Cultural Centre - $10,000 to support business planning. Malkarri Cultural Centre was created in 2017 as an arts organisation to further Kalkutungu (Kalkadoon) dance, arts and culture. Malkarri delivers language programs in Mount Isa with a view to reinvigorating the Kalkutungu language, art and culture.
  • The Trustee for THE ROBERT HENDERSON ART TRUST T/A Birrunga Gallery and Dining - $10,000 to support business planning. Birrunga Gallery is an art space offering an immersive experience of authentic First Nations culture, art, music and dance.
  • Salty Monkeys Pty Ltd - $10,000 to support business planning. Salty Monkeys is a First Nations owned and operated brand that makes adventure apparel and dive gear in collaboration with Torres Strait artists.
  • Mrs Erica Eurell - $11,000 to support business planning, governance planning and business-related training and coaching. Erica Eurell operates Dreamtime Artistry as a registered social impact company, owned and run by local traditional owners the Koombumerri People. Dreamtime Artistry supplies art, crafts, education and workshops via its storefront in Coolangatta and its online website.
  • Miss Nakita Doherty - $6,609 to support business planning and business-related training and coaching. Nakita Doherty is an earth- and ocean-inspired weaver who adopts the weaving-as-medicine practice.
  • Miss Ashleigh Wanganeen - $693 to support business planning. Ashleigh Wanganeen is a young contemporary First Nations artist located in Far North Queensland.
  • Mr Paul Calcott - $9,000 to support business-related training and coaching. Paul Calcott is an independent First Nations artist living with disability, who has developed artwork commissions and resources that support the First Nations disability perspective around disability and human rights.
  • Ngaran Goori Ltd - $10,000 to support business planning and financial management and processes. Ngaran Goori promotes leadership, educational, cultural and social services that reconnect Indigenous people in the region to their heritage.
  • Aboriginal Art Co - $10,000 to support financial management and processes. Aboriginal Art Co is a not-for-profit company that operates a gallery and store in Brisbane's Cultural Centre Precinct to connect consumers with authentic and ethically sourced Aboriginal art and products from across Australia.
  • Ms Wendy K Rix - $1,440 to support business-related training and coaching, and financial management processes. Wendy Rix is a contemporary visual artist specialising in Aboriginal artworks on canvas, timber and murals.
  • Ms Dorothy Nancy Bamaga - $10,000 to support business planning. Bamaga Productions is an Indigenous-owned and operated arts and culture organisation that offers content creation, strategy and events consultancy services.
  • Yirrganydji Gurabana Aboriginal Corporation - $10,000 to support business planning and governance planning. Yirrganydji Gurabana Aboriginal Corporation is a community-based Aboriginal-owned, managed and governed organisation that seeks to strengthen its cultural governance.
  • Gudang/Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation - $10,000 to support business planning. Gudang/Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation ICN (GYAC), established to represent the interests of the Gudang/ Yadhaykenu community, is pursuing economic prosperity through development of cultural and eco-tourism activities.
  • Mrs Krishna Heffernan - $9,843 to support business-related training and coaching. Funding will be used to develop a website to support establishment of Wiradjuri Sisters, offering online sales of contemporary indigenous art and workshops.
  • Miss Chloe Watego - $10,900 to support business planning and financial management and processes. Chloe Watego is an Iman and South Sea Islander artist seeking to expand business services in commissioning and selling original paintings, digital art and printed products.
  • Mr Leon Namai - $8,701 to support financial management and processes, and business‑related training and coaching. Leon Namai will expand business activities through streamlining financial management and development of a website to sell his art to a global audience.
  • EJ Garrett Pty Ltd - $2,350 to support business planning. EJ Garrett Pty Ltd is an Indigenous-owned media company that specialises in community-based projects.
  • Girringun Aboriginal Corporation / Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre - $9,950 to support business planning. Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre represents local artists from nine Traditional Owner groups.
  • UMI Arts Ltd - $8,400 to support business planning, governance planning and business‑related training and coaching. UMI Arts is a not-for-profit organisation that assists First Nations people to participate in the maintenance, preservation and protection of culture.
  • Yalanji Arts (BBNAC) - $10,000 to support business planning. Yalanji Arts specialises in handcrafted ceramics, screen-printed textiles and prints on paper celebrating the culture of Kuku Yalanji Country.
  • Ms Barbara Walker (Trading name: Barb’s Weaving) - $10,930 to support financial management and processes, and business-related training and coaching. Barbara Walker draws on the heritage of the Wiradjuri people in her weaving techniques and art.
  • Mr Laurie Nona (Trading name: TorresStralian) - $11,000 to support business planning, and business-related training and coaching. TorresStralian, led by the renowned Badu Island artist Laurie Nona, represents a rich variety of Torres Strait Islander art.
  • Mr Ronald Donald (Trading name: Map my Mob) - $11,000 to support business-related training and coaching. Map My Mob is a venture to sell shirts that identify and connect Indigenous tribes across Australia.
  • Miss Ebony Birks (Trading name: EB Jewellery) - $10,334 to support business planning. Jeweller and designer Ebony Birks is a proud descendant of the Kamilaroi and Dunghutti people and draws inspiration from both her cultural background and modern influences when creating her hand-crafted pieces.
  • Mr Stephen Foster (Trading name: Aporia’s Designs) - $11,000 to support business planning and business-related training and coaching. Stephen Foster is a leading Torres Strait Islander artist whose creations range from intricate jewellery to large sculptures.
  • Mr Nathan Bell (Trading name: Nathan Street Productions) - $9,730 to support business planning and business-related training and coaching. Nathan Street Productions is a well-established videography business, specialising in providing professional video services to a diverse range of customers.
  • Cape York Art Proprietary Limited - $10,000 to support business planning. Cape York Art is an Aboriginal owned and operated consulting business that connects people with authentic Aboriginal art and cultural experiences.
  • Badhulgaw Kuthinaw Mudh TSI Corp trading as Badu Art Centre - $9,800 to support financial processes and training, and business-related training and coaching. Badu Art Centre provides opportunities for Badu Island people to express their culture and identity through artforms including carving, printmaking and textiles, preserving cultural practices, knowledge and the stories of Torres Strait Islander culture.
  • Mr Teho Ropeyarn - $7,000 to support business planning and business-related training and coaching. Mr Ropeyarn is a highly accomplished artist and arts worker, a storyteller, researcher and promoter of language, history and culture.
  • Mrs Cassandra Maree Pons - $2,270 to support business-related training and coaching. Cassandra Pons is a descendant of the Waanyi people, fashion designer and founder of Lazy Girl Lingerie, a made-to-order business creating customised clothing to support individual needs.
  • Miss Ebony Webb - $6,050 to support business planning. Ebony Webb is a multi-disciplinary Indigenous artist who works across theatre, film and other arts. Her primary disciplines are performance, design and direction, devising and choreography.
  • Mrs Lisa Sorbie Martin (Trading name: Sorbie Collections) - $2,828 to support business planning and business-related training and coaching. Lisa Sorbia Martin is a visual artist of Torres Strait Island descent, who creates wearable art, textiles and ceramics.
  • Ms Belinda Day (Trading name: Bindilee) - $9,639 to support HR management and resource planning. Ms Day is a proud Murri Quandamooka Noonuccal woman who operates her own mural painting business focused on First Nations designs.
  • Mainie Australia Pty Ltd - $10,000 to support business-related training and coaching. Mainie specialises in creating uniquely Australian luxurious fashion pieces that blend authentic Aboriginal art with high quality textiles, founded by Gunggari woman, Charmaine (Mainie) Saunders.

First Nations Commissioning Fund Round 4 recipients

  • Ms Jessie Lloyd - $85,000 (inclusive of $10,000 for new music) and up to $37,500 in Industry Placement funding to employ an Emerging Creative Producer, for Kala Lagaw Ya Learning Songs, a collaboration with Western Torres Strait songwomen aimed at helping to preserve the Kala Lagaw Ya ancestral language.
  • Mr Kevin Starkey - $68,624 (inclusive of $10,000 for new music) for Music Producers Development Program. Darkwood Studio Record Label Service (DSRLS) will deliver the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander / First Nations Music Producers Development Program (MPDP) and song-making workshop, a project to build skills and capacity in emerging First Nations music producers with a focus on empowering decision making in the recording studio and enabling recording on Country.
  • Pryce Centre for Culture and Arts - up to $52,095 for Community ARTreach. The Pryce Centre seeks to extend its innovative Community ARTreach program to Lockhart River and Thursday Island. The youth program offers culturally safe training and mentorship in performing arts, especially dance. Uniquely delivered on-Country, it creates a critical pipeline of strong culture with youth preserving ancient knowledge through modern expression.
  • Aboriginal Art Co. - $68,000 and up to $60,000 in Industry Placement funding for an apprentice to the Production Manager for First Nations Product Development. Aboriginal Art Co will work with Traditional Owners and local First Nations artists to produce new ethical and authentic Aboriginal cultural souvenirs that tell stories of Brisbane and surrounding areas. The project will elevate First Nations art while generating economic benefits and social impact for artists and their communities.
  • Minjerribah Moorgumpin (Elders-in-Council) Aboriginal Corporation - $68,575 and up to $60,000 for an Associate Producer. Truth on Terra Bulla is a five-day gathering led by the Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders in Council that offers Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists the opportunity to learn historical truths, ancestral wisdom, and counter-narratives directly from Elders, dissecting the bicentennial resistance to the 40th Regiment on Minjerribah and responding with new work.
  • Cherbourg Historical Cultural Community Precinct - $62,700 for Preserving our Stories: Polished Heart’s. The Cherbourg community is collecting the stories of First Nations residents, based on objects and photographs from their significant archive collection. This project will record lived experiences under the Aboriginal Protection Act and Dormitory System and aims to celebrate stories to be passed on to future generations.
  • Mr Loki Liddle - $80,000 (inclusive of $10,000 for new music) for To Be Continued, a three-part residency series in Broome, France and London for Loki Liddle, Reece Bowden and their band Selve. The residency series will focus on the creative development of new work and culminate in the recording of Selve’s sophomore album at Abbey Road Studios.
  • Yumpla Nerkep Foundation - $35,000 to support delivery of the production premiere season of Straight from the Strait in the 2024 Brisbane Festival. Straight from the Strait, a First Nations musical-theatre work, tells a compelling Queensland story using traditional and contemporary music, languages and choreography to celebrate the Torres Strait 'Railway Families', who built Australia's railway infrastructure in the 1960s.
  • Shine on Gimuy - $80,000 (including $10,000 for New Music) to support Calling Country – Shine on Gimuy in 2024. Shine on Gimuy is an immersive First Nations arts and cultural festival to be held in October 2024. The opening ceremony, Calling Country, aims to honour the protocol of the Gimuy Walabara Yidnji host nation, promote collaborative engagement of local First Nations communities and showcase Indigenous culture through language, song, story and dance.
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