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This week’s opportunities
Awards and competitions
These awards celebrate the remarkable achievements of the Tasmanian international exporting community, including those in the arts sector. The Tasmanian Exporter of the Year will receive a one-off grant of up to $10,000. This grant can be used to attend an international trade show or event, or to join a Tasmanian Government trade mission.
Applications close 13 June; learn more and apply.
Queen’s Wharf Brisbane Art Prize 2025 (Qld)
Presented by the Royal Queensland Art Society Brisbane Branch, this prize asks artists to submit a painting or drawing that reflects what makes Brisbane and its surrounding attractions unique. A $20,000 first prize is on offer, with two $5000 Highly Commended prizes.
Entries close 5 July; learn more and enter.
Melbourne Prize for Music 2025
Open to all music genres and for Victorian residents only, this year’s program includes four categories: the $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Music 2025, The $20,000 Beleura John Tallis Award for Emerging Composers, the $10,000 Professional Development Award and the Falls Creek Musicians Residencies (two 14-day residencies plus $1000 to each recipient). Runner-up finalists in the Melbourne Prize for Music 2025 receive $1,000, supported by Fed Square.
Entries close 7 July; learn more and enter.
UQP Mentorship Prize for Under-represented Writers
University Queensland Press (UQP) is looking for talented emerging authors from under-represented backgrounds who have 5000 words of a new work in Fiction, Non-fiction or Children’s fiction (excluding picture books). Two mentorship prize winners will each receive $5000, a residency at UQP’s office at the University of Queensland in Brisbane (including return flights and accomodation, online or in-person mentoring sessions for writing, editorial mentoring with a UQP editor, and a professional development session), and consideration of the final manuscript by a UQP publisher.
Entries open 21 May to 1 August; learn more.
Commissions
House of Assembly (Tas)
This opportunity is for artists to create a suite of two-dimensional artworks for the refurbished offices for members of the House of Assembly. Up to six artists will be shortlisted to create proposals for the commission. The artwork budget is $70,000 + GST.
Applications close 2 June; learn more and apply.
Diana Torossian Emerging Songwriter Award
In honour of the late artist manager Diana Torossian, this new award is for all songwriters who are aspiring to make a career in the music industry and have started to establish a commercial body of work. Entrants must be APRA AMCOS members based in Australia. First prize is $5000 cash plus $20,000 worth of songwriting and mentoring sessions.
Entries close 16 June; learn more and enter.
Museums Victoria Gold Jewellery Acquisitive Prize
A new award for jewellers and creative practitioners, this prize is an invitation to respond to the State of Victoria Gold Jewellery Collection with a total prize pool of $43,000. Jewellers and creative practitioners from across the country are invited to submit their concepts for a contemporary jewellery or adornment piece. Winners in each of the three prize categories (Major, First Peoples and Emerging) will receive a commission fee to transform their concept into a wearable piece that will be acquired into the Victorian State Collection on completion.
Applications close 31 August; learn more and apply.
Call-outs
Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM)
Applications are closing soon for Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand artists to participate in Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) 2026 in Boorloo/Perth. APAM is a strategic initiative of Creative Australia to showcase Australian and New Zaland contemporary dance, theatre, music, emerging and experimental arts, nationally and internationally.
Applications close 26 May; learn more and apply.
REACH Art (Victoria)
The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) is inviting regional teachers to sign their students up for a free creative careers program for F-12 students. In addition to the free workshops, this program offers free bus transport to and from ACCA for eligible schools.
Bookings now open; learn more and book.
2026 SPARK (SA)
State Theatre Company South Australia has launched a new initiative, SPARK, to support local independent South Australian theatre makers. From 2026-2028, the SPARK program will produce two independent works per year as part of the State Theatre Company South Australia season, to be presented in the Main Theatre at the Adelaide College of the Arts. The initiative offers artists a dedicated performance venue, rehearsal space and extended time with State Theatre Company South Australia’s production team. Artists will also receive marketing and mentorship support and retain 100% of the box office revenue from their productions.
EOIs close 16 June; learn more and apply.
Know Thy Neighbour #4: Gestures (WA)
Know Thy Neighbour is a residency program for artists and community partners wanting to participate in socially-engaged residencies across the Perth metropolitan area over 2026-27. The curatorial premise invites artists to respond to the KTN #4 theme of ‘Gestures’. Proposals that spark dialogue across cultural, economic, or social divides – and illuminate connections where they’re least expected – will be especially welcomed.
EOIs close 30 June for artists and 7 July for community partners; learn more and apply.
Professional development
2025 Tasmanian Writers and Illustrators Mentorship Program
This program gives 16 Tasmanian writers and illustrators the opportunity to develop their work with an accomplished and experienced mentor, access to professional development programs hosted by the ASA, and forge connections in the Australian book and publishing industry. Delivered by the Australian Society of Authors in partnership with Arts Tasmania.
Applications close 13 June; learn more and apply.
2025 Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator
Powerhouse is calling for early to mid-career Australian industrial designers to apply for the 2025 Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator – a $25,000 annual initiative that champions bold, sustainable industrial design. The 2025 mentor is Ed Ko, Founder of IDX.
Applications close 20 June; learn more and apply.
2025-2026 Guildhouse Collections Project with Fabrik (SA)
This is an opportunity for South Australian artists, craftspeople and designers to spend time with Fabrik’s layered collections – from objects and community artefacts relating to the Onkaparinga Woollen Mill, to its living collection of textile practice and cultural storytelling, and to develop new work in response for a solo exhibition at Fabrik in February 2026.
Applications close 30 June; learn more and apply.
Want more? Visit our Opportunities page for more open competitions, prizes, EOIs and call-outs.
This week’s winners
Visual arts
Art Basel has announced 36 international visionaries in the visual arts in its 2025 Art Basel Awards. Among them are British Black Arts pioneer Lubaina Himid, set to represent UK at the 2026 Venice Biennale; first-generational conceptual artist Adrian Piper; video artist and sculptor Meriem Bennani; sound artist working across performance and choreography, Pan Daijing; fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner; Italian design duo Formafantasma; Carcross/Tagish First Nations artist Candice Hopkins; and RAW Material Company, an experimental art incubator founded by the late curator Koyo Kouoh. Winners also include David Hammons, Cao Fei, Ho Tzu Nyen, Candice Hopkins and The Journal of Curatorial Studies.
Design
Lighting designer Volker Haug has taken out the 2025 Melbourne Design Week Award, announced at the opening of 100 Lights exhibition at Meat Market Stables (14 May). Haug’s win of the the $5000 prize presented by Mercedes-Benz Australia, coincides with the exhibition, 20 Years of Volker Haug Studio as part of this year’s Melbourne Design Week program. Haug commenced his design career under the tutelage of the late Australian lighting design luminary Geoffrey Mance, before founding Volker Haug Studio in 2005. Commissions by Haug can be found in German Embassies in Canberra and Tokyo as well as newly opened Melbourne hotels including Melbourne Place and The StandardX.
Read: Exhibition review: 100 Lights, Melbourne Design Week, Meat Market Stables
Performing arts
Winners have been announced at the 2025 Sydney Comedy Festival, with Dan Rath (Tropical Depression) taking out Best of the Fest, Ruby Teys (Cherry Vinyl: Coober Pedy’s Last Show Girl) named Director’s Choice and Jack Ansett (What’s Everyone Having for Dinner?) winning the Best Newcomer Award. Each winner takes home $1500 alongside a trophy. This year’s Sydney Comedy Festival delivered a record 375 shows from 971 artists.
Writing and publishing
Winner of the 2025 Russell Prize for Humour Writing is Madeleine Gray for Green Dot, while Maryam Master takes out the Humour Writing for Young People Award with Laughter Is the Best Ending, illustrated by Astred Hicks. Oscar vs the Grand Old Dude Named York by Ross Curnow was acknowledged as Highly Commended. Richard Glover, chair of the judging panel, says in the media release: “Green Dot by Madeleine Gray is a compelling Australian novel that brings a new complexity to the genre sometimes called ‘rom-com’. It’s sweet but also sour; terrifically funny as well as Anna Karenina sad. And what a great ear the author has for the rhythm of conversations and for the debates that occur within your own head.”
State Library of NSW announced winners of the $360,000 NSW Literary Awards, with 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem by Nam Le taking out Book of the Year as well as the Multicultural NSW Award. The Christina Stead Prize for Fiction went to Fiona McFarlane for Highway 13, while James Bradley took out the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction with Deep Water. rock flight by Hasib Hourani won in the poetry category, Three Magpies Perched in a Tree by Glenn Shea was awarded winner for scriptwriting, and Indigenous Writers’ Prize went to When the World Was Soft by Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation. View the full list of winners.
All
Over 190 projects will be funded by more than $7 million through Create NSW’s Arts and Cultural Funding Program – Project Funding round. This includes 20 First Nations art and cultural projects ($1.4 million), 73 new creative works (around $3 million) and 41 professional development opportunities, with the largest share of total funding going towards regional NSW. In total, 479 eligible applications across 10 art forms were received, perhaps reflecting the introduction of new project funding programs that were designed to be simpler and more equitable. Learn more.
Shortlisted and finalists
Read: Miles Franklin Literary Award 2025 longlist announced
Check out previous Opportunities and Awards wraps for more announcements.
