Connecting Places – Opportunities for Small Halls

With support from Creative Victoria, RAV has two fresh opportunities for small halls and regionally based creatives to deliver meaningful arts experiences in small towns.

Building on our successful small hall mentoring initiatives, these new opportunities offer an expanded network of mentorship, support and funding to help community venues commission and develop new creative work.

Stream one: Small Halls Mentorships

Small Halls Mentorships gives Community Presenters the chance to work with a dedicated mentor. We will match successful applicants with mentors whose experience can support areas such as marketing, governance, programming, planning and more. The mentorship will lead up to a real-life performance presentation by a Community Presenter.

There are four Small Halls Mentorships available, each providing for payment of a mentor and financial contribution towards the cost of a live performance.

Community Presenters are organisations which arrange for performances or other creative experiences in regional communities. They include hall management committees, arts societies and organisations which hire local venues for events (see eligibility details in the guidelines below).

The details  

Who it’s for: Community Presenters
Program dates: May 2026 – June 2027
What’s involved: 

• One-on-one mentorship with an experienced Community Presenter or someone else whose expertise will support the successful applicant.
• You can either nominate a preferred mentor, or RAV will help match you with a mentor.
• A performance of your choice in your local hall in 2027.
• Funding support of $4500 to support creative costs ($3000 towards performance costs and $1500 for mentor costs).
• Tailored skills development in programming, marketing, presentation and venue activation.
• Connection to a network of Community Presenters in your region, Victoria and beyond.

Stream Two: Small Halls Commission

The Small Halls Commission is an opportunity for an experienced Community Presenter to partner with a locally based artist or creative company in their region.

This is a funded opportunity for a flexible residency style development process, where a small hall can work with a local artist or creative organisation to develop a new work.

This program is designed to:

• grow relationships between presenters and artists in regional communities
• support regional artists or companies to create new work in their home town
• enable creative practice to flourish in regional locations
• provide Community Presenters with the opportunity to act as co-producers of a new Australian work
• provide opportunities for a regionally based premiere of new Australian performance work

The details  

This opportunity is a joint application from both the Community Presenter, and a locally based artist or creative organisation. Together they will create a work that delivers a public outcome in two or more communities in their region.

The public outcomes do not need to be a fully finished production. They could be a:

• work-in-progress showing
• a staged reading
• presentation that shares the creative development
• a staged performance

This program is a pilot that aims to foster partnerships between regional artists and local Community Presenters so that creative works are developed ‘at home’ with the support of local audiences. We know the value of Community Presenters and their contribution to small regional towns. This program recognises the potential for partnerships which will develop opportunities for new, regionally created works.

The successful applicant will receive a grant of $15,000 and mentorship from RAV staff as appropriate.