Miles Doing What Matters: More than $1 million grows First Nations artists and arts businesses

• Investment of almost $760,000 through the First Nations Commissioning Fund is supporting nine projects, including three Industry Placements to share Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories and cultures.
• Thirty-eight recipients will share in almost $330,000 in First Nations Arts Business Grants to help boost business skills, capacity and sustainability.
• These outcomes will grow audiences and markets for works by First Nations artists and build stronger arts and cultural businesses ahead of Brisbane 2032.

The Miles Government is backing First Nations-led arts experiences and businesses through two initiatives this Indigenous Small Business Month, with investment of $1,084,986 to support the creation of new works, grow careers and improve business skills and capacity.

First Nations Commissioning Fund (FNCF) investment of $757,494 is supporting nine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and organisations to share unique stories and cultural knowledge across various artforms, including new music commissions, as well as boosting career opportunities for First Nations arts workers through industry placements.

Cherbourg Historical Cultural Community Precinct will receive $62,700 through the Fund for Preserving our Stories: Polished Hearts, a project to share the stories of Cherbourg’s First Nations residents; and Jabbir Jabirr artist Loki Liddle and his band Selve will receive $80,000 to develop new work and record an album at London’s famed Abbey Road Studios.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander singer and social historian Jessie Lloyd is receiving up to $85,000 through the FNCF to produce Kala Lagaw Ya Learning Songs in collaboration with Western Torres Strait songwomen, while an additional $37,500 will support a Creative Producer industry placement for the project.

Investment of $60,000, as well as up to $60,000 for a Production Manager Industry Placement, will support Aboriginal Art Co. in South Brisbane to work with Traditional Owners and First Nations artists to ethically produce cultural souvenirs that tell stories of Brisbane and surrounding areas, while a $10,000 First Nations Arts Business Grant will help the organisation build capacity through business training and coaching.

First Nations Arts Business Grants totalling $327,492 will support 38 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts enterprises across Queensland to access services that strengthen business and governance planning skills, and boost sustainability and capacity.

Lisa Sorbie Martin, a Gold Coast-based visual artist of Torres Strait Island descent who creates wearable art, textile designs and ceramics, will receive a $3,000 grant to support business planning, training and coaching for her Sorbie Collections business, while arts and crafts education and social impact company Dreamtime Artistry in Coolangatta will receive $10,000 to support business and governance planning and business coaching.

Malkarri Cultural Centre in Mount Isa works to reinvigorate Kalkutungu (Kalkadoon) language, arts and culture, and will receive $10,000 to support business planning, while Badu Island’s celebrated Badu Art Centre will receive nearly $10,000 to build the centre’s finance skills and access business training and coaching.

Quotes attributable to the Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch:

“Queensland is uniquely home to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and First Nations artists and cultural enterprises make a significant contribution to our state’s economy and identity.

“With the Brisbane 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games on the horizon, the Queensland Government is working to ensure the state’s talented First Nations artists and arts organisations and businesses can leverage the immense opportunities the Games will present.

“The First Nations Commissioning Fund and First Nations Arts Business Grants support the priorities of our 10-year Creative Together roadmap for arts, culture and creativity, elevating Queensland’s reputation for exceptional and unique First Nations arts and cultural products and experiences.”

Quote attributable to singer and social historian Jessie Lloyd:

“Receiving this grant will contribute to solidifying our Kala Lagaw Ya learning songs project, through which we aim to create a catalogue of songs that strategically preserve, sustain and celebrate our Western Torres Strait language.

“The project will make the severely endangered Kala Lagaw Ya language available in song form and easily accessible through online formats, which is where the younger generation are mostly engaged.”

Further information:

For more information on First Nations Arts Business Grants and First Nations Commissioning Fund rounds visit https://www.arts.qld.gov.au/news/first-nations-arts-business-fund-batches-4-10-and-first-nations-commissioning-fund-round-4-recipients

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Media contact – Kim Sweetman 0457 600 237