Australian World Heritage Residency

About This Program

The Australian World Heritage Residency from Creative Australia offers three (3) self-directed residencies for Australian artists or collectives to work on-site at a World Heritage site within Australia.

Through deep engagement with place, the residency fosters meaningful exchange, encourages local partnerships and collaboration, and supports enduring relationships between artists, partners, and sites while centring artistic excellence and care for cultural and natural heritage.

Each recipient will receive a grant of $50,000 to undertake their residency, which will conclude in a public reflection of their learning, such as a seminar, workshop, or new creative work.

Applicants are expected to have a relationship or connection to their chosen site. Your application should showcase the significance of the site to your work and residency.

You can learn more about the participating Australian World Heritage sites, including the local area and planning your visit by accessing the links in the Site Information Resource.

Participating Australian World Heritage Sites

• Australian Fossil Mammal Sites – Naracoorte (SA)
• Australian Fossil Mammal Sites – Riversleigh (QLD)
• Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (NSW)
• Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (QLD)
• Great Barrier Reef  (QLD)
• Greater Blue Mountains  (NSW)
• K’gari (QLD)
• Purnululu National Park  (WA)
• Shark Bay  (WA)
• Tasmanian Wilderness  – Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park (TAS)
• Tasmanian Wilderness – Mount Field National Park (TAS)
• Wet Tropics of Queensland (QLD)
• Willandra Lakes Region (NSW)

Should you require assistance, we kindly ask that applicants contact our team directly rather than reaching out to the Australian World Heritage sites.

Eligibility

Artforms

Applications are welcomed from individuals and groups who work in First Nations arts and culture, community arts and cultural development, dance, emerging and experimental arts, literature, multi-art form, visual arts, theatre, and music, except screen (which includes short film, feature film, television or documentary or electronic games).

Who can apply

You can apply for the residency if you:

• are a practicing artist and an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident (living in or outside of Australia)
• are a group or collective
• are 18 years and older
• are at any phase of their career, e.g. emerging, mid-career or established.

Who can’t apply

You cannot apply for the residency if:

• you have an overdue grant report
• you owe money to Creative Australia
• you have already applied to this program, note one (1) application per round
• You are not an Australian individual, group or collective
• Your residency starts before 01 September 2026
• you received an Australia World Heritage Residency from Creative Australia in 2025
• the application is from legally constituted organisations.

What you can apply for

The residency will support the following activities:

• artist and creative worker fees. Please refer to the payment of artists details for further information relevant to your sector for the duration of your residency. Consider the fees for the duration of your residency to cover all relevant activities such as, practice-based research, creative development, experimentation, creation of new work etc
• flights, accommodation, per diems, ground transport costs
• travel insurance
• freight and/or baggage costs
• marketing, promotion and project management costs
• a reasonable contribution to staffing or operational costs in support of this activity. This includes costs associated with the Australian World Heritage Site authority individual/group/organisation
• childcare, carer and access costs
• costs associated with reducing the heritage impact of your activity.

Access costs are legitimate expenses and may be included in your application. We encourage applicants to ensure that their work 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 Creative Australia to discuss your specific needs.

What can’t be applied for

You cannot apply for:

• projects or activities that do not involve or benefit Australian practicing artists
• projects or activities that do not have a clearly defined artistic, creative or cultural component
• projects that have already taken place
• the same activities that have already been funded by Creative Australia
• activities engaging with First Nations content, artists and communities that do not adhere to our First Nations Cultural & Intellectual Property Protocols
• activities that may permanently damage or harm the biodiversity of the Australian World Heritage site
• costs associated with touring.

Protocols

Your application must comply with the following protocols. 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. This includes meaningful consultation with Traditional Owners and communities on any project proposals. 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

Assessment Process

Your application will be assessed by Creative Australia Industry Advisors. View Creative Australia’s assessment information. Applications will be assessed by Industry Advisors with diverse and relevant experience. Australian World Heritage site authorities will provide advice and recommendations. Site authorities may consider the environmental viability of the project and activities associated. Final decisions will be made by Creative Australia based on these recommendations.

Please note no feedback will be provided on your application or the decision.

Applications will be assessed against three (3) criteria. Under each criterion are bullet points indicating what Creative Australia Industry Advisors may consider when assessing your application. You do not need to respond to every bullet point listed.

Assessment Criteria  

Applications will be assessed against three (3) criteria. Under each criterion are bullet points indicating what Creative Australia Industry Advisors may consider when assessing your application. You do not need to respond to every bullet point listed.

1. Quality

Creative Australia Industry Advisors will assess the artistic merit and quality of the proposal with consideration to the artistic potential of the applicant.

They may consider:

• the vision, ideas, and artistic rationale proposed for this residency including:
  • proposed promotion of the location of the residency, including the period of time
  • the proposed public reflection outcome, which can be in the form of writing, seminar(s), workshop(s), and/or the creation of new work
• the benefit and impact on the career or artistic practice of the artist
• the level of ambition as part of your planned activities.

2. Viability

Creative Australia Industry Advisors will assess the viability of the proposal with consideration to good planning and relevance to the artist and their ongoing development.

They may consider:

• relevance and timeliness of the proposed activity
• skills and ability of the artist/s and relevance to activity
• realistic and achievable planning and resource use. The application considers, relevant plans for activities involving travel and mitigating risk for working in remote or isolated areas, (if applicable)
• the safety and wellbeing of people involved in the residency
• the role of partners or collaborators
• the level of connection with the respective Australian World Heritage site and/or site authority
• where relevant to the activity, evidence that the Protocols for First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts have been adhered to
• Support of Traditional Owners, community and other key stakeholders.

3. Impact

Creative Australia Industry Advisors will assess the expected impact or outcome/s of the proposed activities on the applicant and any targeted groups/communities/peoples.

They may consider:

• how the activity and site is relevant to the identified areas of practice and career development
• potential to discover and develop new partnerships, relationships or collaborations, including the importance of partnerships
• the connection to communities and to sites, as well as the relevance of place and how you will work with target groups or communities or First Nations peoples, particularly if the site is sacred and a place of importance to the local First Nations peoples
• how UNESCO Ethical Principles for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage shape your approach.

Application Form

Applications for this program are submitted via Creative Australia’s Application Management System. If you are using the system for the first time you will need to register your details to access the application form.

We do not accept entries submitted via post. Any material received by post will not be assessed and will be returned to the sender. If you think you will have difficulty submitting your application online, please contact Artists Services.

The type of questions we ask in the application form include:

• your name and contact details
• a summary of the applicant’s project
• information about the applicant’s practice, their professional experience and career goals
• information regarding the importance and relevance of this site, including new and existing connections with the site, site authority, partners, and where relevant, Traditional Owners
• the likely impact of this residency on your ongoing practice
• details on the proposed public outcome for the applicant’s work and how they will reflect on the residency
• a timetable or itinerary for your residency
• a projected budget which details expenses, income, in-kind support of the project, including costs associated with reducing the heritage impact of the project’s activity
• your approach to risk management for working on an Australian World Heritage site, particularly in remote or isolated areas
• confirmation that you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident
• support material relevant to your project, including examples of your work, bios of additional artists, and letters of support or permission from collaborators, participants, communities, First Nations Elders or organisations.
• confirmation that you are aware of the environmental impacts associated with the proposed project and where required, has uploaded a completed self-assessment toolkit.

Support Material

Additional material must be submitted to support your application. We will review support material to understand your artistic practice and viability of your proposal.

We strongly recommend you curate the support material you provide 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 application.

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 (3) URLs and three (3) file uploads.

You can include a maximum of:

• 10 minutes of video and/or audio recording, and/or
• 10 images, and/or
• 10 pages of written material (for example, excerpts of writing, scripts and letters of support/confirmation).

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:

• video (MP4, Windows Media)
• audio (MP3, Windows Media)
• 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 Artist Services.

1. Creative and cultural support material
   This should include relevant, recent examples of your creative or cultural work and/or the services you provide using the formats identified below.
2. Artist and collaborator information
   This can include a brief bio or curriculum vitae (CV) for yourself and any additional artists and/or key collaborators. This could include information on your collaborators, including, where relevant, with Traditional Owners, the Site Authority, and with local collaborators or partners associated with the World Heritage site.
3. Letters of permission or confirmation
   Individuals, groups or organisations can write letters in support of your project. A support letter should explain to the assessment panel how the project or activity will benefit the local and/or broader community.  If relevant to your application, evidence of appropriate permissions and support from First Nations organisations, communities and Elders must be provided. Please refer to the First Nations Protocols for more information.
4. Risk management template 
   A risk management template is required to be submitted as part of your application for this Residency.
   Find the Risk Management template here

General Application Feedback

General feedback from 2025 applications:

• Explain the creative rationale of your project and how it was developed. Your application should clearly demonstrate why this is a residency — focused on process, exploration, and place-based engagement.
• Explain the timeliness and relevance of your application. Why are your delivering it, why that location, and why now?
• Where relevant, clearly articulate the purpose of exploring new mediums and how this relates to the site.
• If your project involves working with First Nations artists, communities, or cultural material, provide evidence of consultation in your application and support material. Show that you are paying First Nations consultants and Elders appropriately. Read the Creative Australia’s First Nations Protocols before you apply.
• Provide detail on engagement strategies with First Nations custodians and communities you will use for site-based work.
• Ensure budgets are transparent and appropriately account for all aspects of the project, including cultural engagement.
• Wages and fees should be included in the expense section of your budget. If there is a wage or fee listed as in-kind, explain why this is the case.
• Make sure your project is accessible and inclusive. Outline the steps and processes you are taking to achieve this and include relevant costs in your budget.
• Provide evidence of community need in your application and support material. This can be through case studies, letters of support, or participant testimonials from the community.
• Provide a risk assessment for your project. Address all potential risks, including cultural safety, psychological safety, and occupational health and safety.
• Provide an environmental impact assessment for your project.