Nominations are now open for the 2027 Asia Pacific Arts Awards presented by Creative Australia. These prestigious Awards celebrate Australiaโs rich cultural exchange and creative connections across the Asia Pacific region through arts and culture.
Open to individuals, collectives and organisations, the Awards are all about building stronger, deeper and broader cultural links between Australia and its regional partners. They acknowledge the important role outward-facing arts projects play in shaping Australiaโs cultural identity within the region.
Asia Pacific Arts Awards: meaningful connections
The Awards celebrate programs that create meaningful people-to-people connections, foster the sharing of expertise and knowledge, and demonstrate high artistic merit. Presented across six categories focused on impact, innovation, inspiration, connection and legacy, each Award carries a prize of $25,000.
The 2026 Impact Award was presented to Small Island Big Song, recognising a body of work that has achieved significant and sustained community impact over the past ten years.
Small Island Big Song is the personal and professional partnership of Taiwanese theatre producer BaoBao Chen and Australian music and film producer Tim Cole. Together, they create collaborations between artists continuing the cultural lineage of their island homelands across Asia and the Indo-Pacific, guided by the principle โWe Share One Ocean, One Islandโ.
โReceiving the Asia Pacific Arts Award was incredibly special for us because it felt like recognition of an 11-year journey that started with little more than a dream, a second-hand recording kit, $5,000 in savings, and a belief that creativity could connect people across borders,โ says Small Island Big Song co-founder BaoBao Chen.
โWhat made the moment even more memorable was that our one-year-old daughter, Eleven, was with us on stage when we accepted the award. At one point she was happily chewing on the award itself! It was a beautiful reminder of how far this journey has come.
‘We began as a couple from Taiwan and Australia with a dream of building connections across our regions. Years later, that vision has become a family of collaborators spanning 17 nationalities โ and now, plus one!โ
Asia Pacific Arts Awards: innovation in artistic expression
Nominations are assessed by panels of expert industry advisors who consider innovation in artistic expression and presentation, the impact of cultural exchange, and the legacy of the activity. This includes the creation of people-to-people connections and collaborations, market development opportunities, artistic excellence and audience impact.
โSmall Island Big Song exists because of collaboration. Over the past decade we’ve worked with artists from Taiwan, Australia, Aotearoa, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, Madagascar, Mauritius, Malaysia and beyond. It is built on the idea that cultural exchange isn’t something that happens in conference rooms; it happens when people make music together, share meals together, tell stories, and spend time in each other’s communities,โ says Chen.
Award panels also consider the vision, ideas and artistic rationale underpinning projects, along with evidence of outcomes for communities, audiences and markets. This can include legacy, access, equity, diversity and sustainability.
โReceiving the Impact Award was a strong reminder that projects like this are never built by individuals alone. They are sustained by communities, artists and countless people who choose to believe in a shared vision,โ says Chen.
Asia Pacific Arts Awards: breadth and diversity
This yearโs recipients highlight the breadth and diversity of work recognised by the Awards. They include ENCOUNTER Theatre, an intercultural theatre company based on Noongar Boodjar that creates bold international work guided by radical empathy (Connect); artist Haji Oh, a member of the Japanese Zainichi Korean community whose installation works give expression to the unspoken memories of women and unnamed individuals (Innovation); contemporary music ensemble Hand to Earth, led by vocalist Sunny Kim and Daniel Wilfred, keeper of Yolลu Manikay songs from North East Arnhem Land that can be traced back more than 40,000 years (Inspire โ Individual, Collectives, Groups); photographer and performance artist William Yang, whose work explores personal stories and identity (Legacy); and Asia TOPA, the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts, which brought together 410 artists and collectives from across the region (Inspire โ Organisations).
Chen believes the Awards reflect a growing recognition of the importance of people-to-people connections across the Asia Pacific.
โAt a time when the world can feel increasingly divided, the arts create spaces where we can imagine a shared future.โ
Artists, organisations and communities are encouraged to consider who in their networks deserves recognition and to submit a nomination; self-nominations are not eligible.
A comprehensive information session is available online to guide nominators through the process. You can also follow Creative Australia on Instagram for updates on key dates and announcements.
The Asia Pacific Arts Awards will be presented in January 2027.
