2026 Arts Professional Development Workshops Announced
Expanded menu of six grant writing and artist development workshops now available!
Three and a half years ago, I submitted a grant application to Gympie Regional Council’s Regional Arts Development Fund. If you’re not familiar with the Regional Arts Development Fund (or ‘RADF’), this program is available in 59 local government areas across Queensland, delivered by local Councils in partnership with Arts Queensland. It is a fantastic, accessible funding option for individual artists, creative practitioners of any discipline, arts organisations and community groups to develop and deliver arts projects in regional communities across Queensland. Each Council has the flexibility to develop their own funding guidelines based on local priorities and community needs, which means grant funding amounts will vary from LGA to LGA (check with your local Council to find out more).
My grant application was successful, and I was awarded seed funding of $2,608 to develop the content for a new grant writing workshop for the creative sector, and to deliver it as a pilot in Goomeri and Gympie. I was also able to secure a similar-sized grant from South Burnett Regional Council’s RADF to extend this into Murgon and Kingaroy during the same year (2023). This small investment from local Councils in partnership with Arts Queensland has now grown into…
🟠 65 professional development workshops delivered across Queensland
🔵 40 workshop locations spanning 15 Queensland LGAs and online
🟢 701 workshop participants
And now…an expanded menu of six different professional development workshops for artists, including the original (and constantly revised) Grant Writing for the Arts session. These six workshops are:
⭐Project Planning for Creatives
⭐The Art of Artist Biographies
⭐Writing for the Visual Arts
⭐Designing Art Programs for Children and Youth
If you're in the creative sector and you're wondering if it's "worth" applying for a small grant...please take this case study as your inspiration to take that leap of faith!
Workshops delivered so far in 2026 include:
✅3 February: Grant Writing for RADF @ Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum
✅4 February: Grant Writing for RADF @ Agnes Water Community Centre
✅10 February: ARTSLAB - Designing Community Arts Initiatives @ Bundaberg Library
✅25 February: Grant Writing for the Arts @ Somerset Civic Centre
✅26 February: Professional Writing for the Visual Arts: Statements, EOIs and Bios @ Somerset Civic Centre
These workshops were free to attend with thanks to the support of Gladstone Regional Council, Bundaberg Regional Council, and Somerset Regional Council. Thank you for hosting me in your beautiful communities!
The next public workshop (ARTSLAB - Project Planning for Creatives) will be hosted at Bundaberg School of Arts on Sunday 29 March 2026 from 10am-2pm. There is a limited ticket release (only 12 spots available!). The cost to attend this workshop is just $75, thanks to support from Bundaberg Regional Council.
If you would like to see workshops like these in your local community, please provide a copy of my 2026 Workshops Guide to your local Community Development Officer, Arts and Cultural Development Officer or Community Grants Liaison and encourage them to get in touch!
More workshop announcements coming soon!
